After bowling out Kent for 150, Middlesex were 121/3 at stumps on Day 1 at Tunbridge Wells (yes, THE Tunbridge Wells). At the crease were Bob White and Ron Booker. Confident, they returned to London that evening, to spend the Sunday at home.

Now they ran into severe traffic on their way back, on Monday morning. The Kent cricketers, being locals, made it on time for the 11.30 start, but not the touring party – barring three members.

One of them was White, one of the two not out batsmen. He walked out to the middle in full gear. That was good news. Sid Russell was also there, but he had been dismissed already. The other was twelfth man Ted Clark.

In other words, the innings could not resume.

The umpires – Lofty Herman and Dusty Rhodes – were both senior professionals, but neither had encountered a situation like this. They had three options:

1. They could rule Hooker (the other not out batsman) out. Unfortunately, no law equipped them to do that. Timed out was yet to be introduced; and even if the law existed, it would have applied only to new batsmen.

2. They could award the match to Kent, but on what grounds? Middlesex had three players on the ground.

3. They could force Middlesex to declare, but Col Drybrough, their captain, was absent. Did one of Russell and White have the authority to declare? Clark certainly did not.

Upon much deliberation, Herman and Rhodes "officially closed the Middlesex innings". Some sources have recorded the incident as "Middlesex were forced to declare". Whatever it was, it was unprecedented in the history of First-Class cricket.

Middlesex, in control of the situation, now conceded a 29-run lead. Worse, they had to take field with three men. Here Colin Cowdrey stepped in. He allowed Middlesex eight substitute fielders from the Kent side and let Clark to keep wickets. By the time the innings started, however, three other Middlesex cricketers arrived, including seamers John Price and Don Bennett.

Bennett soon had Luckhurst caught by Prodger (of Kent) at second slip. Later in the day, Prodger got a quick 74, thus achieving the rare feat of taking a catch and scoring a fifty in the same innings. Cowdrey set Middlesex 371 in 390 minutes.

18 June 1963.

It rained most of next day, and Middlesex finished on 82/3. The unbeaten batsmen were – as you might have guessed by now – White and Hooker.