By Neil Fissler
Andy Pick does not believe that county cricket will again see the likes of Clive Rice and Richard Hadlee, who retired after leading Notts to the County Championship and NatWest Trophy double.
Rice spent 12 summers at Trent Bridge and as captain led the county to their first two post-War Championship titles in 1981 and 1987.
And 1987 was also the first time the NatWest Trophy had stood in the county’s trophy cabiet after they beat Northamptonshire (228-3) by three wickets in the final.
Rice had announced that 1987 was to be his last season at Notts and Hadlee, who first played for his adopted county in 1978, joined him in announcing that he, too, was retiring.
Hadlee bowed out by blasting 71 off 60 balls to help his side to 231-7 at Lord’s to see off Northants in a game which was reduced by ten overs to 50-a-side and held over an extra day.
They also finished runners up in the Sunday League, a competition they had won in 1982, and Pick, now Notts’ bowling coach, says that it was a fitting way for them to go out.
“In those days a county’s overseas players were with you all season and they came back the following season, too. They didn’t sign for four or five different counties,” said Pick.
“And, if you went through the best Test players in the world in the Eighties, probably 30 of them were playing in county cricket.
“Winning something before retiring was probably a huge motivation for them.
“ But, for us, it was never about two players, it was about a group of players being together and we were.
“It was great to have them, but it was never about them retiring. It was very much team focused. Both Clive and Richard had been at the club for a long time.
“In this era some overseas players can play for two teams in one season, they will play t20 and then some 50-over or Championship cricket elsewhere.
“But Richard and Clive played in every game of the season for us.
“And that was for ten or more years. We will never see the like of that again, a lot was made of it and it was definitely the end of an era when they both finished together.”
BACK ROW (LEFT-RIGHT): Chris Scott: A wicketkeeper who famously dropped Brian Lara on 18 when he went on to score 501 not out. Became cricket development officer for Northumberland and is now MCC head coach at Cambridge University.
Paul Pollard: Batsman is still based in Nottinghamshire and runs his own company of cricket excellence and is also on the first-class umpires list.
Kevin Evans: All-rounder who went into sales working for XMA and FRAB Ltd and has been external account manager for Dell, in Berkshire, since June 2008.
Andy Afford: Slow left-arm bowler who went into the world of publishing and is currently managing director of The Cricketer magazine. Was previously editor of All Out Cricket and Sky magazine.
Russell Evans: Right-handed batsman now on the first-class umpires reserve list. He spent more than 20 years working for a global cricket brand and is now commercial director of B3 cricket.
Mick Newell: Batsman who has served Notts since 1984 firstly as a player then in 2002 first team coach. He is now director of cricket at Trent Bridge and, since April, has been an England selector.
MIDDLE ROW: Bruce French: England wicketkeeper batsman who, after retiring, took up a career in mountaineering and rock-climbing and became ECB wicketkeeping coach.
Duncan Martindale: Right- handed batsman who also served Herefordshire and West Bridgford. Still coaches age-group cricket at Trent Bridge.
Kevin Saxelby: Right-arm fast bowler, he lives in Newark and runs a farm, his late brother Mark also played for Notts and Durham.
David Fraser-Darling: Seamer who left Notts at the end of 1988 to pursue a career in the police force and is still a policeman with Nottingham Police and has also played for British Police for who he is currently team secretary.
Andy Pick: Pace bowler who also played for Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire went into coaching and he was the ICC’s Americas development performance officer. Is now Notts bowling coach.
David Millns: Fast bowler and the brother-in-law of Andy Pick had two spells at Notts either side of nine years at Leicestershire and is now a full time ECB first-class umpire.
Kevin Cooper: Fast bowler who in 1988 became the first Notts player to take 100 wickets in a season for 40 years. Now coaching for the Southland CA in New Zealand.
FRONT ROW: Paul Johnson: Batsman who served Notts for 21 years. He went on to become head coach at Trent Bridge until losing his job as part of restructuring programme at the county in December 2013.
Eddie Hemmings: England off-spinner, scored the winning boundary in the 1989 Benson & Hedges Cup final. Ran a village shop in West Butterwick, North Lincs. Niece is ex-England international Beth Morgan.
Derek Randall: Was an England batsman who has held a number of coaching posts including at Bedford School bringing Alastair Cook through the first XI. Has also coached Bedfordshire.
Tim Robinson: England Test opening batsman was captain for Benson & Hedges Cup and Sunday League successes and then appointed a first-class umpire in 2007.
Ken Taylor: After working for East Midlands Electricity was Notts cricket manager between 1978 and 1990. He died in April 2002, aged 85.
Clive Rice: South African all-rounder who served Notts for 12 summers. He was his country’s first post-apartheid skipper. He runs a street-lighting company called Envirolight in Johannesburg.
Chris Broad: England batsman also had two spells at Gloucestershire and the father of Stuart. He is a match referee for the ICC.
Michael Bore: A medium pacer who in 1984 was caught on the boundary going for a six which would have won the county another title, and did various coaching jobs until retiring.
John Birch: Right-handed batsman who went on to became Notts CCC manager then cricket development manager and coach of Rolls-Royce Leisure. His son Daniel played for Derbyshire.
INSET: Richard Hadlee: New Zealand all-rounder, an all-time Test cricket great, knighted in 1990 for his services to cricket. He runs RJ Hadlee promotions.
