Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club - History

History

Founding club captain William Clarke formed the All-England Eleven team which included great players such as Fuller Pilch and Alfred Mynn. It was Clarke's successor as Nottinghamshire captain, George Parr, who first captained a united England touring team in 1859. Early professional greats such as Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury ensured that Notts were a force in the period before 1900. Thanks largely to the outstanding bowling combination of Tom Wass and Albert Hallam, the county won the County Championship in 1907 when George Gunn, John Gunn and Wilfred Payton were also prominent.

Between the wars Notts enjoyed the services of the famous bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce. Strong batting from George Gunn, Arthur Carr and Dodger Whysall saw them emerge as champions in 1929 after losing the title on the final day of the season in 1927. Prior to the second war, opening batsman Walter Keeton gained Test recognition, though the bowling was less effective.

Through the early fifties the team was weak. The signing of the Australian leg break bowler Bruce Dooland, arrested the decline but until the signing of the incomparable Garfield Sobers in 1968, the team was weak. Sobers hit Malcolm Nash of Glamorgan for six sixes in an over in a County Championship game at Swansea in his first season. Mike Harris scored heavily in the 1970s, including nine centuries in 1971 but apart from Barry Stead, the bowling lacked penetration.

Nottinghamshire enjoyed one of their strongest teams in the late seventies and early eighties when the New Zealand all-rounder Richard Hadlee, South African captain Clive Rice and England batsman Derek Randall led the team to the County Championship in 1981. The club's most successful season came in 1987, as Rice and Hadlee marked their departure with the double of County Championship and NatWest Trophy. Chris Broad and Tim Robinson continued the club's long tradition of batting excellence into the England team but for some years the club struggled to repeat those achievements, although they did claim a Benson & Hedges Cup in 1989 and a Sunday League title in 1991 under Robinson's captaincy. Former Warwickshire off spinner Eddie Hemmings made a significant contribution whilst local seam bowler Kevin Cooper was a consistent wicket taker.

The following decade was one of underachievement, but in 2004, Nottinghamshire enjoyed a highly successful season, gaining promotion to both the Frizzell County Championship Division One, after winning Division Two, and also Totesport Division One. In 2005, Nottinghamshire won their first County Championship title since 1987, New Zealand's Stephen Fleming captaining the team to victory. However, the success was not sustained in 2006 and Notts were relegated by a margin of just half a point, although they had more success in the shorter formats and ended up runners-up on their debut appearance at Twenty20 Cup finals day. In 2007, Notts won promotion back to the top flight of the County Championship, finishing second in Division Two. In 2008, they came close to winning both the County Championship and NatWest Pro40 outright, losing to Hampshire on the final day and Sussex in the final ball respectively, and had progressed by 2009 to being the most consistent county in the Championship and leading the division tables.

In 2010, Nottinghamshire made it to Finals Day of the Friends Provident Twenty20 Cup. Drawn against Somerset, Notts lost on the Duckworth Lewis method. However, they won the County Championship on the last day, having lost the preceding two matches, with Somerset in second place tied on points but with one less win.