HISTORY OF THE CLUB | KENT CRICKET (original) (raw)

In the 13 seasons between 1967 and 1979, eleven trophies were won.

The success in the Gillette Cup in 1967, was followed by the County Championship in 1970, in Kent Cricket’s Centenary Year.

Successes followed with the John Player League in 1972, a double success with the Benson & Hedges Cup and the John Player League in 1973, the Gillette Cup again in 1974, a further double of the Benson & Hedges Cup and the John Player League again in 1976, the County Championship once more in 1977, the Championship again the following year, to which was added the Benson & Hedges Cup.

In those same years, the runners-up spot was achieved in the Championship in 1967, 1968 and 1972; in the John Player League in 1970 and 1979, and the County were losing finalists in the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1977 and in the Gillette Cup in 1971.

During this time, Kent were able to field a side which would have compared well with any World XI.

Playing for England were Cowdrey (21 Test Caps in this time), Denness (28), Knott (89), Luckhurst (21) Underwood (72) and Woolmer (15). Asif Iqbal won 40 caps playing for Pakistan, whilst Bernard Julien (24) and John Shepherd (5) were West Indian stars.

It may well be that, had it not been for this level of Test calls, Kent could have matched the achievements of Yorkshire, who dominated the Championship in the inter-war years, and Surrey, who did so in the 1950s. But it says much for the team spirit and talent that, having been deprived of these players through Test calls, those from the 2nd X1 were able to meet the challenge and ensure sustained success for so long. Another source of pride over this period was the amount of talent which came from within the County.

A further feature was the level of support which the Club enjoyed in this period and the respect won by the players not only in the County but in the much wider world.

Spectators remember joining queues in the early morning outside the ‘St. Lawrence Ground’ not just to gain a good vantage point from which to view the match, but to ensure entry before the gates were closed!

A close examination of the records of some who played a major part in the successes of “The Glory Years” justifies favourable comparison with those of that earlier period of success. Derek Underwood’s 2,224 first-class wickets, the 26,000 runs of Mike Denness and the 22,200 of Brian Luckhurst, making them the finest opening partnership in the County’s history, Colin Cowdrey’s 42,700 during which he became the third Kent player to complete a century of centuries, Alan Knott’s 1,260 wicket- keeping dismissals and 17,400 runs with an average of 30.47, and the all-round abilities of Graham Johnson, Asif Iqbal, Bernard Julien, John Shepherd, Bob Woolmer and Chris Cowdrey.

Particularly, it was the abilities of the all-rounders that were such an important factor in the success of this period.

In one other respect, the team gained a deserved reputation: in the field there was no more outstanding a side, and if one person shone through more than the others, and thrilled the crowd with his outfielding which had such an impact, it was Alan Ealham who led the side in 1978, the last time Kent won the Championship.

In those years of success there were more than 50 instances of batsmen scoring in excess of 1,000 runs per season, yet only 8 instances of bowlers exceeding 100 wickets in a season – a much harder game for them on covered wickets!

Yet it would be invidious to compare the talent of those who played such an important part in the successes of the 1960s and 1970s with that of the years when the Championship was won before the First World War, given the intense pressures under which the players found themselves in the latter period compared to that of the early part of the 20th Century.

Although there were three Championship successes, it was in the limited overs competitions that the teams of the time enjoyed such success. The Gillette Cup (now the Royal London Cup) was won twice, the Benson & Hedges Cup three times and the Sunday League also on three occasions.

In the three limited overs competitions from the start of what was the Gillette Cup in 1963 up to 1980, the County’s batsmen scored a total of 25 hundreds and there were well over 200 individual scores of more than 50.

The bowlers emphasised the all-round abilities of the side, with four wickets in an innings being taken on almost 100 occasions with 5 in an innings 15 times.

Outstanding among the batsmen was Brian Luckhurst, with 7 hundreds and 38 fifties, whilst among the bowlers, Derek Underwood took in excess of 450 wickets.

The best individual bowling performance for the County in this period was recorded by Alan Dixon in the match against Surrey in 1967 with a return of 7-15.

In 1975, Colin Cowdrey announced that it would be his last season of first class cricket. He had played for 26 seasons and had led the side for 15 of them, the final years with great success.

In his last season he was responsible for Kent’s first victory against the Australians in more than 75 years. Accepting the challenge of scoring 354 runs in the final innings at more than a run a minute, he finished on 151 not out, a knock described in the 1976 Annual as “an impeccable and chanceless display of batting which will long be remembered.”