https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/07/16/when-county-cricket-came-to-the-bridge---and-three-west-indies-g?cardIndex=0-8

When County Cricket came to The Bridge - and three West Indies greats starred.

For the cricketing fans amongst you.

This month competitive cricket has returned for the first time since the global pandemic, with the West Indies, featuring big Chelsea fan Kemar Roach, travelling to take on England. Ahead of the second test match, which starts at Old Trafford today, we have dug into the archives and found images of some all-time West Indies greats at Stamford Bridge, participating in a little-known and short-lived county cricket tournament held in 1981...

Clive Lloyd, Michael Holding and Andy Roberts are widely regarded as three of the best players to have represented the Caribbean side during a period when they dominated test and one-day cricket, but it was in the confines of Stamford Bridge, in front of fewer than 3000 people, that they took part in what was surely one of the most unusual matches of their career.

Lloyd (pictured top with the trophy), then the West Indies captain, and Holding, now a Sky Sports pundit, were in the Lancashire side that faced Leicestershire - including fast bowler Roberts and future England captain David Gower - in the final of the Lambert & Butler Cup. This was a 10-over, seven-a-side run-fest aimed at capturing the imagination of those who didn’t

Rewinding to the late Seventies, the success of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket (WSC), with its floodlit matches, white balls, coloured clothing and innovative marketing campaigns, had not been lost on the English Test and County Cricket board (TCCB, now the ECB). Spectators in Australia and the Caribbean had flocked to watch this showbiz style of cricket, so how could the TCCB capitalise on the sport’s rejuvenation?

Their first effort to piggyback onto the spirit of WSC was in 1980, when the touring West Indies side played Essex under the Stamford Bridge lights. You can find out more about that fixture, in which over 11,000 people saw Viv Richards and Graham Gooch on top form,

 

The following summer Lambert & Butler sponsored a two-day floodlit county competition to be played at several football grounds around the country. The qualifiers were held at The Hawthorns, Old Trafford, Ashton Gate and Selhurst Park, with the winners of each regional group heading to the Bridge for the semi-finals and final the following day.

Football pitches being rectangular, there were no shortage of boundaries. At Selhurst Park, Surrey’s Alan Butcher ran amok in his side’s qualifier against Kent, hitting a century off 28 balls in just 25 minutes. Surrey finished on 185-2, averaging 18-and-a-half in each of their 10 overs. The contest between bat and ball was certainly far from fair.

Unfortunately, the barrage of runs did not lure a big crowd to Stamford Bridge for what was, essentially, a very early ‘Finals Day’. Just 2564 people made it through the turnstiles, although one of those was Seb Coe, a huge Chelsea supporter who a year earlier had won gold at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

High ticket prices and dodgy September weather played its part in the small attendance, although those who did turn up saw over 700 runs in the three matches, including an unbeaten 85 from Lloyd that guided Lancashire to victory over Leicestershire in the final, Somerset and Surrey having fallen at the penultimate hurdle.

The tournament was discontinued, with a short note in The Times explaining that ‘although the sponsors remain willing, the weather tends to be against it and the cricket played has lacked conviction.’

It was to be more than a decade before the idea of competitive cricket under lights in this country was seriously raised again, but Stamford Bridge, which had hosted close-season cricket games between Chelsea and Tottenham before the First World War, can always lay claim to having played a major part in the first floodlit tournament the then-17 English first-class counties participated in – and having welcomed some West Indies stars during the time of their greatest dominance.

 

Edited July 17, 20206 yr by erskblue

Not sure again if these two pictures have been posted on here before.

Apologies if so.

Edited July 17, 20206 yr by erskblue

https://images.app.goo.gl/jazUp3zwkjooaJqx9

Don’t quite know what happened there.

Switching from old home computer so...

Edited July 18, 20206 yr by erskblue

On 08/09/2011 at 08:22, Hutch said:

A couple of days after I change my avatar, this image appears on the Shot Of The Day:

A picture from early in the thread.

On 28/01/2012 at 20:19, Eddie Macs blue and white said:

1975-76

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHyEQMWQCsc

Fulham away in the Anglo Scottish Cup of 1975/76. Late summer football.

Edited July 19, 20206 yr by erskblue

On 13/02/2012 at 03:06, Eddie Macs blue and white said:

1965-66

 

 

On 24/02/2012 at 17:31, Eddie Macs blue and white said:

1968-69

 

Eddie macs Blue and White Army originally posted this footage.

On 16/07/2020 at 23:23, Scott said:

I used to have a Mini 1275 GT back in the day.  The only way I'd get to own the same car as a Chelsea player these days would be if I won the lottery! 😊

45 minutes ago, In the Net said:

I used to have a Mini 1275 GT back in the day.  The only way I'd get to own the same car as a Chelsea player these days would be if I won the lottery! 😊

I had a friend that bought a mini van and he converted it, 140mph down the motorway overtaking Jags and BMWs, was a rust bucket though. 

Point taken about the modern car comparison though if you did have one, where would you park it?  😃

On 07/11/2016 at 16:56, Carshalton Blue said:

I love the way the old east stand & entrance looks, gutted i never got to use or see the stand.

Just like this picture posted a few years ago by Carshalton Blue.

On 18/02/2012 at 07:10, Eddie Macs blue and white said:

1971-72

 

Some great footage v Crystal Palace posted by Eddie Macs blue and white army a few years ago.

Just thought some would like to watch it again.

Edited July 20, 20205 yr by erskblue

Edited July 20, 20205 yr by erskblue

20 hours ago, In the Net said:

I used to have a Mini 1275 GT back in the day.  The only way I'd get to own the same car as a Chelsea player these days would be if I won the lottery! 😊

I thought the photo was about his strides , didn't notice the car at all !

December, 1996. The new Shed End being built.

1980 vs Newcastle Gary Chivers goal came second in goal of the season I think. Used to love playing the Geordies 4-0, 6-0 and 4-0 in 79, 80,83 all great days the 83 game was probably one of the best performances I'd seen by Chelsea at that time. Keegan and McDermott were great players but they were passengers and no surprise Keegan called it a day at the end of the season.

 

 

Originally posted by carshalton blue.

Edited July 20, 20205 yr by erskblue

Posted originally but carshalton blue.

2017

On 08/07/2020 at 23:39, bluehaze said:

 

I can still remember that going in...and finding myself a long way down the terracing a couple of minutes later