Visits by West Indies sides are always memorable - just have a look at the display in the Musuem Room at Trent Bridge to see the highlights of more than seventy years of Test Matches here - so we asked our fans about their special memories...
Bees…in her bonnet?
Committee Member and avid Notts supporter Diana Peasey can be said to have ‘a bee in her bonnet’ about cricket – which is certainly true of her memories of West Indies at Trent Bridge.
She recalls, “At the 1976 Test, my brother Simon and I were sat in the Upper Parr stand and we saw the fielders suddenly fall to the ground. Play stopped. We thought it was bizarre and laughed. We then saw a black cloud coming towards us and realised it was a swarm of bees and promptly knelt down until they had passed by!”
Another occasion she remembered was an ODI against the West Indies in July 2000 when Brian Lara was hitting out. “I was with my father in the Lower Parr stand – three rows back. One of Lara’s hits saw the ball bounce in front of us and land on my straw hat. The ball went round and round the brim. I stopped it and threw the ball back whereupon my father said, ‘I thought you said this was a safe place to sit!’”.
Keep on the Grass
Supporter and Heritage Volunteer Clive Butler’s memories go back ten years earlier than Di Peasey’s – to 1966 to be precise and the third day of the third test match versus the West Indies at Trent Bridge.
“Kay and I queued for admission (in those days no prior purchase of tickets existed) but once in the ground we could find no seating area available, so along with hundreds of people sat on the grass around the boundary edge.
“Rather uncomfortable sitting there all day, but an excellent position behind the bowler’s arm at the Radcliffe Road end and it did afford the spectacular sight of Wes Hall bowling off a very long run almost from the sight screen, or so it seems from my distant memories
“Captained by that fantastic cricketer Gary Sobers, the visitors went on to comfortably win the match. Little did we know that the man who would later become Sir Garfield would two years later be the Notts captain.”
Sandwiches and Simpson
Bill Russell, past President of the club and a senior figure around Trent Bridge for many years, recalls his first visit to what became his home ground - for the 1950 Test, West Indies’ first at Trent Bridge.
“I came from Newcastle under Lyme with a school party on the fourth day”, he recalled. “We were on benches where the Fox Road Stand is now, with our lemonade and sandwiches.
“Reg Simpson and Cyril Washbrook were not out overnight, the first innings deficit over 300. Washbrook was out soon after getting his hundred but RTS was in no difficulty until he called for a second run and was out by yards.
“When I had the temerity to mention it to him years later he said that he needed to get back on strike because Parkhouse was struggling with whoever was bowling.!”
The 2024 Test has already produced some memorable moments – who in the Trent Bridge crowd today will be the next generation’s Di, Clive or Bill?
July 2024