Apperley Cricket Club will roll back the years at the end of August in honour of the greatest day in the club’s history.

Twenty-one years ago, almost to the day, Len Attard led the team out at Lord’s in the final of the National Village Knockout.

It was a momentous day that has lived long in the memory of everyone associated with the club back then and on Sunday 25th August the club will be holding a special game to mark their big day out at the home of cricket.

As many players as possible from that Lord’s team will take on a combined Apperley 1st and 2nd XI in a 40 overs match in which the real winners will be Apperley Cricket Club and the great game of cricket itself.

Apperley chairman Anthony Wilkes, who was a supporter 21 years ago, said: “It should be a great day. We’re not just limiting it to the 11 players who ran onto the field at Lord’s, anyone who played in any of the earlier rounds can play as well.

“If we get 14 or 15 players who want to play we’ll just rotate them on and off.”

There’s every chance that they will, of course, because a good number of that team who were beaten by 61 runs by Yorkshire side Methley at Lord’s, are still playing today.

“Len Attard is playing for Apperley and Gloucestershire over-60s,” said Wilkes, “he’s hoping to skipper the side. James MacPherson is still playing for the club’s 2nd XI – he’s captain – and Hugh Leeke is still playing for the 1st XI. He’s also playing for Gloucestershire over-50s in the same side as Mark Alleyne, he’s still a fair cricketer.

“Colin and Steve MacPherson still play and we’re hoping than Rowan Leeke will come out of retirement. Then there’s other players like Charlie Chatham and Ian Coggin.”

The match was originally due to have been played in May last year to mark the 20th anniversary but it was, says Wilkes “the only wet weekend in that glorious summer”.

Current 1st XI captain Luke Smith is set to skipper the combined team and it will be a special moment for him because he was a young boy when Apperley had their big day out in the capital all those years ago.

He was one of many many villagers who made the 100-mile trek east on Sunday 30th August 1998, a convoy of buses that included Wilkes, who played for Bushley, Corse and Staunton and Woodpeckers before joining Apperley in the noughties.

“I was just a hanger on,” Wilkes said with a laugh. “I’d lived in the village for about four years but I hadn’t played for Apperley by then.”

That didn’t diminish by one jot his sense of pride in what Apperley Cricket Club achieved that day and indeed that season however.

So what are his memories of that day?

“It was a day of anticipation,” he said. “The overwhelming thing was how many buses left the village hall car park, there were nine coachloads.

“Three-quarters of the village went to London that day, the village was almost empty and two police cars patrolled the village all day!

“Once we got to Lord’s, a lot of us wore ‘Lord’s 1998’ T-shirts, I think they were designed by Len Attard’s wife.

“There was this sheer euphoria of being at the home of cricket and seeing so many people you knew, it made you so proud.

“I remember looking up at the players’ balcony where I’d seen so many world famous cricketers and I could see our guys, it was amazing.

“The guys had gone to the ground the day before and they’d walked through The Long Room, that’s the ultimate for a village cricketer, it’s where all the greats, Botham, Boycott and Viv Richards have walked.”

And although they’d have loved to have won, of course they would, Apperley still came home with a runners-up trophy to show for their efforts.

“It’s got pride of place in our pavilion,” said Wilkes. “A lot of players from other clubs look at it and the photos from Lord’s that are on the wall, that day is still very much talked about.”

And while Wilkes, who is in his fourth season as chairman, loves talking about the old days, he’d love to write a new chapter in the club’s history.

“My ultimate goal is to attempt to take the team back to Lord’s,” he said. “We’ve got a very good group of players. We haven’t entered the competition for the last three or four years but maybe next year or the year after.

“My son Henry is one of six, seven or eight 16 to 18-year-olds at the club. They’re good enough and they deserve the opportunity.

“I’d be a very proud chairman if I took the club back to Lord’s, that would be the icing on the cake.”