Bailey recalls glory of ’81

Joe Bailey can still vividly recall his side’s emphatic victory in St George’s territory back in 1981.

Incredibly, that win 32 years ago was the last time Somerset won in their rivals’ backyard.

The Somerset stalwart, who played in no fewer than 18 Cup Matches, officially announced his retirement just moments after the east-enders romped to a famous nine-wicket victory. It was the crowning moment in a glittering cricketing career.

“Many people still talk about that 1981 game in Somerset even today,” he told the Bermuda Sun.

“It was a big moment for us. Although it was not until after lunch on the second day that I thought we could win the game.

“For a large part of the game I thought it would end up a draw.

“St George’s had a great batting line-up back then and even though we had scored 377 in the first innings it was always going to very really hard to get them all out twice in just over a day.”

Going into the game, Bailey chose to let his players have more time to themselves, so they arrived in St George’s as fresh as possible.

He said: “The last meeting we had was on the Monday. I told the guys we would not be meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the next time we would see each other was at the ground. Everyone arrived in St George’s fresh and ready to go to work.”

St George’s skipper Clarence Parfitt won the toss and put the visitors into bat — the move was to prove crucial.

The Somerset batsmen set about the bowlers flaying them to all parts of the ground and amassing one of the biggest totals in Cup Match history.

Bailey told the Sun: “Parfitt said to me ‘you want to get in bat’ and I told him we are going to bat all day. And that is just what we did. People sometimes refer to that team as a bunch of old guys but we knew what we had to do.

“We knew we needed a score and then we could go about getting some wickets.

“I was satisfied with our first day’s work, but I did not think we were going to win.”

The Somerset bowlers demolished the home side’s batting order the next morning and forced them to follow on.

But a determined knock of 87 by Clevie Wade in the St George’s second innings looked like it had saved the game, until an inspiration bowling change by the captain.

Bailey said: “We were getting the odd breakthrough but it was hard work in the second innings.

“Then I was walking down the wicket and Colin Blades called out to me ‘try Winston Reid’. 

“Winston had done a lot of bowling in the nets but not during the game.

“But it did the trick and he ended up getting four wickets and the game was ours. I look back sometimes and think we should have beat them by an innings, but I dropped a catch when they were nine down and they made 20-something more than us.

“But it did not matter in the end. We had won the Cup.”

Bailey believes the secret to success in St George’s for this year’s Somerset team is to bowl consistent line and length and keep the pressure on the batsmen.

He added: “The reason we won in ’81 is our bowlers bowled steady and stayed at them all day and all night. I gave the fast bowlers five over spells and kept them rested. And every time they came back again they would pick up a wicket.”