Middlesex

1977 Gillette Cup winners and joint County Champions

The County Championship has only been shared three times in its history and Middlesex are the only side to have done it twice.

The first time that two counties couldn’t be separated was in 1949 when Middlesex shared it with Yorkshire and, just a year later, Lancashire and Surrey were joint winners.

It wouldn’t be until 1977 that Middlesex and Kent would both finish top of the table with 227 points each, five ahead of third placed Gloucestershire.

It could have been different as Middlesex came within two runs of gaining the extra bonus they needed to retain the Championship they won a year earlier, recalls Mike Gatting.

Middlesex travelled to Stanley Park, Blackpool, to play Lancashire in their final game of the season which they won by 91 runs.

But a bonus point in the first innings when they were bowled out for 148, Mike Selvey was last man out LBW to Jack Simmons without scoring, would have made so much difference.

Gatting said: “That was our last match because we could never play at home at the end of the season and we went to Blackpool to play Lancashire.

“It wasn’t a bad little ground but it was a club ground. It was a very good last match because it is always very difficult to get a result on a club wicket.

“Mike Selvey and Wayne Daniel were in and we needed to score 150 runs in our first innings which, back then, was declared after 100 overs.

“Another point and it would have meant that we wouldn’t have had to share the title that year with Kent.”

And, while the country celebrated the Queen’s Silver Jubilee with large-scale parties and parades, Middlesex were about to win their first one-day trophy also.

Two years earlier they reached both the Benson & Hedges and Gillette Cup finals only to be beaten by Leicestershire and Lancashire, respectively.

This time there was to be no mistake, beating Kent, Warwickshire, Hampshire and then Somerset in a game that took six days to complete because of bad weather.

The final in which Middlesex beat Glamorgan by five wickets is still best remembered for Mike Llewellyn straight-driving John Emburey onto the famous pavilion roof for six.

Gatting recalls that it needed a brilliant unbeaten 85 from Clive Radley to steady Middlesex and see them home on 178.

He said: “I was more nervous bowling in that game than I was batting. Radley got us through in a low scoring game.We struggled all the way through.

“Nobody really apart from Radley got any runs. I think we were nervous as nobody had won a one-day competition before.

“But what I really do remember is taking two catches in the Glamorgan innings one of them was Mike Llewellyn, when down at long on, he whacked another up into the air.

“Anyway after I took the catch a guy ran out from the crowd and gave me a can of beer saying it was a fantastic catch.

“Sadly the guy got thrown out of the ground because he wasn’t allowed on the pitch which is what I remember most of all about it.”

BACK ROW (LEFT-RIGHT):

Harry Sharp: A Middlesex batsman before joining the MCC coaching staff. He took over as scorer in 1973 and retired aged 75. He died in January 1995.

Mike Gatting: Batsman who captained England. Became managing director of Cricket Partnerships at the ECB where he is now an ambassador.

Nigel Ross: Wicketkeeper/ batsman. He went into sales and has spent 25 years working as a manufacturers and distributors agent.

Tim Lamb: Seamer who became Middlesex general manager and then secretary and chief executive of the ECB. Now runs his own consultancy.

Wayne Daniel: West Indies fast bowler. Went into radio before serving as a coach to pace bowlers in his native Caribbean.

John Emburey: England spinner who has coached Northampton, Middlesex and Ahmedabad Rockets. Now a freelance coach.

Wilf Slack: The England opening batsman died of a heart attack after collapsing during a game in The Gambia in January 1989, aged 34.

Ian Gould: England ODI wicketkeeper. He served Middlesex as county coach for nine years prior to becoming an umpire. Now on the ICC elite panel.

Roland Butcher: Batsman who was the first black player to represent England. Has coached at Arsenal and Reading and is now a director of sport at the University of the West Indies.

Don Bennett: An all rounder who spent nine years in Arsenal’s reserves, becoming county coach in 1968, retiring 29 years later. He died in June 2014, aged 80.

FRONT ROW: Graham Barlow: England batsman who was an U23 rugby union international. He was English teacher at Whangarei Boys High School, New Zealand, until retiring in April 2015. Allan Jones: A fast bowler who became a first-class umpire from 1985 until 2008 when he joined the Indian Cricket League.

Mike Selvey: England fast bowler who became cricket correspondent of The Guardian. Has also worked as a summariser on BBC’s TMS.

Mike Brearley: Batsman who captained England to an Ashes win in 1981. Has since worked as a psychotherapist, speaker and journalist.

Mike Smith: An England ODI opening batsman who took over as Middlesex scorer from Harry Sharp in November 2004. He died of a heart attack, aged 62.

Clive Radley: England batsman who took over as MCC’s head coach in 1991 and stayed at Lord’s until he retired in 2009.

Norman Featherstone: South African-born batsman. He became manager for Koperberg Tours and then worked in administration for Crossroads Distribution. Phil Edmonds: England spinner has been a successful businessman with various interests at home and in Africa. Also served Middlesex as chairman.

NOT PICTURED:

Keith Tomlins: Batsman who also played for Gloucestershire. In 1998 became an ECB national coach. Currently ECB performance manager.