Hampshire Cricket History

In a parallel universe I was an art teacher/lecturer and I keep in touch with exhibitions in London and southern England so today I was at the Pallant Gallery in Chichester to see a new exhibition about the involvement of artists in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s. Among the exhibits was this fascinating image:

It’s called “Basque Boys Playing Cricket” and it was taken by Edith Tudor-Hart at a camp for these refugees at North Stoneham in 1937! While John Arnold, Neil McCorkell, Dick Moore and others were playing down the road, these Spanish kids were learning about English cricket in the heart of Hampshire.

You can read more on the website of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery who own the print:

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/t/artist/edith-tudor-hart/object/basque-boy-playing-cricket-north-stoneham-camp-hampshire-pgp-279-35b

I wonder whether any of them settled in England and whether they developed a fondness for the game.

Nigel Gray has won Groundsman of the Year at their annual meeting at Lord’s. It seems to me an obvious reward for his hard work and remarkable knowledge & skill but equally a vindication of the policy over the past two years of producing Championship strips that encouraged bowlers as well as batsmen. Long may that last.

I wonder if Tony Pigot presented it?

I was at the ground yesterday, participating in a delightful formal launch of the Ageas Bowl as a Dementia friendly stadium. A lot of the staff and some members have been through an ‘awareness’ session to become Dementia friends.

Despite the pleasure of that event there was a powerful sense of sadness around the place, not simply because Phil Hughes had played a few games for Hampshire but for cricket and the cricket world as a whole. Giles White was doing TV interviews and fielding press calls and there was a sombre mood reflected in a reduction in the public activities, including the formal announcement of the fixtures which I believe will occur in just a day-or-two. To date there are no changes to the hints I gave a couple of weeks ago apart from the addition of the pre-season friendlies.

The dreadful story is worse; Phil Hughes has died in hospital overnight.

Every year I write obituaries for our Handbook, of players and other significant people at Hampshire Cricket (including members) but this will be the first one for a man still playing first-class cricket and with his career ahead of him.

RIP

I guess I’m pushing my luck here but since England have reverted to type and stopped picking Hampshire players I tend to reckon it serves them right if they lose to a team that does have a Hampshire player. I didn’t see much of today’s game but I gather Moeen looked terrific and in the bit I watched Bopara had a go while the middle and late order faded away.

MAYBE they should only pick players who’ve been playing in Div Two?

Phil Hughes who played a bit for Hampshire a couple of seasons ago has been badly hurt in a state match in Australia. He was hit on the head by a short ball while batting and despite wearing a helmet, collapsed at the crease. He was taken to hospital, has been operated on and is apparently critical. We wish him well.

Incidentally, the bowler was Abbott – but Sean not Kyle. There is also news that Michael Carberry is to play in the ‘Big Bash’ this winter.

Kyle Abbott dismissed Warner today and 43 runs off his 10 overs was the tightest for SA (Imran Tahir was out injured) but the Aussies won and lead the five match series 3-1. Maxwell also took 1-43 in one less over, but failed again with the bat.

Greetings from a very gloomy Pompey and congratulations to Ian and all the other ‘Shots fans. I’d better turn my mind to the cricket. Here’s part of the answer to my query about the 1948 Aussies

I was sent this photo from Basingstoke of the 1948 ‘Aussies’ by Mr Applin who asked me

“Would they have played an exhibition match at May’s Bounty that was not recorded?. The trade name of the macs was PELTINVAIN and they were made by John Mares of B/stoke – a large bespoke and ready to wear tailoring factory. Apparently they presented a ‘mac’ to each player”.

He adds: I am sure the Hants & Berks Gazette would have reported their visit. You can search microfilm copies in the B/stoke Discovery Centre. Each year is on a separate roll so it would not be too much of a chore to look at May/June 1948.

For me however, it’s a 100 mile round trip so not likely to go soon. If anyone happens to be there …

As a college student in the 1970s I played cricket with a chap from Bristol, John Cooper, who later taught with me in Portsmouth. He was a wicket-keeper and played at somewhere like Langstone/Emsworth for many years. He was an avid Bristol Rovers fan who had settled in Hampshire and he came to mind while I was working my way through the responses to my questions from Andy Millard who now lives in the USA. Andy identified himself as a Rovers fan (I’m not sure why) and said

“I have sometimes wondered how many combined Hampshire / Bristol Rovers supporters there are. Probably not many, but more than one I suspect.”

Any more out there?

Two More Questions:

1. Does anyone know anything about a match at Basingstoke in 1948 involving the all-conquering Aussies? (I’ll explain)

2. From Bob Elliott’s reply: does anyone know why Learie Constantine played at Southampton Sports Centre in the early 1950s? What was the event?

(PS: In my compiling process – stage one – I have just one more of the 18 initial responses to sort. The document is around 17,000 words and the next stage is an edit)

The PROVISIONAL fixtures are out – they may change of course but I can tell you that at present, three of the first four matches are at home:

2 April (3 days) v Loughborough University

and all in the Championship:

12 April v Sussex

19 April v Warwickshire (Edgbaston)

26 April v Notts

Then it’s off to Headingley

In the Championship, Hove starts on 7 June and at present there are two games at Lord’s – one day on 18 June and four days from 28 June. In September we play four days at Taunton then home v Yorkshire and everything finishes at Trent Bridge. We don’t play Gloucs in the Championship but there is a trip to beautiful Cheltenham.

Incidentally it looks to me as though our penultimate home Championship match finishes on 10 August after which there are just the four days v Yorkshire a month later