Gloucestershire’s road to the Gillette Cup 1973
1st Round
Gloucestershire set out on their first successful road towards Lords with a Gillette Cup 1st round win over Glamorgan at Cardiff by 34 runs. Gloucestershire, missing Mike Procter with a hand injury, were put in to bat, but Sadiq, Knight and Zaheer all soon took the initiative as they moved to 166 for 4 after 44 overs and although wickets fell regularly after that they reached a decent 230 for 9 from their 60 overs.
Tight bowling from Davey and Brown at the start of Glamorgan's innings caused their normally fluent captain Majid Khan to take 25 minutes scoring 3 runs before he fell to a brilliant low leg side catch by Graveney. Alan Jones and Tony Lewis with half centuries kept Glamorgan hopes alive but they were behind the required rate and as they attempted to accelerate the Gloucestershire fielding, which included 2 run outs, proved too much for them as they were bowled out for 196.
Roger Knight was named man of the match for his 75 runs and 2 wickets which helped to see Gloucestershire through to a home 2nd round tie against Surrey.
2nd Round
40 years ago the road continued, but it didn't look like going much further as Gloucestershire, put in by a Surrey on a green Bristol wicket, slumped to 29 for 5 with England bowler Geoff Arnold taking 4 of the wickets. At this point captain Tony Brown came out to join David Shepherd at the crease. The story goes that Shep greeted his captain with "We're in a bit of a mess, captain. What's the form?" to which Tony Brown replied "You're to stay here for 60 overs, Shep".
The batsmen then dug in and after Brown was out for 16, Graveney joined Shep and was out in the final over for 44. Shep, obeying his captain remained on 72 not out at the end as Glos reached 169 for 7.
It still looked a straightforward target as the wicket had now eased and at 94 for 3 with Graham Roope and Younis Ahmed going well Surrey were well on track. Then a stroke of luck occurred as a direct hit from a 70 yard boundary throw by John Mortimore caught Younis by surprise. Mortimore then bowled Roope! Then as Procter came back for his final fling panic set in as Robin Jackman was run out with 22 yards to spare. Procter picked up the final 2 wickets and Surrey had fallen 19 runs short of what had seemed a regulation run chase.
David Shepherd was the popular man of the match for his uncharacteristically subdued innings of 72. Mike Procter wrote in his autobiography "Men like David Shepherd are the ones I'd always have in my team. As a batsman he always played for the team: he'd do anything the skipper asked." Describing this innings he went on to say "He never cared about his batting average yet he made so many effective contributions, particularly in 1973 when we won the Gillette Cup. I particularly remember a superb 72 not out that won us the second match against Surrey, after Geoff Arnold had gone through the batting like a dose of salts."
He certainly went a long way to ensuring the road didn't come to a bumpy end at Bristol and continued on to Essex for a 3rd round tie.
Quarter Final
The road to Lords stopped off at Chelmsford for a Quarter Final tie, where Gloucestershire lost the toss and were asked to bat for the third consecutive time. There didn't seem to be any great reason for Essex electing to field, but things may have been very different if wicketkeeper and captain Brian Taylor hadn't dropped Sadiq off the second ball of the day.
After losing Nicholls for 12, Sadiq and Roger Knight put on another 90 for the 2nd wicket before Sadiq was unluckily run out for 56. A straight drive from Knight was deflected by bowler Ray East onto the stumps with Sadiq stranded a good yard out of his ground. Knight went on to make 60 before being stumped as he looked to increase the scoring rate. At 155 for 3 with 16 overs remaining the Shire lost regular wickets in pursuit of quick runs, with Zaheer holding the innings together before he was out for 45 off the penultimate ball. The score of 236 for 9 was Gloucestershire's highest score in the competition to date.
Knight's good match continued as he removed both Essex openers, Francis and Hardie, after they had seen off Gloucestershire's opening bowlers, Procter and Davey. Taylor and Keith Fletcher then took the score to 104 before captain Tony Brown had Fletcher caught behind by Roy Swetman. This proved a vital breakthrough as it was the first of 6 wickets Essex lost for 26 to slump to 130 for 8. Jack Davey took 2 in an over to remove Taylor and Pont, Knight removed Edmeades and Brown dismissed Hobbs and a young Graham Gooch, batting at 9, cheaply.
At this point it looked all over, but Turner and East scored 67 runs off the next 16 overs to take the score to 197 before Turner offered a straightforward catch to Knight off Davey. Davey took his 4th wicket to wrap the game up shortly afterwards when he bowled last man John Lever to leave Essex all out 30 runs short.
Roger Knight was named man of the match for his all round performance and the win set Gloucestershire up for a mouthwatering semi final with neighbours Worcestershire in 2 weeks time.
Semi-Final
The road moved on to Worcester for the semi final 40 years ago today. Tony Brown won the toss for the first time in the competition and on a scorching day in ideal batting conditions had no hesitation in deciding to bat. Gloucestershiore must have been used to this, having been put in first in each of the previous rounds.
Things didn't start too well as Nicholls and Knight were both out by the time the Gloucestershire score had reached 32 and things could have been worse if Mike Procter had not been dropped in the slips off the first ball he faced from Brian Brain. If Procter was unsure early on, he was also dropped on 18, Sadiq started fluently scoring 45 of the first 70 runs scored before being 3rd out.
Once Procter settled he soon stamped his class on the game as a hammered the Worcestershire bowlers for a six and 9 fours. The main problem he had was finding partners to stay with him for any length of time. After Sadiq, only Zaheer, Shepherd and a young Andy Stovold who had recently taken over the wicketkeeping duties reached double figures.
Procter pulled Gifford for 6 to reach 99, took 2 off the next ball to reach his century and was caught in front of the sightscreen going for another 6 off the following ball in an attempt to score late runs.
The Gloucestershire score of 243 for 8 looked too few for comfort and this was emphasized as Worcestershire's international opening partnership of Ron Headley and Glenn Turner put on 123 for the 1st wicket. Tight bowling meant they could never really cut loose and when Jack Davey removed Headley they had taken 40 of their 60 overs to reach 123, still needing another 121 to win.
D'Olivera went cheaply but with 10 overs left Worcestershire needed 71 and still had 8 wickets left. Turner completed his century, but Imran Khan was out attempting to hit out off Brown and big hitting Yardley promoted up the order was out soon afterwards.
At 203 for 4 Worcestershire needed 43 from the final 6 overs. Procter returned and took the important wicket of Turner with his 2nd ball and Davey removed fellow Kiwi Parker in the next over. Procter then took wickets in each of his next 2 overs leaving Worcestershire 8 wickets down and needing 12 from the final Davey over. They scrambled 7 runs reducing this to 5 needed from the final 2 balls. Off the penultimate ball Ormrod drove the ball back towards Davey who fielded it and ran out Inchmore who was backing up too far. This meant that only a 6 would do for Worcestershire and in the days before fielding restrictions the fielders were spread around the boundary. Ormrod attempted to pull the ball for 6 but it fell well short of Ron Nicholls on the square leg boundary and he gathered it in from beneath the feet of an advancing horde of celebrating Gloucestershire fans and at 7.39pm Gloucestershire were heading for their first Lords Final.
Mike Procter was deservedly named man of the match as the celebrations began.
The Final!
Saturday 1st September 1973, wishful thinking became reality as special trains, coaches and cars took people east from all corners of the county to Lord's for a first ever 1 Day Cup Final for Gloucestershire at the home of cricket. For me, having watched the county live for the first time earlier in the season at both Gloucester and Cheltenham Festivals it meant a nervous time in front of the television with the rest of the family watching my new found heroes up against the strong favourites, Sussex.
Tony Brown won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on the wicket used for the West Indies test match the previous week. As in all previous rounds Gloucestershire were batting first and once again they failed to get off to the best of starts against the Sussex opening attack of John Snow and Tony Greig.
In his 2nd over Snow removed Roger Knight’s middle stump and when Mike Buss replaced Grieg he bowled Zaheer in his 1st over and had Sadiq out lbw in the next. With Gloucestershire at 27 for 3 with both Pakistanis back in the pavilion the feeling was that a lot rested on the broad shoulders of Mike Procter if Gloucestershire were to post a challenging total.
He did not disappoint and after seeing Snow out of the attack soon showed his intentions by lifting Buss high over the mid-wicket boundary for 2 big sixes. With David Shepherd they brought about some much needed stability to the Gloucestershire innings until he lost Shepherd for a patient 11, caught behind with the score on 74. Andy Stovold then provided solid support until Snow, who had been brought back in an attempt to land the ‘big fish’ had him caught behind as well.
At 116 for 5 after 35 overs captain Tony Brown joined Procter with still much to do. With Procter seemingly untroubled and scoring freely, Brown was able to play himself in and before long the Sussex field was being pushed back towards the boundary as the pair stepped up the scoring rate.
In front of the family television the early nerves were starting to calm as we enjoyed the ever increasing flow of runs, but were worried when realizing Procter was on 94, knowing how he liked to bring up milestones in spectacular fashion. Sure enough, he went for the big shot to bring up his century and was well caught in the deep behind square. Nevertheless, he thoroughly deserved the standing ovation for what was later described as a superb Hammondesque innings of precision, power and elegance.
The pair had taken the score to 180 for 6 in the 53rd over and from here Tony Brown took up the mantle supported by youngsters Jim Foat and David Graveney. Foat contributed only 7 of a partnership of 49, but left to much acclaim as his quick running of singles and twos had helped Brown retain much of the strike for the final overs. During his innings Brown fiercely drove Spencer to bring up his fifty before hitting rival captain Greig for 2 towering sixes over the long leg boundary. The innings closed on 248 for 8. He had scored 46 of the 68 runs scored in the last 8 overs finishing on 77 not out.
Sussex began their reply steadily keeping wickets in hand, but tidy Gloucestershire bowling backed up by smart energetic fielding kept the run rate well in check. They reached 52 in the 22nd over before Morley gave a simple catch to Zaheer at mid-wicket off Brown and had moved to 121 in the 39th before Davey picked up the 2nd wicket bowling Prideaux. Geoff Greenidge was bowled by Knight in the 44th over with the score on 155 and this proved to be the turning point as wickets fell steadily after that. It brought Tony Greig to the crease and the feeling was that he would rather not be facing Procter at the start of his innings as he looked to run after dabbing down the first ball he faced. The cover fielders were alerted and moved in a few yards. The second ball thumped into his pads and he set off. Graves sent him back but Foat swooped in and threw down his stumps before he could recover his ground, making it 156 for 4 in the 45th over.
Buss was caught by Graveney at deep point off Knight at 173 for 5. This brought about a procession of wickets in a flurry of flying timber. Knight bowled Griffith before he and Mortimore combined to run out Faber, Procter shattered Snow’s stumps, Knight did the same to Spencer’s and with the 5th ball of the 57th over Procter repeated the feat to bowl Marshall…….and at 7.08 pm Gloucestershire had won the Gillette Cup for the first time. Procter jumped high in the air, Shep did a Devon jig and Foat cartwheeled away before they fled to the safety of the pavilion ahead of the onrushing ecstatic crowd.
Tony Brown collected the trophy as well as the Man of the Match award in front of a rapturous mass of celebrating Gloucestershire supporters.
At 10pm Brown and Procter were the last to leave the celebration strewn Gloucestershire dressing room. Still unchanged and exhausted, no doubt taking in the events of a memorable day.
…and the Celebrations
The following Monday (3rd September) the victorious team set off on open top bus number 248 - the number of runs scored in the final - draped with a 'Glorious Glosters' banner for a 2 day tour of the county.
The first day was spent in and around Bristol where the highlight was a boisterous reception at a Concorde hangar at the BAC in Filton where many of the county's closest supporters had gathered.
The following day the county set off for an 'exhilarating trip' heading north through Downend to Chipping Sodbury, Wotton-under-Edge and Dursley, before arriving in Gloucester an hour late due to the enthusiastic welcomes they were receiving. Gloucester's Eastgate Street was thronged with well-wishers who gave the team a tremendous reception as they dismounted from the bus to appear on the Guildhall balcony.
Then on to Cheltenham to the steps of the Municipal Offices before a 'long sumptuous lunch' at the Whitbread Headquarters. Then it was on to the Stroud Assembley Rooms, before a half time lap of honour at Stroud RFC's Fromehall Ground where Stroud were involved in an early season game against Gloucester.
Finally it was back to Gloucester Guildhall for a full scale reception for the players and officers of the club. With confidence and foresight arrangements for this had been set in motion prior to the final taking place!
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Memory added on October 21, 2013
1 Comment (Add your voice)
In those days the Gillette Cup innings were of 60 overs duration meaning each bowler could send down 12 overs. In his opening spell, Geoff Arnold (then an England bowler) took 4 of the first 5 wickets to fall, and was consistently beating the bat. After Arnold had sent down 10 overs Edrich, the Surrey captain took him off so as to keep a couple of overs for the end of the innings. But when Arnold returned, conditions had eased & he was no longer a threat.. Had Arnold been kept on there is every chance that Shepherd would have gone cheaply & Surrey, not Gloucs would have won the game.
– Richard West, May 10 2014 at 16:57
