Dave Allen: Knock Out Cups v Northamptonshire

2022 is the 60^th season of single innings, limited-overs matches between first-class counties. Over those years the matches, always scheduled for one day but sometimes extended or shortened by weather, have been contested over various formats with overs consisting of 65, 60, 55, 50, 45 or 40 per side. They were the first regular county competitions to carry the names of sponsors of which there have been many. Despite all these variations the matches are together known as List A to distinguish them from first-class or Twenty 20 games.

We have rarely met Northamptonshire in any of the knock-out competitions and perhaps that is just as well since we have lost more often than we have won, including two semi-finals. Our first meeting with them was in 1976 in the semi-final of the Gillette Cup with both sides hoping for a first visit to a Lord’s Final. Given that it was a 60-over game it was a low-scoring affair with some of the bowlers, not least John Dye (20 from 12 overs) difficult to get away. Hampshire batted first, minus Greenidge and Roberts who were touring with the West Indies and lost openers Rice and Richards with just 30 on the board. David Turner played superbly for his 86, adding 78 with Trevor Jesty but the innings closed on 215-7. Northants seemed to be winning comfortably at 180-3 (Virgin 82) until Rice and Jesty caused a collapse. They slipped to 211-8 but then Safraz Nawaz and Bishen Bedi whose 12 overs had cost just 31 runs saw them home with just one ball to spare. Northants then beat Lancashire in the Final; their first Trophy in any competition.

We played them regularly in the limited-overs leagues but our next knock-out cup meeting was another semi-final again at Southampton in 1990 and it was even closer. This time Northants batted first and after PJ Bakker took an early wicket, they compiled a series of stands so that although Allan Lamb top-scored with just 58 they posted 284 in exactly 60 overs – Marshall took 1-37 in his 12 overs, while Cardigan Connor had four expensive wickets (4-73). Hampshire lost Chris Smith for a ‘duck’ but from 55-3, David Gower (86) and Malcolm Marshall (77) rescued them and with Mark Nicholas (29) they reached 246-4. Then wickets fell regularly and when PJ Bakker was run out from the last ball of the match, Northants had won by one run. They returned to Lord’s and another meeting with Lancashire but this time lost the Final.

In 1992 rain interrupted an early B&H game in the season when we would win the Trophy. We got going eventually on the second day in a match restricted to 33 overs per side and in the first innings there was a terrific duel between David Gower (118*) and Curtley Ambrose (3-27). We finished on 197-6 then Rob Bailey with a not out century led Northants close in reply but they lost two wickets on 184 & 187 and finished seven runs short of the winning target.

One year later, defending the B&H Cup we met them again at Southampton in a quarter-final where our score of 223-7 was mostly built on Paul Terry’s 76 (Ambrose 2-30) but they lost just three wickets in winning the game with eight balls to spare (Nigel Felton 73). The scheduled game in the RL Cup in 2014 saw us post 249 before rain prevented further play.