COVERED SPRING 2020

COVERED 32 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK the Refuge AssuranceTrophy, and the Refuge Cup was spawned as a knock-out competition for the top league teams. AXA, Equity and Law took over from Refuge, and the number of overs switched. Changes became so frequent in both sponsors and overs used that it would need more space to elucidate the entanglement. The statisticians had, by the 1990s, accepted one-day matches, but players now had four lines of records each year. In 1999 it was agreed to roll the whole one-day muddle into one statistic – List A. I attended the vital committee meeting when this was set up. Twenty years before, the statisticians had decided to solve the mess that was ‘First-Class Records’ and had published a book for each county, explaining precisely which matches were First-Class and why – and why certain matches did not qualify. The plan was to do a similar exercise for List A, but the books never appeared – very unsatisfactorily, for the sad few who care about such things. Hopefully the above will explain why one-day county cricket came to be, and how List A arrived on the scene. What of Nottinghamshire in these one- day battles? The Gillette/NatWest/C&G ran from 1963 to 2009. It was six years before Notts even beat another county in the annual competition and not until the 23rd season of asking that the Green and Golds appeared in the final, staged at Lord’s. In a nail-biting finish, Essex won by a single run. Two years later, Notts returned. It was Richard Hadlee and Clive Rice’s farewell summer. Rain ruined a slice of Saturday – thank God the Coronation Street couple of Duckworth and Vera had yet to devise the system that baffles 99% of the population. Notts – and their opponents, Northants – returned to finish the match on Monday, along with a handful of supporters. The press thought Northants would walk it, but Rice and Hadlee had different views, and Notts finally captured a one- day trophy. It was then downhill for the next 22 seasons, with the best the county could manage being a quarter-final in 2008. In the John Player Sunday League, meanwhile, it cannot be said that Notts always shone. That wise old bird and manager, Ken Taylor, was asked to account for the lack of success at one AGM, to which he simply responded, “I don’t know why. The players seem to not like playing on a Sunday.” In the first 15 seasons of Sunday matches, Notts never rose above fifth in the league table, even though the county were able to call upon Garry Sobers in six of those summers. In 1984 and 1987, the side ended as runners-up, before the title was at last won in 1991. Thirteen of Notts’ 17 games were victories, but the cup was not secured until the final game against Derbyshire, played at Trent Bridge. The visitors scored just 176. Notts’ opening pair of Chris Broad and Derek “THE STATISTICIANS HAD ACCEPTED ONE-DAY MATCHES, BUT PLAYERS NOW HAD FOUR LINES OF RECORDS EACH YEAR. IN 1999 IT WAS AGREED TO ROLL THE WHOLE ONE-DAY MUDDLE INTO ONE STATISTIC – LIST A.” PeterWynne-Thomas