hundreds in the Sussex-Middlesex game at Hove and rain ruined the Warwickshire-Somerset match at Edgbaston. During that last Whit Bank Holiday in 1966, Nottinghamshire met Surrey in the traditional fixture at Trent Bridge. Edrich and Barrington made centuries for the visitors and Nottinghamshire, set 338 at 65 an hour, ended on 261 for seven, some brave batting by Mike Taylor and Roy Swetman averting defeat. But there was no holiday return fixture at The Oval, Surrey meeting Essex early in the month and entertaining Yorkshire over the Bank Holiday while Nottinghamshire were at Weston-super-Mare and Dover. The Surrey-Nottinghamshire game took place on 3, 4 and 5 August 1966, a midweek fixture ending an 84-year holiday sequence hitherto broken only by the war years. Inevitably, the weather was the deciding factor during the first Spring Bank Holiday, Monday 27 May 1967. It was so bad on Saturday that for the first time in 11 years not a single ball was bowled in any first-class match in the country. Little could be done on the remaining two days; indeed, with Old Trafford waterlogged the teams never went to the ground, although Mike Smedley, Ken Suttle and Bill Smith found enough time to post undefeated hundreds at Trent Bridge, Lord’s and The Oval. It was a dismal beginning to the new era. There was a departure from the norm in 1968 when a set of games took place over Whitsuntide (1, 3 and 4 June) rather than the official Bank Holiday, with Sunday play on five of them. The second round of the Gillette Cup was allocated to Spring Bank Holiday Saturday, with play continuing into Monday in several matches. Changing the Dates 182