Worcestershire v Somerset, 1979

The Somerset team, led by their captain, Brian Rose, realised that if they batted first and declared the innings closed after just one over, it would protect their strike rate advantage to guarantee their qualification.

Somerset finished second,[3] a similar fate to that they suffered in the 1976 John Player League, when five teams had tied on points, and Kent won on run rate.

[6] Worcestershire were not challenging for honours to the same extent as Somerset, though they had finished fourth in the 1978 John Player League,[3] and had won the 1974 County Championship.

[7] Cricket was undergoing a period of increasing commercialism; The Benson & Hedges Cup offered total prize money of over £27,000, £6,500 going to the winning team.

The Somerset players, led by their captain, Brian Rose, worked out that despite their place at the top of the table, they could still miss out on qualification for the quarter-finals.

An alternative suggestion involved batting aggressively to lose all ten wickets quickly, and then allowing Worcestershire to reach the required target easily; an approach previously taken by other cricket teams in a similar situation.

The players left the field for the ten-minute break between innings,[10] and when they returned Glenn Turner and Alan Ormrod opened Worcestershire's batting.

[10] Umpires: Key The small crowd at the ground were angered by the result, such that Worcestershire's secretary Mike Vockins apologised and gave all those present a full refund, describing Somerset's declaration as "an absolute disgrace".

Some Somerset fans had travelled over 150 miles (240 km) to watch the game; Alan Gibson of The Times had just arrived at the railway station when he was told by a porter that he might as well head back as the match had finished.

[10] The Somerset team left the ground 14 minutes after the end of the game and, as they were leaving, a Worcestershire fan banged on Rose's car window and shouted at him, "You've done a terrible thing for cricket.

[11] The Daily Telegraph's Tony Winlaw was scathing, suggesting that cricket had reached one of its lowest points due to Rose's declaration.

"[8] Somerset's president, Colin Atkinson, spoke to representatives from Worcestershire the day after the game and offered a replay, but his suggestion was rejected because of logistical issues and fixture congestion.

[6] The TCCB chairman, Carr, made a statement after the game that "Somerset's action is totally contrary to the spirit of the competition, but is not in breach of the rules as they are written" and announced that an inquiry would be held at season's end.

[10] Although Atkinson initially gave a public apology, and stated that the declaration could not be defended,[8] he later suggested that Somerset were victims of a kangaroo court, and that the meeting had happened at a point when the topic was still emotive and people wanted retribution.

[20] The organising committee of the 1979 Cricket World Cup, which was held in England, met in early June and decided that declarations would not be allowed during the tournament to prevent a repeat of the incident.

[23] David Frith, writing for Wisden Cricket Monthly, was similarly hopeful that the action taken would prevent any further instances of poor sportsmanship.