Former Derbyshire bowler Peter Eyre recalls when Derbyshire beat Sussex by 87 runs in the semi-finals of the Gillette Cup at Chesterfield in July 1969.

I ALWAYS count the period between 1967 and 1969 as the best time of my 14 years with Derbyshire and the semi-final against Sussex at Queen's Park was certainly the greatest game I was involved in.

The ground was absolutely heaving for the occasion and a lot of people I knew had come up from the Hope Valley to make it even more special for me.

But we knew it was going to be a tough match because Sussex were the one-day kings then. They won the first two finals in 1963 and 1964 and lost in the final to Warwickshire the year before this game.

It had rained heavily two days before the game and that made the wicket difficult. We batted first after winning the toss and it was hard work for our batsmen.

Peter Gibbs got a very good 44 but when the captain, Derek Morgan, came in, we were 71-4 and in trouble.

Derek decided he was just going to stay out there and blocked his way to 26 not out to make sure we used up most of our 60 overs and reached 136 all out.

He was barracked by the crowd all day for his slow batting and if that happened today, you would wonder what was happening but it really was a wonderful contribution and gave us a chance to win the match.

Our seam bowling was very strong, with Harold Rhodes, Alan Ward, Fred Rumsey, Ian Buxton and myself, and we were confident we could do it, even though it is never easy with such a small score on the board.

Alan got a couple of early wickets to make it 5-2 and I came on to replace Harold. There was still quite a lot of movement off the seam and I had one of those games where it all clicked for me.

Bob Taylor stood up and took two catches, Derek gota very important one at slip to get Jim Parks out for 16 and Sussex were really struggling after that.

When I bowled Don Bates, they were all out for 49 and I had 6-18 to win the man of the match award.

The ground erupted. Everybody ran on and we could not believe it – we were through to a Lord's final.

We were well beaten in the final by Yorkshire, though it was a great experience to get there, and my own career went downhill after that season when I had to have a knee cartilage operation and then caught glandular fever.

But I regarded every game I played for Derbyshire as an honour and any time I have been feeling down in the dumps since, I only after to think of that game at Chesterfield and it always cheers me up.