July 28, 1968 – When Fred Trueman kissed an umpire on the field

Yorkshire, led by Brian Close, were cruising through in the 1968 County Championship by the time they faced Nottinghamshire in an away match. The Nottingham team was led by Sir Gary Sobers and had the advantage of playing at their home ground, Trent Bridge. However, Yorkshire won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. The Nottinghamshire didn’t get control over their innings in the early half. They were reduced to 49/4 only to be rescued by their skipper Sobers who made 72.

The West Indian got out to Fred Trueman which triggered yet another collapse of the hosts who were bowled out for only 238. Yorkshire opener Philip Sharpe was rock solid with the bat on the second day as he smashed an unbeaten 143. The visitors reached 245/6 when they declared with a lead of seven runs on the evening of the second day. Sharpe made nearly 60% of team’s runs while no other batter even got a fifty.

A kiss to umpire!

About 30 minutes of play was left before the stumps on the second day where Yorkshire aimed for quick wickets. Fred Trueman put best of the efforts with the new ball but failed to produce a breakthrough. In the final over of the day, an LBW appeal from Trueman against one of the openers was struck down by the umpire Fred Jakeman. The appeal from Trueman was an aggressive one and the displeasure of being struck down did rile up the pace who walked back to his bowling run-up with some chatter.

Jakeman wasn’t pleased with this behaviour and walked towards the Yorkshire skipper Brian Close who was in the slip cordon. A bit of words were exchanged in this process and it also seemed that Trueman cooled down a bit. A couple of balls later, Trueman, on his way back to starting his run-up, kissed the umpire showing that he was indeed cooled down after what happened earlier in that over.

A pale draw!

Trueman recorded analyses of 12-3-17-1 but the home team was bowled out for only 182 as Tony Nicholson claimed a 6-wicket haul. Bob White was absent hurt leaving Nottinghamshire one batsman short. Fifties from Mike Smedley (51) and Deryck Murray (55) put the Notts at 166/4 before losing five wickets for 16 runs out of which four were taken by Nicholson only.

Yorkshire walked to bat in the final session to chase 176 to win but didn’t show any intent after early wickets. Yorkshire collapsed to 45/4 from 23/0 which put them on the back foot. They made 73/4 in the 23.1 overs before the game ended in a draw. The visitors settled with 8 points from this match and went on to win the County Championship as well.