CLIVE RICE – ONE OF THE JOHN PLAYER LEAGUE’S ‘STARS ON SUNDAY’
02.07.26, 10:34 Updated 28.08.26, 15:02 4 Minute Read
Andy Moore
There was a time when Sunday afternoon cricket meant the John Player League. Before the coloured kits, pyrotechnics and musical interludes of the worldwide franchise circuit, county sides met each weekend over forty overs per side in a competition which quickly won the hearts of supporters new and old.
There was some initial resistance from the players and cricket purists, but the Sunday League immediately attracted huge crowds, reversing a declining trend in county cricket and delighting the sponsors.
A key aspect of the competition’s popularity was the weekly coverage on BBC2. With different counties featured each week, the players soon became household names and Monday morning discussions in the workplace or schoolyard would include the names of Engineer and Lloyd, Richards and Greenidge, Turner and Lever.
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Andy Moore Editor