It was 50 years ago, on July 20 1974, that Surrey landed their first limited overs trophy, beating Leicestershire by 27 runs in the Benson & Hedges Cup final at Lord’s. Richard Spiller looks back half a century
Silverware was in short supply for Surrey after the glorious run of seven County Championships in the 1950s.
The trophy cabinet took little dusting in the following decade, Micky Stewart leading the side to the Gillette Cup final in 1965 and his patient rebuilding finally coming to fruition when the Championship was reclaimed in 1971.
Three years later, John Edrich was in charge and by now there were three limited overs trophies for counties, the 60-over Gillette having been joined by the John Player League (40) in 1969 and the Benson & Hedges (55) in 1972. All were played with a red ball, wearing whites, with two out of three having lunch and tea intervals. It might have felt revolutionary in the conservative world of county cricket but there was a clear link with the traditional first-class game and light years from the era of powerplays, fielding circles, coloured kit and floodlights.
Edrich’s first season in charge, in 1973, had not been an easy one with some in the dressing room questioning whether he was the right man to be captain. Surrey failed to win a Championship match until early July but a three-wicket success against Warwickshire at The Oval began a run of 11 victories from 14 matches which earned second place to Hampshire.
Missing from the England side since the end of 1972, Edrich’s courage against pace bowling had been badly missed in two series against West Indies and now he recalled – helped by making 106 and 95 in the Test Trial, beloved by selectors of the time and hated by players in – as as they prepared for the following winter’s Ashes tour.
And although Surrey started brightly in the Championship, thrashing Nottinghamshire by 10 wickets inside two days at Guildford and beating Leicestershire by an innings at Grace Road, they would drop to seventh. Edrich’s absence at the top of the order for all but nine matches was amplified by Geoff Arnold being available to take the new ball in only eight – during which he claimed 51 wickets at a miserly 10 apiece – in leading the Test attack. Another familiar face only seen for six outings was leg-spinner Intikhab Alam, captaining Pakistan in three Tests as they shared the summer with India.
So a one-day trophy was Surrey’s best chance, finishing second in the B&H south group through wins over Sussex, Cambridge University and Essex but suffering a 140-run reverse against Kent at Canterbury.
That earned a home quarter-final against Yorkshire, Geoff Howarth’s 80 leading the hosts to 201 all out from 52.5 overs. Barrie Leadbeater (62) and Phil Sharpe (50) put on 76 for the third wicket but Robin Jackman’s 4-35, backed up by Arnold (2-33) and Pat Pocock (2-35) ensured success by 24 runs.
Lancashire had been the outstanding team in the early years of limited overs cricket, home advantage making them favourites in the semi-final. A typically steady 62 from Edrich and Jackman’s aggressive 32 near the end led Surrey to 193-8 on a pitch helping bowlers throughout. The hosts were set back by the loss of England opener David Lloyd (6), one of three victims for just 11 runs in 11 overs for left-arm seamer Alan Butcher. Once Barry Wood (43) and West Indies’ ace Clive Lloyd (50) were removed, Lancashire were rounded up for 130.
Leicestershire, who had seen off Somerset in the last four, would be formidable opposition at Lord’s. They were led by Ray Illingworth, deposed as England captain the previous summer after a long reign and keen to show he was still a force.
A crowd of 20,260 gathered, Edrich batting first upon winning the toss but his side finding a low and slow pitch making it difficult to score runs against an experienced attack led by two former Test seamers – Ken Higgs and Australia’s Graham McKenzie.
Edrich could only muster 18 from the first 24 overs while watching Lonsdale Skinner (0) and Howarth (22) depart at the other end. Younis Ahmed’s natural timing saw him make 43 more fluently, only to fall just before lunch and when Edrich’s 40 was terminated by a return catch to left-arm spinner John Steele it was 111-4 in the 36th over.
Leicestershire would pay dearly for missing a chance off Jackman early on and his 36 was like gold dust. The end of the innings was hastened by Higgs claiming only the second hat-trick in B&H history as he removed Butcher, Pocock and Arnold Long before adding Jackman soon after, Surrey all out for 170.
“When I got out just after lunch, and you shouldn’t get out at that stage, Arthur McIntyre [coach] said ‘we’re not going to be able to get enough runs,” recalled Edrich in the History of Surrey CCC video by Michael Burns, released in 1992, which can be seen on YouTube.
“We’d really written it off. It was going to be difficult to defend 170.”
They were given an immediate boost when Geoff Arnold had Barry Dudleston LBW from the first ball of the reply.
Graham Roope’s military medium pace struck two vital blows when the score had reached 46 after 19 overs, first trapping Mick Norman (24) – who was batting some way out of his crease – LBW and then Roger Tolchard, despite the wicketkeeper being way down the pitch, both times little more than a strangled appeal being answered in the affirmative by umpire Bill Alley.
Roope, interviewed in the same film, admitted on the Norman dismissal: “I appealed as much to stop a run being scored. You do in the pro game.
“There was a big shout and he [Alley] had his finger up, so I thought fair enough.”
“Then Roger Tolchard came out and I bowled a couple of maidens at him. He obviously thought ‘I’ve got to do something about this” because with the ball not bouncing he couldn’t get on the front foot and drive. So he decided to run down the wicket at me. I saw him coming and just pulled it down a little bit. It was a straight ball and he missed it.
“Again, there was another big shout, I turned round and there’s Mr Alley with his finger up again.”
Australian Alley – who joined the Test panel the following season – was regarded as more of an “outer” than some but his generosity to Roope appalled Leicestershire, who never forgave him. When he officiated in a match at Leicester a week later, his reception was somewhere between frosty and arctic.
Opener John Steele’s 18 had taken him 20 overs before he was run out, Arnold returning to have the dangerous Brian Davison (13) caught at cover. Butcher’s 11 overs cost just 11 while off-spinner Pocock, despite having such a tight budget, proved mightily effective in the final stages, bowling Chris Balderstone for 32 before adding Norman McVicker (10) and having McKenzie neatly stumped by Arnold Long for a duck. Illingworth, limping heavily, was effectively Leicestershire’s last hope, being bowled by Arnold for 23 and Jackman finished things off when Peter Booth was caught in the offside ring.
The Foxes were all out for 143, Surrey claiming the cup and Edrich being handed the gold award for both his staunch innings and stewardship of his attack in such tight circumstances.
Leicestershire gained compensation soon enough, winning both the Championship and B&H a year later, but Surrey would have to wait until 1982 to claim one-day honours again.
Although Edrich, Jackman and Roope have all died now, the bulk of that 1974 winning team will be at the Kia Oval next week for a 50th anniversary celebration during the Surrey v Yorkshire match in the Metro Bank 50.
Back, from left: Dudley Owen-Thomas, Robin Jackman, Geoff Arnold, Pat Pocock, Graham Roope, Younis Ahmed, Lonsdale Skinner.
Front: Geoff Howarth, Stewart Storey, Arthur McIntyre (coach), John Edrich (capt), Arnold Long, Mike Edwards, Alan Butcher.
