COVERED SPRING 2021

was treated as a joke by portions of the Edgbaston crowd. Taylor, who had had a rather similar experience in the 1940s at Edgbaston, saw Hemmings’ potential; and it certainly came good in 1981. In a near parallel to current times, the Notts playing staff for 1981 contained 10 men who were born within the county boundaries (10 in the 2021 squad have come through the Academy). The local stars of that time were Derek Randall, the extraordinary fielder and Test batsman from Retford, and wicket- keeper Bruce French fromWarsop. Taylor placed his faith in the locals in their twenties to open the batting, inTim Robinson from Skegby, Paul Todd from Morton near Southwell, the deliberately semi-retired BobWhite (who was now mentoring the Seconds), and Pasty (Richard) Harris, who looked after the Trent Bridge Squash Club. The senior pro thus became Basher Hassan, who had come over from Kenya in 1966 and was a batsman who could also keep wicket. Meanwhile Mike Bore, who had lost his place in theYorkshire side before joining Notts, had the ability to move the ball with his left-arm medium pace. A word of explanation as to how Ken Taylor came to be Notts’ first ‘cricket manager’. After some hesitation in 1977, the Notts Committee decided to create the post of Chief Executive to run the club as a business. The former Cambridge Blue, Phil Carling, was chosen. Carling was given a free hand to explore ways to that would earn money for the club outside of playing cricket. His first move was to state he wanted no responsibility for the cricket side of the operation and to request the creation of the Cricket Manager position. Taylor had moved to Nottinghamshire in the 1950s with a job to manage for the East Midlands Electricity Board. He played local cricket for Nottingham Forest CC, based at Trent Bridge, and was elected to the Committee in 1963, later becoming Chairman of Cricket. Aged 61, he was persuaded to retire from the Electricity Board and become Notts’ first Cricket Manager. Ideally suited for the post, he took advice from the only long-established County Cricket Manager, Les Ames of Kent. Whilst Taylor would remain in post until 1990 and become the model for County Managers, Phil Carling only survived one year in post after the 1981 triumph. So, how did Notts progress to that final victory against Glamorgan? The match against Derbyshire was a total washout. At Canterbury, despite three declarations, Kent just saved the game. At Uxbridge, both Notts and Middlesex forfeited an innings, but the game was still a draw. In the only May game at Trent Bridge, Leicestershire were dismissed for 170 and 195, a win being achieved by eight wickets. All the other counties were badly affected by the weather so, as June started, Notts’ single victory placed the side at the top of the table. Excellent batting byTodd and a brilliant piece of bowling from Hemmings – 6-21 in the second innings – delivered a comfortable win in the first match of the month versus Gloucestershire. That success was offset in Bath, where Viv Richards gave Somerset a first innings lead of 158. Garner’s pace was just too much as Notts fell to defeat by an innings and 61 runs. Notts also succumbed to Middlesex and, COVERED 34 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK “THERE WERE TEARS IN THE EYES OF REG SIMPSON, NOT ONE TO REGULARLY SHOW EMOTION, AS HE JOINED THE PLAYERS FOR THE CELEBRATIONS.” PeterWynne-Thomas