Two Friends members, Paul Robinson and Paul Hand share their recollections of a memorable match at Queen’s Park.

Paul Robinson is a lifelong resident of Chesterfield and has been attending Derbyshire games at Queen’s Park since the early seventies. His favourite Derbyshire players of all time are Bob Taylor and Mike Hendrick. Since taking retirement he’s been able to reconnect with the sport, becoming a member of Derbyshire CCC for the first time in many years as well as joining Friends of Queen’s Park Cricket. He’s also developed a taste for watching the England team abroad.

PR: I remember the summer of 1975 with fondness. At the grand old age of 16 I left school in early July and was due to start employment towards the end of August. In between times I was able to take in a lot of cricket at Queen’s Park including the County Championship game v Yorkshire and the Australian tour match featuring the likes of Ian Chappell, Rodney Marsh and Jeff Thomson. The biggest occasion though was the eagerly awaited visit of Middlesex in the Gillette Cup semi-final.

PH: I was ten at the time and in my first year of Derbyshire CCC Junior Membership. I’d been to see parts of Derbyshire matches at Queen’s Park previously – sufficient for me to know the names of some of the players and even recognise them. but this game was a different level. MY team were through to a semi-final and we were playing at the Park. The slight problem was we were playing Middlesex – a team full of test stars that had just got to the Final of the Benson & Hedges Cup. On the day we packed our huge supply of sandwiches and a flask and then we were ready. We got into the ground and there was still a reasonable choice of seats but as we got nearer the start time the crowd got bigger and bigger. The raised seating at the Lake end must have been strong as they were absolutely packed. People were already standing on the Bank and in the spaces between the raised seats.

PR: Why was Queen’s Park selected to stage the tie? Well, apart from the obvious reason there was also the fact that the County Ground in Derby was closed for cricket for a couple of years due to a dispute with Derby Council. As a consequence, games were spread across the county (and beyond) with Ilkeston, Burton, Buxton (where snow stopped play v Lancashire), Long Eaton, Heanor and Darley Dale (yes, really) as well as Queen’s Park. As for the game itself, I remember taking my seat towards the front of the pavilion alongside the regular faces. Amongst us were a number of very loud Middlesex supporters who had made the trip from Lord’s to these far more salubrious surroundings. The park was heaving. I don’t know how many were there but I hadn’t witnessed as many before. Even the television cameras were making a rare appearance.

PH: The game didn’t start on time because of some early morning rain but when the players came on to practice, I was open mouthed at seeing my Derbyshire heroes and my Dad pointing out the likes of Mike Brearley, John Murray, Fred Titmus plus the other Middlesex players and every time he seemed to say, ‘and he plays for England as well’. The crowd had got even bigger when I thought it was full half an hour ago! I look back and shudder at the people literally packed like sardines in the ground – this was way before any Health and Safety considerations were imposed.

PR: Middlesex batted first and one of their openers was their captain, a certain Mike Brearley. I stand to be corrected but I believe this was his only appearance at the ground. They also had a batsman called Larry Gomes, who was to return to the ground the following year with the West Indies touring team. I only have 2 real memories of that Middlesex innings. One was the tremendous reception given to their veteran wicket keeper John Murray as he walked out to bat for the last time at Queen’s Park (I believe he was due to retire at the end of the season). The other was seeing Norman Featherstone hit 3 sixes, one of which was beautifully caught in the crowd just a few rows in front of me, on his way to a top score of 70. This went down well with the visiting contingent who referred to him by his nickname Smokey. I never found out why he was called that. The visitors scored a total of 207 all out, not quite using up their 60 overs. Whilst this total would be considered derisory in modern day cricket it was around par for the course back then. Even so, the general feeling amongst Derbyshire CCC supporters was that 208 in 60 overs was very ‘gettable’ and we were already planning our trip to Lord’s for the final.

PH: The word around the people we were sitting with was that it should be an easy game for the southerners to win but we were not without hope. Middlesex were only 29-2 after 12 overs thanks to a terrific performance from Mike Hendrick who would go on to figures of 4-16 off 11.5 overs. Unfortunately, our Mystery Spin Twins – Venkat and Fred Swarbrook, didn’t prove any mystery at all conceding 115 runs between them although Fred did pick up two big wickets.

PR: The Middlesex attack contained future England quick Mike Selvey and veteran spinner Fred Titmus. Left arm spinner Phil Edmonds was the new kid on the block having made his England debut against the Aussies just the previous week. They pegged us back early on and despite a bright start, with Headley hitting 57 in an opening partnership of 81, Derbyshire found runs hard to come by. Wickets started to fall too often and when Phil Sharpe was eventually out for a painstakingly slow but nonetheless valuable 55, we were 5 or 6 down for around 150. The run rate required had gone up from 3 and a bit to more than 5 an over. This was considered to be really challenging back then.

PH: All sporting events and crowds are inhabited by eccentric characters and Queen’s Park had one of the most significant and memorable at that time –‘ Hotcakes Harry’. Harry worked at all Derbyshire games selling scorecards, yearbooks, raffle tickets and souvenirs. He acquired his nickname because, no matter what he was selling, he’d shout “get ‘em now, last few, they’re selling like hot cakes”. ‘Hotcakes Harry’ gave me a rosette which I have still got today, (see photo).

PR: I have vague memories of both Fred Swarbrook and Phil Russell being run out as we tried in vain to chase runs towards the end of the innings. Alan Ward came in and hit a six at the pavilion end but they were his only runs and before you knew it, we were all out for a disappointing 183. Apart from our 2 openers, who had both hit half centuries, Bolus was our top scorer with 18. We didn’t even have the consolation of winning the man of the match award. I thought Mike would be nailed on for his 4/16 but it went to that man ‘Smokey’ and he stepped up to receive his trophy in front of the vociferous visiting fans, who by now were beginning to get on my nerves.

PH: At 120 –1 with just under twenty overs left I was dreaming of going to a Lord’s Final in my first year of membership. I checked that my membership card (see photo) was still in my pocket as I would probably need this to buy tickets for the Final. Although we had a collapse to 142-4 there were still 11 overs left and surely, we would still get there? Things got worse and we tumbled further to 162-7. The final part of the game was more than ade described by Alan Gibson in his report for The Times the following day. ‘The last phase of play became hysterical … Derbyshire seemed to have forgotten reason in their calculations. They died swishing when they still had time for a nudge or two.’

PR: A disappointing end to a promising day. Ah well, there’s always next year and we had our consolation when Middlesex lost to Lancashire in the final with ‘Smokey’ Featherstone being dismissed for a duck. At least that made me smile.

PH: I was devastated – I wouldn’t be going to Lord’s and I tried to relieve the disappointment by joining a huge queue for autographs, which were freely given. It was a great day despite a defeat which really should have been a win – it was a crushing disappointment. Little did I know that my dream of going to Lord’s would be realised just three years later when the mighty Derbyshire CCC got through to the Final of the Benson & Hedges Cup!