COVERED SPRING 2020

COVERED 30 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK With the pomp and ceremony of the List A final making its maiden appearance at Trent Bridge this September, stalwart club historian Peter Wynne-Thomas casts his mind back to some of Nottinghamshire’s best moments in one-day cricket. STORY BY Peter Wynne-Thomas I first watched cricket at Trent Bridge in the 1940s, and I wasn’t alone. In 1947, 105,887 spectators paid to watch the 38 days of Championship cricket – a figure which does not include members attending matches. By 1965 things were not so rosy. Just 20,336 spectators paid to view 39 days of Championship cricket. More paying spectators had watched the three-day Surrey game of 1947 than came for the entire summer in 1965. Despite generous donations from the Supporters Association, Notts made a substantial loss, as they had in the previous few years. The county was not unique; in fact it was in a majority. The first one-day competition, the Gillette Cup, had been founded in 1963, but Notts’ poor performance meant that the negative balance sheet was largely unaffected. Away from official county cricket, entrepreneur Bagenal Harvey had set up the Rothman’s Cavaliers. Composed of recently retiredTest cricketers such as Denis Compton and Godfrey Evans, and reinforced by some overseas stars, the team played one-day matches on Sundays, attracting large crowds and BBC television coverage. Fees fromTV and Rothmans made Harvey a reasonable profit. To counter this enterprise, in 1968 the MCC allowed each county to sign a single overseas cricketer. Notts grabbed Garry Sobers, and receipts for that summer showed a fair increase, but the bottom line was still negative. The following year MCC borrowed Bagenal Harvey’s scheme and set up a one-day inter-county league, which took place on Sunday afternoons, sponsored initially by John Player. For the man in the street, cricket became more confusing – especially when old sponsors dropped out and new ones arose: the Gillette Cup became the NatWest Trophy, the Player League evolved into ONE-DAY WONDERS