The Day Hales Stormed Surrey At Lords

It was only three years ago today but it was one of the most memorable occasions I have ever had as a cricket fan.

I remember being a kid staying at my grandparents for the weekend, watching Eddie Hemmings score the winning four runs off the last ball of the 1989 Benson & Hedges Cup Final at Lords. They had an old 6 inch Black & White TV in the kitchen which we watched it on. My Nana had cable in the other room but she was hogging that, probably watching Tales of the Unexpected or Terry & June? Me and my Grandad watching Notts win the final against Essex. Great stuff.

Anybody in Nottingham who supports Nottinghamshire Cricket Club will tell you ‘that’ was the golden moment in the club’s history. Like Forest winning the European Cup Final for the first time, like Notts County winning the Playoff Final verses Brighton in 91… Like the Panthers winning the Grand Slam in 2013. It is a standout moment in the clubs history and is one that will never ever be forgotten.

I always wondered what it would be like? To go watch Notts at Lords, to see them win? To see them make history? Then on Saturday 1^st June 2017 I got to find out.

We set off early, around 6am on one of a number of official buses parked in the City Ground car park that left for Lords. Me and Macca sat at the front and I’m not totally sure we didn’t sleep most of the way. Arriving in London for around 10am we headed straight for the Lords Tavern fuming we couldn’t get anything more than a soft drink.

I ordered a hamper from the ground, cost around £100 but I got a Lords embroidered picnic bag out of it and a couple of mini bottles of champagne. After soaking up the occasion with a couple of selfies next to WG Grace we walked around to the Nursery Ground to watch both teams’ practice. As standard, football was order of the day… Some awful skills on show.

We sat down in the lower section of the Compton Stand which I was pleased about as the weather didn’t look great. I said to Macca “this is the life” fully expecting to ‘lord it up’ supping shampoo at the home of cricket like those members of the MCC that you see on the telly… The game was a few overs in, before those ‘pretentious intentions’ ended.

A load of lads from Hucknall came and sat down next to us, effing and jeffing, they were Forest through and through, ‘look at these’ they shout… ‘they’ve gone all out with an amper’

We ended up offering most of our picnic to the lads, it turned out they weren’t bad after all, in fact they and the couple of thousand other Notts fans cramped into the Compton Stand who’d made the journey with me and Macca also made the day. The racket we made was something else. It was just like watching Forest, giving stick to the Surrey boys we drowned out what should have been a healthier ‘home(ish)’ support twice the size of ours. In fact I would go as far to say as ‘we were horrible’ in support of our side. Certainly not MCC material.

Surrey batted first and through Stoneman and Roy put on 83 for the opening wicket. The legendary Sangakarra came in and put on 30 with the South Londoners approaching 140-1. A couple of quick wickets gave us a fighting chance, Mullaney got Sangakarra caught behind before Borthwick fell then Foakes and Pope in rapid succession. 180/5 we were fighting back, but Sam Curran hit 24 before his brother Tom made 16 to sway the tie again in Surrey’s favour. Stoneman carried his bat and made 144 at total ease. He was brilliant, Surrey ended with 297 a big ask for Notts, but not totally impossible.

In return (post picnic) Notts came out and soon lost Michael Lumb for four. Wessels went for six and Patel had gone for seven whilst Brendan Taylor was hardly any better scoring just 11… ‘Falling apart’ we all felt and when Sam Curran took Mullaney’s wicket for five runs it looked like our day was going to come to an end earlier than scheduled. “Get us back on that bus” I thought… Our only hope, however, was standing at the other end of the crease unscathed by it all. Alex Hales was in fine nick. Notts were 150/5 and Hales had over a hundred of them himself. Simply playing his own game, the maverick, without a care in the world, like he’s having a knock around with his mates.

I’ve seen some pretty good innings in my time as a cricket fan, some pretty good players too. Atherton verses Donald springs to mind at Trent Bridge in 98. I’ve seen Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Gayle, Smith, Clarke, the best of Dave Warner smashing balls all over the place. Stoneman’s innings was up there, it really was… But Alex Hales tops them all.

Notts were out. A useless reply they were falling by the wayside whilst Hales was standing alone. In fairness he needed a partner, someone to stay with him for a bit, and he got that in an absolute legend in Chris Read.

The Notts captain made 58 and allowed Hales to simply do what he does best. Together they ball by ball destroyed the confidence of the Surrey bowling attack with a little help from us fans too.

As confidence grew so did our noise… We ended up ‘terrorising’ Tom Curran with ‘banter’ singing that his brother his better than him. Curran went six overs for 52 and was taken off. We didn’t stop… ‘Bring Tom on’ was the cry from the Hucknall lads. An England fan myself, I only imagine it’s the sort of stick that a Pom would get in Oz. I hope that day three years ago is one that Tom will remember, and one that he can learn from, because that day he got a pasting by the best batsmen I have ever seen live, with a little help from us fans.

Hales hit twenty fours and four sixes and by the time Read was out it mattered not. Notts needing eleven to win with four wickets in hand. It was left to James Pattinson to score the final runs needed, but it was Alex Hales, a genius with a bat, that scored 187 not out from 167 balls. The greatest innings I have ever seen.

Shortly after the trophy was presented, Myself and Macca walked out of Lords before the very picture you see at the top of this screen where we would have been sitting. If we had stayed we might have got a selfie with the lads, but instead, we managed to get a couple of pints in at the Lords Tavern before realising the bus was waiting for us, the last two on the bus, to the annoyance of some, whilst most gave us a cheer thanks largely to the good spirits we were in.

Whilst I missed out on Eddie Hemmings and 1989, I certainly made up for with Alex Hales and 2017. I wouldn’t swap it either, an occasion, made by the Notts fans, made by the Notts players, made by the surroundings of the most iconic cricket ground in the world (second only to Trent Bridge), a day that I’ll never forget as long as I live on this earth… And what a day it was too!