A special day out

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew remembers his one-day final at Lord's.

The Benson and Hedges Final of 1985 remains one of my fondest memories.

I suppose it is easy to say that after you have won - losing a Lord's final must be a heartbreaking experience - but the thrill of playing in front of such a huge, enthusiastic crowd and holding the trophy at the end really is quite something.

I had already appeared in a couple of Test matches so I knew something about noise and nerves.

But these finals are different because you are there with your friends: the men you share every moment with during the course of a season while, in those days, you reported for England duty only on the day before the match so you never really got to know your team-mates.

I remember the excitement of boarding the bus from Grace Road to Lord's.

I lay on a bench with my eyes closed, only for a huge chunk of ceiling to fall on my head

Jonathan Agnew

Wives, girlfriends, members of the committee and all the back-room staff were packed on board - it really was like a day trip to Bognor - and we decided to have a special team dinner at the hotel before the match just in case we lost. (Essex was a good team, after all).

Thank goodness the weather on the Saturday was bright and sunny and it was obvious that the match would be completed in one day.

We fielded first, which helped us all get used to the atmosphere, and we kept the lid on things pretty well.

Peter Willey snared Graham Gooch for 57 which helped, Les Taylor bowled superbly and I managed to knock over Alan Lilley towards the end, although I do remember being edged through the slips for four a few times!

Nervous moments

The tension mounted as we sat, helplessly, in the visitors' dressing room watching as our batsmen chased 214 to win.

I lay on a bench with my eyes closed, only for a huge chunk of ceiling to fall on my head!

We decided this was a good omen and so it proved as Mike Garnham - who later moved to Essex - and Willey saw us home with three overs and five wickets in hand.

My lasting memory is of Paddy Clift's ashen face as he sat on a chair, padded up and waiting to go in next.

Happily he was not required.