1978 Gillette Cup final
Event | 1978 Gillette Cup | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Sussex won by five wickets | |||||||
Date | 2 September 1978 | ||||||
Venue | 1979 → |
The 1978 Gillette Cup Final was a cricket match between Somerset County Cricket Club and Sussex County Cricket Club played on 2 September 1978 at Lord's in London. It was the sixteenth final of the Gillette Cup, which had been the first domestic tournament to pit first-class cricket sides against each other in a knock-out competition. This was Sussex's sixth appearance in the final, which they had previously won twice, while Somerset had lost in their only previous final.
Both teams entered the competition in the first round; Somerset faced first-class opposition in each of the four rounds prior to the final. In their semi-final match against
Background
The Gillette Cup was first contested in 1963, as the first English domestic knock-out competition between
Route to the final
Somerset entered the tournament in the first round, in which they beat Warwickshire by six wickets,[5] aided primarily by a score of 139 not out by Viv Richards, who was later named man of the match.[6] In their second round match against Glamorgan, Somerset scored 330 for 4, the highest total in that year's competition. Peter Denning scored 145 runs, while Joel Garner bowled six overs and conceded just five runs.[7] Garner's bowling was once again miserly in the quarter-final against Kent; he conceded five runs in nine overs, though Colin Dredge was named as the man of the match for his four wickets, which helped Somerset to a five-wicket victory.[8] In the semi-final, Somerset batted first, and helped by another century from Richards, scored 287 for 6. In their response, Essex kept up with the required run rate, and needed three runs to win from the final ball of the match. The batsmen managed two runs, but Neil Smith was run out attempting the third run, and as a result the scores were tied. Somerset advanced to the final, as they had lost fewer wickets; six to ten.[9]
Sussex also took part in the first round, facing
Match
Summary
In his preview of the final, John Woodcock, the cricket correspondent for The Times rated Somerset as the favourites. He cited the talent of Richards as their primary asset, but asserted that they were "not a one man side". He noted that Sussex also relied upon their overseas players, Javed Miandad and Imran Khan, but that they would need to be backed up by Sussex's other players for them to have a chance of victory.[15] The match was played at Lord's in London, as had every previous final of the competition, and play began at 10:30, with a lunch break scheduled for 12:45 to 13:25, and a 15-minute tea interval after 25 overs of the second innings.[16]
The Sussex captain, Arnold Long, won the toss and chose to bowl first, hoping that morning dew might give his bowlers an advantage.[16] Brian Rose scored 14 runs from the first over, bowled by Imran, who later took Somerset's first wicket,[15] bowling Denning before the batsman had scored a run.[17] That brought Richards to the crease, and Long immediately changed both of his bowlers, replacing the quick bowling of the openers with the slower deliveries of Giles Cheatle and John Spencer. Cheatle dismissed Rose in his first over, caught down the leg side by the wicket-keeper, Long after scoring 44 runs. Peter Roebuck also got out to Cheatle, scoring nine runs before being caught by Mendis.[16] Botham joined Richards in the middle, and immediately scored a four with a straight drive, followed by two hooks for sixes.[16] Cheatle and Spencer each bowled their entire allocation of 12 overs without a break, and were followed by the introduction of another slow bowler, John Barclay.[18] Although Richards finished as the competition's leading run-scorer,[19] Woodcock said that he struggled to score fluently, particularly against the spin bowling of Barclay and Cheatle.[15] In the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack's summary of the season, Jack Alridge praised Long's captaincy in the final, highlighting the use of slower bowling against Richards and Ian Botham as being particularly commendable.[20] Vic Marks, who also played in the match for Somerset, suggested that Botham was the only Somerset batsman to play with freedom, and said that the rest of the team were nervous and intimidated by the prospect of winning Somerset's first trophy.[21] Richards scored 44 runs, and Botham 80, including three sixes, but none of the rest of the middle- or lower-order batsmen made a significant score and Somerset finished their innings on 207 for 7. Along with Barclay, Spencer bowled particularly economically for Sussex.[15]
Sussex began their run-chase well; Barclay and Gehan Mendis scored 93 runs together, surviving a spell of attacking fast bowling from Garner and Dredge early on.[15] Mendis had broken his thumb shortly before the final, and in the third over, it was fractured again, but he continued to bat.[20] When Somerset did make a breakthrough, after 24 overs, they collected four wickets for the addition of seventeen runs. Mendis was the first man out, caught by Marks off the bowling of Graham Burgess, followed by Barclay who was caught hooking a delivery from Botham. Miandad was dismissed without scoring, and shortly thereafter, Imran was caught and bowled by Botham for three.[15] Rose then chose to replace his bowlers, and against the less incisive bowling of Keith Jennings and Burgess, Parker and Paul Phillipson were able to establish a 97-run partnership, which brought Sussex to within five runs of their winning target,[16] before Phillipson was by caught by the wicket-keeper, Derek Taylor off the bowling of Dredge. Woodcock thought that Botham in particular bowled too short against Phillipson, who he suggested would have been susceptible to a yorker.[15] In Wisden, Eric Hill opined that Botham's short-pitched bowling, which was a feature of his play late in the season, was due to him being overused by England and Somerset through the year.[22] Parker scored the winning runs to secure a five-wicket victory for Sussex with 41 deliveries remaining.[17]
Scorecard
Batsman
|
Method of dismissal | Runs |
---|---|---|
Brian Rose * | c Long b Cheatle | 30 |
Peter Denning | b Imran Khan | 0 |
Viv Richards | c Arnold b Barclay | 44 |
Peter Roebuck | c Mendis b Cheatle | 9 |
Ian Botham | b Imran Khan | 80 |
Vic Marks | c Arnold b Barclay | 4 |
Graham Burgess | run out | 3 |
Derek Taylor † | not out | 13 |
Joel Garner | not out | 8 |
Keith Jennings | did not bat | – |
Colin Dredge | did not bat | – |
Extras | (10 leg-byes, 6 no-balls) | 16 |
Totals | (60 overs) | 207/7 |
Bowler
|
Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Imran Khan | 12 | 1 | 50 | 2 | 4.17 |
Geoff Arnold | 12 | 2 | 43 | 0 | 3.58 |
John Spencer | 12 | 3 | 27 | 0 | 2.25 |
Giles Cheatle | 12 | 3 | 50 | 2 | 4.17 |
John Barclay | 12 | 3 | 21 | 2 | 1.75 |
Batsman
|
Method of dismissal | Runs |
---|---|---|
John Barclay | c Roebuck b Botham | 44 |
Gehan Mendis | c Marks b Burgess | 44 |
Paul Parker | not out | 62 |
Javed Miandad | c Taylor b Garner | 0 |
Imran Khan | c and b Botham | 3 |
Paul Phillipson | c Taylor b Dredge | 32 |
Stewart Storey | not out | 0 |
Arnold Long * † | did not bat | – |
John Spencer | did not bat | – |
Geoff Arnold | did not bat | – |
Giles Cheatle | did not bat | – |
Extras | (1 byes, 9 leg-byes, 9 no-balls, 7 wides) | 26 |
Totals | (53.1 overs) | 211/5 |
Bowler
|
Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Joel Garner | 12 | 3 | 34 | 1 | 2.83 |
Colin Dredge | 10 | 2 | 26 | 1 | 2.60 |
Ian Botham | 12 | 1 | 65 | 2 | 5.42 |
Keith Jennings | 9 | 1 | 29 | 0 | 3.22 |
Graham Burgess | 10 | 2 | 27 | 1 | 2.70 |
Peter Denning | 0.1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24.00 |
Umpires:
Post-match
Parker was selected as the
References
Scorecard
- "Somerset v Sussex: Gillette Cup 1978 (Final)". CricketArchive. The Cricketer. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
Specific
- ^ a b "Knockout cups: Winners". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ a b Gibson, Alan (4 September 1978). "Somerset fail off the last ball". The Times. No. 60397. London. p. 6 – via Gale.
- ^ "Player profile: Tony Greig". CricketArchive. The Cricketer. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Greig leaving Sussex". The Times. No. 60351. London. 12 July 1978. p. 12 – via Gale.
- ^ a b "Gillette Cup (England), 1978: Matches". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), 1st Round: Somerset v Warwickshire at Taunton, Jul 5, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), 2nd Round: Glamorgan v Somerset at Cardiff, Jul 19–20, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), Quarter-Final: Kent v Somerset at Canterbury, Aug 2–3, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ Gibson, Alan (17 August 1978). "Richards is again the architect as Somerset losses show a profit". The Times. No. 60382. London. p. 7 – via Gale.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), 1st Round: Sussex v Suffolk at Hove, Jul 5, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), 2nd Round: Staffordshire v Sussex at Stone, Jul 19–20, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), Quarter-Final: Yorkshire v Sussex at Leeds, Aug 2–4, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), Quarter-Final: Yorkshire v Sussex at Leeds, Aug 4, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ "Gillette Cup (England), Semi-Final: Sussex v Lancashire at Hove, Aug 16, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Woodcock, John (2 September 1978). "Somerset's weekend date with history". The Times. No. 60396. London. p. 5 – via Gale.
- ^ a b c d e Preston 1979, pp. 654–58.
- ^ a b "Gillette Cup (England), Final: Somerset v Sussex at Lord's, Sep 2, 1978". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ISBN 0-7524-3469-1.
- ^ "Batting and fielding in Gillette Cup 1978 (ordered by runs)". CricketArchive. The Cricketer. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ a b Preston 1979, pp. 547–48.
- ^ Marks 1984, pp. 61–63.
- ^ Preston 1979, pp. 514–15.
- ^ Marks 1984, p. 70.
- ^ "The Sunday League 1969–2005: Winners". ESPNcricinfo. ESPN. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-285-62631-0.
- ISBN 0-354-09080-1.