In the summer of 1969, my friend Brian and I became expertly familiar with the bus and train routes that emanated from Leeds in order that we might follow the exploits of Yorkshire County Cricket Club on the county’s various “out-grounds” – Harrogate, Huddersfield, Bradford Park Avenue et al – as well as at the headquarters at Headingley.
As the season wore on – and Yorkshire floundered in the lower reaches of the County Championship - it became evident that the key home fixture of the season would be the Gillette Cup semi-final against Nottinghamshire at North Marine Drive, Scarborough. A prize in the final at Lord’s awaited. An added attraction was that Nottinghamshire were captained by the world’s greatest all-rounder, Garfield Sobers.
In those days, the road journey from Leeds to the east coast was a slow one, with traffic hold ups guaranteed as the A64 wound its way through York and Malton. Brian and I caught a full bus at a ridiculously early hour from Leeds City bus station in the confident expectation that we would be at the ground well in time for the start. And so we were: we arrived an hour before play began. The trouble was, so did thousands of other people, who now formed a long queue from the entrance to the ground along the main road and around the neighbouring Trafalgar Square. There had been little in the way of pre-sold ticketing, even for a match as important as this. It was “first come, first served” and, after our long journey, there was a clear danger that we would not get in at all.
In the event, Brian and I must have got two of the last available places before the gates were closed. We queued for two hours and eventually entered the ground an hour after play had started. We saw immediately that the rumours circulating outside had been true: Geoff Boycott was already out (caught behind for a duck) and Yorkshire were struggling. We found some space on the grass on the far side of the ground near the big white marquees that served as refreshment tents.
It was a fantastic day’s play and, after all these years, there are incidents from the match that I can recall with absolute clarity.
Yorkshire reached a reasonable score, though not an overwhelming one, thanks to some sensible batting by Phil Sharpe and Doug Padgett and a few big hits by the tailenders. One of these was a towering six from Don Wilson that I followed on its full trajectory, as it nearly disappeared into the sky and then, as gravity took its toll, plummeted to land somewhere between us and the refreshment tents. It was a magnificent strike, characteristic of Wilson’s potential for dangerous hitting, when, as a tall left hander, he would plant his right leg down the wicket and look to free his arms in a full swing.
It is more than half a century ago and yet, in my mind’s eye, I can readily transport myself back to a warm summer’s day, when I am craning my neck back to watch the path of a cricket ball against a clear blue sky.
Thereafter the match hinged on whether Yorkshire could dismiss Sobers before he cut loose and won the game by himself. I watched entranced as Wilson bowled what appeared to be over after over at the great batsman, apparently tying him down for several minutes at a time with his accurate left arm spin, before Sobers would take advantage of a rare loose ball and send it crashing to the boundary. When Sobers was out – caught behind by Jimmy Binks off the bowling of the young Chris Old - I thought that the roar would probably have been heard back in Leeds. The other Nottinghamshire wickets fell steadily, one of which was to a running catch in the outfield by Old - another crystal-clear memory - and Yorkshire had won by the comfortable margin of 58 runs. I could not have imagined a more perfect day.
The date was 30th July 1969. It was 10 days after Neil Armstrong had become the first man to walk on the moon. I was 14 years old and the world was full of wonder.
Memory added on July 3, 2021
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