Sunday League cricket at 55 (first games Sunday 27th April 1969)
John Arlott in the Guardian on Middlesex v Yorkshire Sunday 27th April 1969
The John Player League a 40 over a side game played from 2pm on Sundays started 55 years ago (and ran until 1987 in that form). A game was shown live on BBC TV every Sunday
The background to it is interesting and was reported by the Guardian in 2018:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2018/jan/30/the-spin-cavalier-cricket-bagenal-harvey-ipl-mcc
John Arlott reported for the Guardian (he was the paper’s cricket correspondent) on Monday 28th April and was, perhaps surprisingly, positive
Middlesex beat Yorkshire by 43 runs at Lord’s yesterday in a splendid advertisement for the over limit cricket of the Sunday League..The match gave all that can be reasonably asked of the players in this competition of high hopes..The end product for the spectator is everyday cricket in a distilled form; not perhaps so profound as the County game but intensive and highly keyed… Those who expected to see a contrived finish with a result achieved only in the last possible over are likely often to be disappointed. If however they are content with a hard match played to a finish within a single afternoon this is their ideal.. The only disappointing aspect of a sunny day was a meagre crowd-only 2400 paid. This cricket is sufficiently fine entertainment to more than pay its way
In the match Geoffrey Boycott was run out for 3, not by a colleague trying to up the scoring rate but by Middlesex’s Price. Middlesex won with a score of 137 in 40 overs. The era of limited overs maximums was still some way off.
From a 2024 perspective its noteworthy that 80 overs were bowled in 5 hours (between old Sunday pub closing and opening times) while the IPL struggles to get through 40 overs in 4 hours. Its also remarkable to think that a sporting event could be sponsored by a cigarette company
Scorecard from Cricinfo
John Player’s County League, 1969
Middlesex v Yorkshire
Lord’s, London
27 April 1969 (40-overs match)
Result: Middlesex won by 43 runs
Toss: Middlesex
Umpires: AE Fagg and A Jepson
Middlesex innings
WE Russell c Binks b Hutton 2
MJ Smith run out 5
*PH Parfitt c Hutton b Old 34
CT Radley b Wilson 23
+JT Murray c Sharpe b Old 4
FJ Titmus c Close b Balderstone 17
RW Hooker run out 12
KV Jones not out 32
RS Herman c Balderstone b Nicholson 1
AN Connolly not out 4
Extras (b 1, nb 2) 3
Total (8 wickets, 40 overs) 137
DNB: JSE Price.
FoW: 1-6, 2-8, 3-63, 4-71, 5-73, 6-94, 7-106, 8-113.
Bowling O M R W
Nicholson 8 1 32 1
Hutton 7 0 33 1
Close 5 1 23 0
Old 8 3 18 2
Wilson 8 1 18 1
Balderstone 4 0 10 1
Yorkshire innings
G Boycott run out 3
PJ Sharpe c Parfitt b Connolly 0
DEV Padgett c Murray b Price 1
JH Hampshire c Jones b Price 9
*DB Close c Radley b Price 6
JC Balderstone run out 5
+JG Binks b Hooker 22
RA Hutton b Hooker 0
CM Old c & b Jones 0
D Wilson c Smith b Jones 46
AG Nicholson not out 0
Extras (lb 1, w 1) 2
Total (all out, 32.2 overs) 94
FoW: 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-10, 5-26, 6-26, 7-74, 8-74, 9-94, 10-94.
Bowling O M R W
Price 8 0 18 3
Connolly 5 2 5 1
Herman 8 2 16 0
Hooker 7 2 18 2
Titmus 3 0 27 0
Jones 1.2 0 8 2
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