Kentish Express Ashford & District
When our county played host to sporting royalty
It’s fair to say the organisers of this year’s Sports Personality of the Year Awards in December are going to face some challenges. With an enormous hole blown in the sporting schedule for 2020, fans have been left twiddling their thumbs while the athletes have spent their time trying to keep fit and posting daft social media videos.
So what better time to look back at some of the world’s biggest sporting events which have taken place right here in the county over the years as we await a return to something resembling normality?
From Formula 1 to the Cricket World Cup, there’s been some crackers over the years...
While international cricket has long since found a home in the regions, Kent has been a bit light on the ground for the big matches – primarily due to its proximity to London and the big showcase venues such as Lord’s and the Oval.
But there have been moments when the county found itself at the centre of the sport’s biggest occasions.
On two occasions it has hosted matches as part of the Cricket World Cup – one of which saw the England team pay a visit, and another which remains the setting for one of the great oneday international innings.
Tunbridge Wells’ Nevill Ground had been selected as the venue for a group stage clash between Zimbabwe and India.
Drawn in a four-team group which also featured the all-conquering West Indies and Australia, the unfancied Zimbabwe had already sprung a shock in their first World Cup game by beating Australia, while India, desperate to progress past the group stage for the first time in the tournament’s history, arrived in Tunbridge Wells having had consecutive defeats at the hands of the Windies and the Aussies.
Electing to bat first, India captain Kapil Dev must has been ruing his decision when talismanic opener Sunil Gavaskar was skittled out for a duck and amid a flurry of early wicket India found themselves four wickets down and with a paltry nine runs on the board.
Enter Dev to the crease at the Nevill. An unbeaten 175 runs later and India ended their innings 266-8. With three overs left, Zimbabwe were skittled out for 235 handing India a 31-run win.
The belief it injected into the team saw India not only qualify for the knock-out stages for the first time, but go on to win the trophy - beating England in the semi-final and the West Indies at Lords exactly one week after the triumph in Tunbridge Wells.
Gavaskar would later say “as a player and as a commentator, I’ve never seen a better innings” than that on June 18, 1983.
Remarkably though, the match was not televised so footage of his remarkable effort lives on only in the memory of those spectators who were there.
In 1999, the tournament returned to these shores, and Canterbury was selected to host England v Kenya in the group stages. Not quite the fixture to whet the appetite, but the St Lawrence was packed for the visit from a national team which featured the likes of Nassar Hussain, Alec Stewart, Darren Gough and local hero Mark Ealham. Temporary stands boosted the capacity at the ground to some 10,000.
Kenya were no match to the hosts and England romped to a nine-wicket win with 11 overs remaining.
FORMULA 1
For more than 20 years, Formula 1 was a regular visitor to Brands Hatch – something which may come as something of a surprise to many youngsters who follow the sport.
But the West Kingsdown track isn’t known the world over for no good reason.
From 1964 to 1986 it hosted 12 visits by the F1 circus – alternating hosting the British Grand Prix will Silverstone.
It also hosted the occasional European GP – including in 1983 when it stepped in at the last moment after protests in New York forced a plan race in the US to be called off.
Capitalising on the track