County Championship - 1st (W9, D13, L1)
NatWest Trophy - Winners
Refuge Assurance League - Second
Benson & Hedges Cup - Group Stage
Captain - Clive Rice
One of the most successful seasons in Nottinghamshire’s history ended with an unprecedented ‘Double’ of the County Championship and the NatWest Trophy…and a close call on a third title.
It was a fitting way to bring down the curtain on the illustrious county careers of skipper Clive Rice and Kiwi all-rounder Richard Hadlee.
Cricket Manager Ken Taylor said, ‘Like everyone at Trent Bridge, I was delighted that Clive Rice and Richard Hadlee were able to sign off on such a high note.
‘It’s been said many times what an outstanding contribution they have made to Nottinghamshire cricket and they underlined that yet again as Clive topped 1,000 runs for the 13th consecutive season and Richard was just three wickets short of completing the Championship double’.
The summer started with a draw at home to Surrey – the highlight being Eddie Hemmings’s 6-99 in the visitors’ first innings – and the next six Championship fixtures were also drawn.
In between, the county secured a comfortable win – by an innings and 140 runs – over Oxford University, dismissing the student for 66 and 52; Adil Somani on debut took two wickets and the other spinners, Hemmings and Andy Afford ten wickets between them.
Notts scrapped for a draw away to Hampshire in which Clive Rice passed 23,000 career runs. Rain washed out the final day of a draw with Yorkshire at Middlesbrough.
Another away draw followed, against Somerset at Taunton, Hadlee making the season’s first century – 133no – to go with four first innings wickets.
The weather also prevented the final day’s play at home to Lancashire and, remarkably, in the draw away at Edgbaston. The final draw in this long sequence was at home to Worcestershire.
It was 30 June before Notts were able to record a Championship victory. Kent were beaten at Canterbury by 10 wickets; Paul Johnson and Neil Taylor swapped hundreds but Kent just failed to avoid the follow-on. Hadlee and Hemmings with seven wickets apiece saw to it that Notts needed just 22 runs to clinch the win.
In the next match, it was Nottinghamshire’s turn to follow-on as Worcestershire made 349 (Notts 167) and though they did rather better second time round, the home side made the chase without losing a wicket. This was the only defeat in the Championship summer.
Andy Afford (5-79 and 4-80) and Clive Rice (115) were the architects of an eight wicket win over Yorkshire at Trent Bridge; the match completed in two days.
The Pakistan tourists were the next visitors and racked up 412-9 declared with Mudassar Nazar (100) and Mansoor Akhtar (137) the main contributors and the match was drawn.
Leicestershire were b eaten by an innings and 32 runs at Trent Bridge. Hadlee was the principal wicket-taker with nine in the match; Eddie Hemmings took four, the first of which marked his 1100th First-Class wicket.
Yet again, rain intervened and the away game to Middlesex at Lord’s was abandoned without a ball bowled.
Mick Newell’s only double hundred, and the county’s top score of the season – 203 – was the foundation for an away win by and innings and 33 runs at Derby. Paul Pollard made his debut in this match, making 31 out of an opening stand of 72 with Newell.
Newell got another hundred in the away draw with Lancashire, matched by the home side’s Neil Fairbrother and another away draw – against Sussex at Eastbourne – followed.
Duncan Martindale’s 103 enabled Notts to set Warwickshire a tough target and with the follow-on enforced, they won by an innings and 34 runs at Worksop; Hadlee 5-39 and Hemmings 6-62 were the standout bowlers.
Richard Hadlee did even better in the victory over Somerset at Trent Bridge; his almost symmetrical figures were 6-42 and 6-41 as Notts won by 5 wickets; for good measure, he made 101 in Notts first innings. This was his only match with a century and a ‘ten-fer’ and one of just nine recorded for Notts.
Despite a century from Richard Williams, Northamptonshire were asked to follow on at Trent Bridge and subsided to defeat by an innings and 132 runs. A century from Tim Robinson and six wickets from Hadlee and another ‘five-fer’ from Hemmings underpinned the victory.
There then followed four successive draws and the risk that the momentum for the title might have stalled.
Centuries from Robinson and Mick Newell, allied to a couple of sporting declarations, still left insufficient time for the match against Essex at Chelmsford to be completed.
Notts were grateful to the weather that shortened the game against Gloucestershire; so much play was lost the even though Gloucester enforced the follow-on, Notts behind on first innings by 209, a draw was inevitable.
A century, 138, from Clive Rice was the highlight of a draw away to Leicestershire. Kim Barnett and John Morris for the visitors and Paul Johnson for Notts each made centuries in the draw at home to Derbyshire.
In a low scoring game with Sussex, Kevin Saxelby and Richard Hadlee each took six wickets as Notts eased home by eight wickets.
The title was confirmed with a home win against Glamorgan. Not for the first time, Hemmings (5-12) and Hadlee (6-38) bowled Nottinghamshire to a nine-wicket win.
A week earlier, at Lord’s on 7 September, Hadlee had been the star as Notts completed the first leg of their historic double.
In the NatWest final, rain – yet again – had a say and delayed the start on the scheduled day (Saturday 5 Sept) so that the match was reduced to 50 overs per side (from 60) and then had to be completed on a second day, which was the Monday.
The two finalists – Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire – had Sunday League commitments which meant the NatWest final had to be deferred. Ironically in this rain affected summer, Notts’ Refuge Assurance game with Essex was abandoned without any play.
In the NatWest game, Northants batted first and made 228-3 in their 50 overs. In reply, Notts were struggling at 84-5 when Richard Hadlee came to the crease. When play resumed on the Monday Nottinghamshire needed 73 off 7 overs – a tough task in 1980s cricket – with Hadlee and Bruce French together.
The New Zealand all-rounder dominated their stand of 75 and finished with 70no, with four fours and one six. But that hardly tells the story.
With eight needed from the last over, French was unluckily run out when the ball ricocheted off Hadlee’s boot back into the hands of the bowler. Fortunately for Notts, the batters had crossed so Hadlee had to face the last five balls. He clubbed one straight for six and paddled a four down to third man to secure a famous win on his last playing appearance at Lord’s.
In the Refuge Assurance League, three abandoned games meant that Notts had to settle for second place to just miss out on an historic treble.
There was no Test at Trent Bridge in 1987 but the Pakistan team did play the second ODI in the 55-over Texaco Trophy series. England batted first and crawled to 157 all out in 51.1 overs; Chris Broad top scored on his home ground with 54. Pakistan in reply were scarcely quicker, winning by six wickets with 158-4 from 52 overs.
November 2026
Scorecards and stats can be seen here