Classic Match - Vs Glam, '97
The Hero
By Dave Buxton
February 5 2003
The season is fast approaching & to bring it in, every week we'll be looking at a classic Essex match from season's past. Today, we start with what for me has to be the most brilliant match I've been to, a match that had everything & more. The 1997 NatWest Trophy Semi vs Glamorgan at Chelmsford.
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When I woke up on 12th August 1997 I as well as the packed Chelmsford crowd didn't have a clue as to what we were about to witness.
It was semi-final day of the then NatWest Trophy, a competition that was 60-overs-a-side and after a good chase vs Notts in the quarters, Glamorgan came to Chelmsford, themselves having a good chase to beat Yorkshire by 1 wicket the round previous.
I was only 14 at the time and had never been to match of such importance except for the pervious year's Semi at The Oval and with a final place at stake, I was really up for it.
Myself, my brother and my dad arrived in Chelmsford at just gone 10:00am and with a 10:30am start, we hunted for a space to park the car. Once we found one, we took the 10 minute walk to the ground and got there to see a full house ready to go as well and with it being a glorious summer's day, we waited for the players to arrive.
Such was the number of tickets sold and not one available on the day, part of the outfield in front of the pavilion was used to house fans and infact was also where we were to purch for the day.
After decent chases in recent weeks, when Essex captain Nasser Hussain won the toss, it was no surprise that he decided to bowl first and chase once more. Regular skipper Paul Prichard was still out injured, so the team lined up as follows; Robinson, Stuart & Danny Law, Hussain, Irani, Grayson, Rollins, Cowan, Hodgson, Ilott and Such.
Mark Ilott and Ashley Cowan opened the bowling and the in-form Steve James and Hugh Morris opened the batting for the visitors and straight away they both showed their intentions by hitting 13 off the first 10 balls, until Morris slashed at one to many from Cowan and hit it direct to Stuart Law at point for the breakthrough.
13-1 after 2 overs gradually progressed up to 115-1 in the 30th over, as Dale and James steadily, without any fireworks, moved the scoreboard along.
A brief shower in between that partnership had the players off the field for around 45 minutes and so intense had the heat been over the past few days, meant the shower was so refreshing for all.
When they retured over an hour later, Dale and James took their 2nd wicket partnership along to 102, before Paul Grayson took the first of his 2 wickets, by getting Dale caughy by Cowan for 45.
After that, came two more substantial partnerships as the Sophia Gardens outfit looked to build on the good start. Matt Maynard played his usual aggressive self before he was run out for 26, while Tony Cottey looked as lively as ever with his quickfire 56, including reverse sweeps off Peter Such, until Mark Ilott came back to remove him, Grayson taking the catch.
In between that, saw Steve James reach a fantastic 109. It wasn't particularly pretty at times with so many singles, but he held up one end brilliantly and any hundred is a good hundred.
James departed on 251-4, after sharing 50 with his captain Maynard and 86 with Cottey, but once Cottey himself went, Glam were looking like their good early work was to be undone, with the score 276-5 with only 3 overs to go.
Credit to Essex of course in coming back into the match and sticking at it and with the atmosphere inside the Chelmsford ground really building up, some more fireworks took place in the last 3 overs.
Crofty lofted Ilott into the Hayes Close End, before slicing at a similar shot to third man. Suchy running in dropped the chance diving for the catch, but recovered so well and his accurate throw over the stumps to Rollins had Croft run out on the second run for 14.
Both Shaw and Darren Thomas made 1 before being run out and caught respectively. Thomas was out off the last ball of the innings and with Gary Butcher unbeaten on 18, Glamorgan finished on 301-8 from their 60 overs. Larry took 2-51 from 9 and Cowan 2-62 from 12.
With such an exciting chase about to commence, the crowd and myself waited eagerly for the players to return to the action.
The sun was beating down harder than ever now and those in shade were very fortunate! Obviously though the sun got to the Glam bowlers rather than the Essex batters of Robinson and Stuart Law, as they smashed their way to 150 for the 1st wicket inside only 24 overs on another Chelmsford belter.
With one of the world's quickest bowlers, Waqar Younis on show for the Welsh side and one of the best batsman not to play more often for Australia on Essex's side, the crowd were anticipating an excellent battle. So it turned out, as Law hit Waqar around Chelmsford with ease.
Such now was the atmosphere and intense in the middle, that after bowling the final ball of one of his over's, Waqar was so slow in getting back down to fine leg, that the ball was flicked down there and infact went past Waqar as he turned around! That prompted chants from the crowd 'Waqar wasn't watching'!; to which brought mass laughter, even from the Glam faithful.
Back to the match itself and Robinson hit a fine 62 before falling to Watkin. Hussain made 28 before he went the same way and then came the controversy, just to add to the spice. Darren Thomas bowled what looked like an unintentional beamer, which hit Law on his elbow. Law responded by chucking his bat on the floor and from there sparks started to fly. Law proceeded to hit Butcher for a 6 over his head and being a no-ball, 8 runs were scored. However, Butcher gained his revenge by getting Stuey for a brilliant 90, although at 195-3 after 36 overs, Essex were fully in control.
Especially with Ronnie in top form scoring 51 and he took the lower order through to what seemed a win.
Danny Law cracked a straight six from Waqar in making 17 and Paul Grayson made 22, before Thomas got them both and then when Robert Rollins and Ash Cowan gave their wickets away, all of a sudden it was game on. Essex collasped from 256-4 to 295-7 and then more controversy arose.
Thomas got Ronnie lbw, but in appealing to the umpire and with Ronnie setting off for a single, trouble began. With both looking the other way, when the umpire put his finger up, Thomas turned and punched the air to celebrate, only to accidentally hit Ronnie on his helmet as his arm followed through. Again, it looked harmless, but Ronnie laid on the floor for a few minutes in shock of the blow, while Thomas looked at his fist! Once all had settled down, youngster Tim Hodgson and the experienced Mark Ilott were now in a pressure cooker.
Of course, with the delay for rain, the 8:00pm cut-off time was fast approaching and with the light badly fading, Maynard brough back his weapon, Waqar, for one last throw of the dice.
Now, facing Waqar at the best of times is a hard task, let alone in near pitch-black and when Hodgson stuck his bat out a yorker and missed by a mile, although it didn't bowl him, the fact that no one could see what was going on meant Ramble decided to ask the umpires to take the players off. Those who watched on tele probably didn't realise how dark it was and while the umpires conferred, Crofty came over to confront Ramble. Of course, everyone, even those who don't like cricket, know what happened next! Both players pushed eachother to spark cheers from the crowd and that itself made the News At Ten 'bong' in the headlined that night!
The umpires though decided it was rightly too dark and play for the day ended, with Essex on 296-8, though with 7 overs still to go, it was just a question of either Essex scoring the remaining 6 runs, or Glamorgan taking the last 2 wickets.
So, with the reserve day needed, most of the crowd, including myself, decided to stay home and watch the last few moments on tele and so the atmosphere at Chelmsford was not quite the same as the day previous.
A short delay for the night's rain and the soaking-up only made tensions higher and so when play resumed, you could hear a pin drop around the ground.
Essex got to within 3 runs of victory through 3 singles off Waqar, before Thomas took his 5th wicket, getting Hodgson to edge to Shaw and the score stood at 299-9.
Then, cometh the hour, cometh the man, as Peter Such strolled to the crease the only way he knew how and had five balls to block, while Ilott (1*) would try and score 3 from the next over. Not renowned for his batting, Suchy really got behind the first 4 balls, blocking immaculately, until the final ball. Thomas tried for the yorker, but got it too full and Suchy (4*) just punched it through the gap to the boundary boards for four and seal a remarkable 1 wicket win in a remarkable game of cricket.
This sparked celebrations in the dressing room, all over Essex and inside my house and Essex were there, at Lord's. We went onto win the Trophy and erase memories from the previous year's final, but nothing will erase memories of this special match. Suchy the hero. What a game!
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Date: 5/2/03