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Day, Harold (218 – Amateur) born India 12.8.1898, died Hertfordshire 15.6.1972. Batsman Harold Day was a very talented all-round sportsman, but because of his army career he played just 78 matches over 10 seasons, despite which he scored four centuries and 17 half-centuries. He played for Bedfordshire from 1920-1922 and also for West of Scotland, MCC and Royal Artillery and made his Hampshire debut v Kent at Southampton in 1922, scoring 56 & 91 on first-class debut (no Hampshire batsman has ever scored a century on his first-class debut when playing for the county). His second innings included a partnership with Mead of 219 in 150 minutes. A week later v Leicestershire he scored 75 and at the end of that season he had passed 1,000 runs at just under 40 each innings and was invited to tour South Africa – a tour which included a number of Hampshire players. Unfortunately his duties as an officer prevented that and he played in just three matches in the following season.
He returned regularly in 1924 with 1119 runs including a century v the South Africans and his best score of 142 v Somerset at Bath. From 1925-1928 he played occasionally (28 games in total) with a fourth and last century v Middlesex at Bournemouth in 1926, and then disappeared until 1931 when he played in four matches with little success. John Arlott (1957) described him as “natural games player”, adding “there was no halfway stage in his batting, it was either free, forcing play or, based on the same quick footwork, careful – even pawky – defence”. He was a wing three-quarter who played for Leicester and England (four Tests, 1920-1926).
Dean, Thomas Arthur (‘Tom’), born Gosport 21.11.1920, died South Africa 4.6.2004. Tom Dean was born in Hampshire but lived most of his life in South Africa. He was one of those cricketers whose career might have been significantly different were it not for the interruption of the war; in 1939. Still in his teens, he made a considerable impression as a leg-break bowler and close fielder in late August in three matches at Bournemouth: on debut, v Somerset he took his first wicket and made 20* & 8* in an innings defeat, then v Worcestershire 4-38 including a hat-trick, and when Champions Yorkshire arrived he took 5-58. Hampshire lost all three matches, but Dean had ten wickets at 22.20 each.
His next first-class match came after six years away, and the slim-line teenager nicknamed ‘Split Pin’ was a more bulky figure, who seemed less able to turn the ball so effectively. He played in 13 matches in 1946 but took just 21 wickets, which included 7-51 v Derbyshire at Ilkeston. That remained his best figures although he took 6-73 in a first-class match v Combined Services in 1949, but took only three wickets in three subsequent Championship matches, and his county career came to an end. In the field he held 31 catches in 28 first-class games, setting a Hampshire record of seven catches in the match v Essex at Colchester in 1947, since equalled by Maru and Liam Dawson. Overall, he took 51 wickets for Hampshire at 31.11. In 1954 he played in the Minor Counties for Devon, and in 1956/7, having returned to South Africa where he had grown up, he played one first-class match for Eastern Province.
Dean, William (136) born Australia circa 1882. We have no further information about names or dates of birth/death. William Dean was a bowler who played in one first-class county match v the South Africans in 1907. He scored 3* in his only innings and bowling only in the second innings, had figures of 21-7-52-2. We know nothing more about him.
Deane, Marmaduke William (12) born Petersham, Surrey 25.3.1857, died Dorking 7.11.1936. He was a wicketkeeper who played one first-class match for Surrey in 1880 and then four matches for Hampshire in 1895. He took six catches and three stumpings but scored only 15 runs at an average of 5.00. His final match was in July 1895, after which Charles Robson took over as the regular wicketkeeper.
Debnam, Alexander Frederick, Henry (322) born Kent 12.10.1921, died Newcastle-upon-Tyne 26.1.2003. Leg-break bowler Debnam played in the 2nd XI for his native Kent from 1946, then in county matches from 1948 (as an amateur) & 1949 (professional) as understudy to Doug Wright. With few opportunities, he came to Hampshire as a professional, making his debut in 1950,v Yorkshire at Portsmouth, taking a wicket and top-scoring with 21 in an innings defeat. He played in 10 matches in two seasons, but took just four first-class wickets for Hampshire. His top score was 64 v Cambridge University in 1951, his final season in first-class cricket.
Delmé-Radcliffe, Arthur Henry (36 – Amateur) born South Tidworth, Hampshire 23.11.1870, died Dorset 30.6.1950. He was a right-handed batsman who played second-class matches for Hampshire in 1889 and then in seven first-class matches for the county, one in 1896, five in 1899 and one final game in 1900. In 1897 he played in the Minor Counties for Berkshire. His best score for Hampshire was 43 v Yorkshire in a nine-wicket defeat at Southampton in 1899. As with a number of occasional amateurs, he played mostly in home matches, with one journey to Old Trafford for a wet, low-scoring draw. His final match for Hampshire was a non first-class game v the West Indians at Southampton in 1900.
Denham, Harold Alfred (26) born India 13.10.1872, died Eastbourne 25.2.1946. He was a batsman who played some cricket at Sandhurst in the early 1890s and in one first-class match, a victory v Sussex at Southampton in 1896, scoring one and seven. He played matches in Ireland a few years later including one match for Ireland v the South Africans at Dublin in 1901 – but sadly recorded a ‘pair’.
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Hampshire Cricket History 
Harold Day. He scored two tries for England, two conversions and two penalties. He also publishes two books on rugby: Rugby Union Football in 1952 and Play Better Rugby in 1954.
Comment by Stephen Saunders December 5, 2017 @ 2:25 pmJust thought that you would like to know.
Absolutely Stephen – many thanks
Comment by pompeypop December 5, 2017 @ 2:56 pmIn 1949 Tom Dean played against Ian Wooldridge who later became a top journalist on the Daily Mail. The following is from the Guardian’s obituary of Wooldridge.
Young Ian himself was a good enough batsman to have ambitions to play the first-class game – to be sure, at 17 he confidently went in to bat at No. 4 for Hampshire Schoolboys in the annual match against the county’s 2nd XI on the County Ground at Southampton.
Tom Dean, the county’s purveyor of leg-breaks and googlies, was bowling. Ian gropingly missed the first three deliveries, and was clean bowled by the fourth.
All of 33 years later, out of the blue he met Dean in Port Elizabeth.
“You totally altered my life,” he told the old man. “if I’d been able to pick your googly, I’d now be a 50-year-old ex-pro running a crumbling pub and, I daresay, contemplating suicide.”
Comment by Colin Price December 9, 2017 @ 6:18 pm