Left them in a bit of a pickle

Change of formation after falling 28-0 behind may have backfired.

His 5-29 against Surrey made him the youngest player in JPL history to take a 5 wicket haul (18yrs 234days) and in 1985 Small would become the youngest to 100 wickets in the League when taking 3-36 against Derbyshire at Edgbaston.

Many happy returns, Gladstone

You may like my upcoming book on the history of the JPL: 25% off online at Waterstones until tomorrow!

For more JPL memories (including my selections for best English and best overseas JPL sides):
www.starsonsundaybook.com

Next Sunday: JPL Yearbook team of the season for 1974…

Ealham was an ideal 12th man, offering strong batting (285 runs at 40.7) couple with brilliant fielding ability.

Please send your nominations for your best JPL eleven (covering the years 1969-86) to [email protected]

Overall results compiled and chosen team announced in 3 weeks time.

Cartwright and Lever also gained inclusion because of their ability to contain the opposition. No one was more economical than Cartwright in the 1973 JPL, where his 102 overs cost only 243. Lever combined wicket-taking (20) with economy (3.2)

given he captured his 15 wickets at 26.1 The batting ability of Engineer gained him the wicketkeeping spot in the side, and once again Underwood was the leading spinner, heading the bowling averages (21 wickets costing 11 each) at an economy rate of 3.2

Asif Iqbal was a more contentious choice, averaging under 30 with the bat, but his abilities as a back-up seamer and his fielding ability won him a place in the middle order. Procter was once again a simple choice for the selectors, but the inclusion of county colleague Tony Brown more of a surprise

and the next two slots went to the competition’s top run scorers for the 1973 season, Luckhurst and Hampshire.
Luckhurst’s 9 innings included 2 centuries and 2 half centuries, whilst Hampshire’s 668 runs was, at the time, a competition record.

BA Richards
GM Turner
BW Luckhurst
JH Hampshire
Asif Iqbal
MJ Procter
AS Brown
FM Engineer
DL Underwood
TW Cartwright
P Lever
(12th man: AGE Ealham)

Boycott (444 runs at 55.5) and Amiss (269 at 38.4) could not dislodge Richards and Turner at the top of the order,

Hit the fastest ever John Player League fifty - from just 22 balls v Northamptonshire at Wellingborough in 1975 (although Glamorgan ended the season propping up the JPL)

www.starsonsundaybook.com

When John Player’s sponsorship of the Sunday League ended after 18 seasons in 1986, it seemed fitting that the bowlers once again had nothing to separate them, with both boasting 344 victims.
Even their economy rates ran parallel, at 3.7

For more JPL memories, visit:
www.starsonsundaybook.com

Three seasons later, Lever became the first to 300 JPL wickets, but did so only 15 minutes before Underwood also reached the mark.