Everyone at Worcestershire CCC has been proud to celebrate the club's 150th Anniversary Year which will reach a climax with a Gatsby Ball in the Graeme Hick Pavilion on December 31.
Now seems an appropriate time to look back at the history of the County via a series of articles on the Worcestershire website during the next few weeks.
Here we feature PART FOUR looking at the success enjoyed by the club in one-day cricket since the Gillette Cup was launched 52 years ago including all their final appearances at Lord's, and 40 Overs League triumphs.
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Gillette Cup (1963 – 1980)
1963: In the first ever one day knockout competition, Worcestershire lost to Sussex by 14 runs in the final at Lord’s.
County spinner Norman Gifford – the club's current spin bowling coach – claimed the Man of the Match award with figures of 4 – 33 from his 15 overs.
The competition at this time was played over 65 overs.
Sussex 168 all out, Worcestershire154 all out
1966: With the competition now being played over 60 overs, Worcestershire lost to Warwickshire by five wickets.
Worcestershire closed on 155 – 8 with Warwickshire knocking off the runs with five wickets in hand.
Nat West Trophy (1981 – 2000)
1988: Batting first, Worcestershire scored 161 – 9 from their 60 overs in the final thanks to 64 from captain Phil Neale.
At 64 -5 Middlesex were in trouble until Man of the Match, Mark Ramprakash steadied Middlesex with 65 after surviving a strong lbw appeal before he had scored.
Graham Dilley with an outstanding spell of 5 – 29 from his 12 overs could not prevent a defeat.
1994: Worcestershire convincingly beat Warwickshire by eight wickets in a match played over two days because of the elements in spite of 81 from Brian Lara.
In reply to Warwickshire’s 223 – 9 (60 overs), Graeme Hick and Tom Moody set about the Warwickshire attack in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 198 off 212 balls.
Hick finished on 93 not out, while Moody finished on 88 not out. With figures of 1 – 17 from his 12 overs, Moody claimed the Man of the Match award.
Victory denied the Bears cricket's first ever Grand Slam of trophies.
Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy (2001 – 2005)
2003: Worcestershire’s place in the final was secured thanks to a final over bowled by Andrew Hall which concluded a pulsating semi final at New Road.
With Lancashire needing seven to win from the last over with four wickets in hand, Hall bowled the over of his life (six yorkers) conceding just one run and claiming three wickets in the process.
In the final at Lord’s Worcestershire were dismissed for just 149 with Vikram Solanki top scoring with 40.
Gloucestershire raced home by seven wickets with nearly 30 overs to spare thanks to 61 from Ian Harvey who with his 2 -37 from 10 overs was named Man of the match
2004: A stunning 126 from Vikram Solanki helped Worcestershire to a 41 run victory over Warwickshire in the semi final at Edgbaston.
Gloucestershire were the opponents in the Final for the second year running. Batting first, Worcestershire’s 236 – 9 (50 0vers) never looked enough, the innings being held together by a classy 115 from Solanki who was well supported by David Leatherdale with 66.
In reply, Gloucestershire raced to 141 before Craig Spearman was dismissed for 70. However, ‘old boy’ Phil Weston cracked 110 not out to help Gloucestershire to an eight wicket victory with six overs to spare.
Benson and Hedges Cup (1972 – 2002)
1973: Set 226 to beat Kent, Worcestershire were dismissed for 186 with three overs remaining.
Only Basil D’Oliveira with 47 gave Worcestershire hope, but Kent were indebted to Asif Iqbal who was named Man of the Match for his 59 and 4 – 43 from his 11 overs.
1976: For the second time Kent triumphed over Worcestershire, on this occasion by 43 runs.
Setting Worcestershire 237 to win, they were dismissed for 193 and were indebted to Basil D’Oliveira.
Batting with a runner because of a hamstring injury, he nearly helped pull off an improbable victory before being dismissed for 50.
1990: Chasing a 242 target to beat Lancashire at Lord's, Worcestershire were dismissed for 172 from 54 overs.
Lancashire’s Mike Watkinson with 50 and 2- 37 from his 11 overs was named Man of the Match.
1991: Lancashire won the toss in the final and chose to field and restricted Worcestershire to 236 – 8 from 55 overs.
Graeme Hick top scored with 88 for which he went on to win the Man of the Match award.
Lancashire were bowled out for 171 with Neal Radford claiming 3 – 48 from his nine overs, with Worcestershire winning by 65 runs with seven overs to spare.
John Player League (1969 – 1986)
1971: Having won 11 out of 15 games, Worcestershire needed to win the final match against Warwickshire at Dudley.
Worcestershire needed to score 127 in 17.5 overs in order to win the title by the better net run rate.
A quick fire 58 from stand in captain Ron Headley meant that Worcestershire got home by three wickets with just two deliveries to spare.
Refuge Assurance League (1987 – 1991)
1987: Four consecutive century opening partnerships between Tim Curtis and Ian Botham helped Worcestershire win the title.
Needing to win the final game to be certain of the title, Worcestershire dismissed Northamptonshire for 168 and easily reached their target for the loss of just one wicket with two overs to spare.
1988: Needing to win their twelfth game of the season, the title was retained in the final game with a 10 wicket victory over Warwickshire at New Road.
Put into bat, the visitors were dismissed for just 82 with Neal Radford claiming 4 – 14 from seven overs, while Steve Rhodes created a new Sunday League record with four catches and a stumping in the innings.
Tim Curtis (35 not out) and Steve O’Shaughnessy (43 not out) – now a first class umpire – helped ease Worcestershire to the title with 22 overs to spare.
Refuge Assurance Cup (1988 – 1991)
1988: This competition was played for the first time between the top four teams from the Refuge Assurance League with an orange ball being used as an experiment.
A seven wicket victory over Middlesex in the semi-final meant that Worcestershire faced Lancashire in the final at Edgbaston.
Lancashire’s 201 – 5 from their 40 overs proved too much for Worcestershire who were dismissed for just 149.
Only Tim Curtis (32), David Leatherdale (30) and Phil Neale (42) made any impact with the bat.
1991: Lancashire were once again the opponents in the game held at Old Trafford but Worcestershire proved too strong on this occasion.
Put in to bat, Steve Rhodes opened in Tom Moody’s absence (touring Zimbabwe with Australia) and justified the move with 105 out of a total of 235 -5 from 40 overs.
Lancashire fell seven runs short thanks to 5 – 42 from Neal Radford who claimed all of his wickets in a spell of fifteen deliveries.
National League 1999 – 2010 (called Nat West Pro 40 League from 2007 – 2010)
2007: On 21 July, a second summer flood of the season meant that Worcestershire did not play any home matches at New Road in the Pro 40 League.
In addition to Kidderminster, Worcestershire used Edgbaston, Taunton, and Derby as 'home' venues.
Going into the penultimate game against Gloucestershire at Bristol, a win would mean that Worcestershire would be crowned champions.
Chasing Gloucestershire’s 270 -9 (40 overs), Moeen Ali (72) and Steven Davies (84) put on 151 for the first wicket.
With Stephen Moore contributing 45 not out, Worcestershire got home by six wickets with 11 deliveries of the game to spare to clinch the title.
