Gordon Barker, Geoff Smith, Joe Milner, Bailey and Knight and plenty of wicket-taking potential from the seamers Bailey, Knight and Ken Preston and Bill Greensmith’s leg spin. Worcestershire won both holiday games in 1961, by four wickets at New Road and by five wickets at Leyton, the latter the fifth in a sequence of seven consecutive victories which carried them to fourth in the final table, two places above Essex. Tom Graveney, now qualified after leaving Gloucestershire, added style and power to the batting in 1962 when Worcestershire were runners-up to Yorkshire. Rain ruined the August Bank Holiday game at New Road but Whitsuntide had brought a resounding victory for Worcestershire in two days at Romford, Flavell and Coldwell routing the home batting, Booth holding eight catches and Horton, Headley and Graveney making runs. There was a blip in 1963, Worcestershire falling to 14th although reaching the first-ever final of the Gillette Cup in which they were beaten by Sussex at Lord’s. Essex, two places above them, nearly pulled off a victory at Worcester when they set a target of 225 in 130 minutes. Such declarations leading to a final day run chase were now part and parcel of the game and there were three such in this game, which ended with eight Worcestershire wickets down for 118. Jim Laker, now with Essex, had seven men crowding the bat in the final half-hour but the batsmen hung on. For Essex, Michael Bear made a hundred before providing Flavell with his 1000th first-class wicket. At Leyton in August, two declarations from Bailey set up an exciting finish which resulted in an Essex victory by 31 runs. The teams did well to fashion a result; the first day was lost to rain and there was a delay at the start when the umpires Bert Rhodes and Lofty Herman discovered that the wickets were eight and a half inches in width instead of nine. They were pulled up and replaced in new holes. In 1964, Worcestershire won the Championship after 65 years of trying. They had a rare tussle with their neighbours and old holiday opponents Warwickshire, who, after Worcestershire gained the lead in mid-May, held first place apart from a series of games, until 7 August. A strong finish brought the title to Worcester with three matches remaining. They were worthy champions, Graveney having a magnificent season, Headley, Kenyon, Richardson and Horton again among the runs and, above all, a splendid attack under Kenyon’s leadership; Flavell, Coldwell, Norman Gifford’s left-arm spin, Standen and Horton. Essex, tenth in 1964, found themselves with Warwickshire as their holiday opponents, Worcestershire meeting lowly Leicestershire. Grace Road at Whitsuntide brought Worcestershire victory by 44 runs, Gifford wrapping things up with seven for 31 after Duncan Fearnley, who made cricket bats with his father in Yorkshire, had given an early indication of his product’s quality with 82, then his best score in first-class cricket. The return at New Road saw Worcestershire win by an innings, Graveney making a hundred and Gifford enjoying a reprise of his earlier success. Meanwhile Essex did their old rivals a couple of favours by holding Warwickshire to draws at Ilford and Edgbaston, Bear, Billy Ibadulla and John Jameson making centuries at Whitsun and Warwickshire, then leading the table, ending the August Bank Holiday game 22 runs short of victory with two wickets remaining. Just over a fortnight earlier, Worcestershire had struck a decisive blow with an emphatic win at Edgbaston after the two leading counties had refused to give each other an inch in a dull draw at New Road. Essex v Worcestershire 165