THE boys of 1990 were back at the County Ground yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of Derbyshire winning the Refuge Assurance Sunday League.

Here is the story of that memorable campaign, as told by the players themselves.

Derbyshire make a winning start by beating Sussex at Hove, new South African signing Adrian Kuiper announcing himself with a hard-hitting 53.

Peter Bowler: We had a good batting order already but when we saw Kuips hit some balls at Sussex we knew we had that extra bit to add to it that would tip the balance.

Ole Mortensen: We went from that game to Worcester, who had won everything a year or two before with Ian Botham and Graeme Hick in their side and basically played them off the park. Our start gave all the players the belief that this could be the season where we could go all the way.

The first defeat came in the fourth game away to Yorkshire, which was followed by a remarkable contest at Taunton.

Somerset set a target of 258-7 but openers Kim Barnett (100) and Morris (134) put on 232 of those.

John Morris: 258 now is about par but then it was a massive score. I got four hundreds in four innings that season at Taunton but when I was out, there was still some work to do.

Tim O'Gorman: It came to the last ball with the scores level. Chris Adams was at the non-striker's end ready to run for anything, with Kuiper on strike. Grizzly set off as soon as the bowler let go and dived full length but then he looked up and Kuips was still stood in the crease. He'd just hit the ball out of the ground for six!

Derbyshire keep on winning close contests and it is not only their dynamic batting order that does the business.

The bowling is miserly, with Mortensen piling the pressure on with the new ball and the likes of Allan Warner keeping opponents on their toes mid-innings.

OM: I would bowl my eight overs then hide at long leg and chat with the supporters.

PB: I was keeping to Mortensen when he was bowling to Desmond Haynes at Middlesex and he must have beaten Haynes three or four times in a row outside off stump. Here was one of the world's best players and Stan made him look like a complete muppet.

Allan Warner: That was the year I really learned how to bowl in one-day cricket.

Stan put the pressure on the opposition with his eight overs but then I had to come on and still keep it tight with the batsmen trying to get at me.

Kim used to say to me "If you go for eight an over, I'm happy," so that was my aim. It didn't matter if we won the toss or lost the toss. We knew we could restrict any team bowling first and if we were batting first, we had such a good batting line-up that we would have the runs on the board to defend.

It is not all plain sailing. Derbyshire are skittled for 61 against Hampshire at Portsmouth by West Indian fast bowlers Malcolm Marshall and Cardigan Connor.

PB: Marshall bowled well. He was at the stage of his career where he was still bowling 90 miles an hour and could swing it both ways. It was actually awful to face.

JM: Even then we were going so well that we just put it down as a blip. It was a fighting team and we moved on.

Derbyshire are soon back in the winning groove, including a victory over Kent at Chesterfield where they chase down a target of 276-4, with 127 from skipper Barnett.

The title is in their grasp – but only if they beat Essex at home in the final match.

Essex score 203-4 after Mortensen is frustrated early in the innings and, after a terrific 56 off 36 balls from Kuiper, it is left to sixth-wicket pair Chris Adams and Steve Goldsmith to see them through.

OM: Kuips was at first or second slip and, I think, in my second over he dropped Brian Hardie twice. An over later, John Stephenson was dropped off me. I was going crazy!

Steve Goldsmith: We still needed 25 off the last three and a bit overs when I came in and Chris did all the hitting, I just ran up and down like an idiot. Then it came to the final over. We got one off the first ball, I missed the next and the one after that I hit over the top for the winning runs.

This massive crowd came on to the pitch and I made it about 15 yards before I was picked up and carried to the boundary.

People were trying to grab my gear but I held on and I remember I swapped shirts with this guy who was enormous and had this horrendous purple flowered shirt but I wore this thing all night.

The thing about this team was that everybody did their bit and if someone had a bad day, the others were capable of stepping up. I suppose the last game was my time to contribute.