The birth of one-day cricket

By Oliver Brett
BBC Sport

On 1 May, 1963, cricket entered a brave new era in England when the first match of the Gillette Cup was staged - exactly 40 years ago.

That summer, two bands from Liverpool, the Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers, traded number one hits in the charts.

And just down the road, in Old Trafford, Manchester, an eliminator was played in the Gillette Cup to get the 17 first-class teams down to 16.

Peter Marner, man of the match (Picture courtesy of Lancashire CCC)

Leicestershire were the visitors and Lancashire's Peter Marner was in fearsome mood that day, ripping into the bowling and hitting one enormous six.

Off-spinner John Savage remembers it that stroke clearly.

"I was bowling from the Stretford End and he hit me over Eight Stand, clean out of the ground and into the gun club field, which is now the indoor school.

"Some people still reckon it was the biggest hit ever on the ground. It was a decent wicket but Peter played very well that day."

Marner's score of 121 in a 60-over-a-side contest took Lancashire to an excellent 304-9 in a match that spilled into the reserve day.

"He was a very useful cricketer," says Savage of Marner. "In my opinion he was on the verge of playing international cricket."

Savage took some stick, conceding 54 runs from his eight overs, but he did eventually snare Marner, plus captain Ken Grieves and two other Lancashire batsmen.

A traditional field was employed in the early days of one-day cricket

In Leicestershire's reply, their captain Maurice Hallam hit a defiant 106 but there was little support and the visitors finished some 101 runs short.

Marner took three wickets while the great England seamer Brian Statham claimed 5-28 in 10 overs.

Chief among Savage's memories of the game, apart from Marner's hitting, were the tactics employed by the captains of the two teams.

"We played it as a normal game of cricket, with slips, gullies, cover and so forth. It's entirely different now, as you know.

"The tactic of stopping the boundaries wasn't even thought of then. The first man to do it, if I remember, was Mike (MJK) Smith at Warwickshire.

Knockout stage

"I remember playing there the following season and he had all the boundaries defended - that's when it all started."

Lancashire's win saw them progress to the knockout stage that year, where they beat Essex and Derbyshire before losing to Worcestershire in the semi-finals.

The final, at Lord's in September, was a very different affair to the 507-run contest at Old Trafford which had kicked off the competition.

Ted Dexter's Sussex lifted the trophy despite being spun out by man-of-the-match Norman Gifford for just 168.

Dexter cannily brought Jon Snow on as his sixth bowler and Sussex prevailed by 14 runs.

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SCORECARD Gillette Cup, 1963
Lancashire v Leicestershire at Old Trafford, 1,2 May 1963 (60-overs match)

Result: Lancashire won by 101 runs

Toss: Leicestershire. Umpires: R Aspinall and H Yarnold

Lancashire innings
B Booth b Pratt 50
R Entwistle hit wicket b Pratt 18
J Bond lbw b Pratt 7
K Grieves c Wharton b Savage 57
P Marner c Spencer b Savage 121
G Houlton c Spencer b Savage 1
J Dyson b van Geloven 6
G Clayton b Savage 28
J Statham b Boshier 0
K Higgs not out 7
C Hilton not out 3
Extras (lb 4, nb 2) 6
Total (9 wickets, 60 overs) 304

Fall: 1-42 2-62 3-82 4-218 5-225 6-264 7-266 8-280 9-299

Bowling O M R W
Spencer 15 1 48 0
Boshier 12 1 58 1
Pratt 15 2 75 3
van Geloven 15 2 63 1
Savage 8 0 54 4

Leicestershire innings
M Hallam c & b Marner 106
H Bird b Statham 7
A Wharton c Clayton b Statham 0
S Jayasinghe c Clayton b Statham 1
C Inman c Entwistle b Higgs 26
J van Geloven b Higgs 26
R Pratt c Bond b Marner 25
C Spencer b Statham 1
R Julian b Statham 4
J Savage b Marner 2
B Boshier not out 0
Extras (lb 5) 5
Total (all out, 53.3 overs) 203

Fall: 1-21 2-21 3-23 4-72 5-164 6-183 7-191 8-201 9-203 10-203

Bowling O M R W
Statham 12 2 28 5
Higgs 15 2 48 2
Hilton 15 1 73 0
Marner 11.3 0 49 3