Hampshire Cricket History

is watching what I’m watching (see Comment on previous post)

(Mind you the commentator said Rod was watching the cricket. I’m not sure that’s quite right! Maybe he’s checking the Blog)

Good crowd in this morning for a very pleasant event, including Kevan doing a Q&A with new boys, James Fuller and Keith Barker

I’ve just spotted a name missing from the A-Z. As far as I’m aware, no one else noticed. He’s not a name that would spring to mind I suspect, but he won a trophy.

No prizes – and I’ll tell you soon.

And the answer is: Abdul Razzaq

But if you want to keep guessing/checking, they’re in these Comments – so “If you don’t want to know the score, look away now”

In 1983, three current/former/future Hampshire players appeared for the same side in the World Cup matches in England. Not too hard to name them I suspect*.

But it happened again in 2003, and I doubt whether I could name them without looking it up. Can you? (I will tell you)

*This bit is really for information, not a quiz. In 2003 Shane Warne did not appear (or for Hampshire) because he’d been naughty. But why did none of the three men from the first paragraph play in the 1987 World Cup. Does anyone know?

I’ve been in the Archive today, tidying up, and found this photo (with a caption). It’s a match that Colin Price and I have discussed on a number of occasions, not least due to his interest in outdoor swimming pools/Lidos. There was one next to this ground:

The match was a thriller. Jimmy Gray scored 155 and then 49 as Hampshire chased down 190 to win in the 43rd over, with just two wickets to spare. It was a very hot week (in a very hot summer), I think it was the first Middlesex Championship match played away from Lord’s, and certainly the only first-class match ever played at Hornsey. Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie wrote about it in his autobiography Many a Slip.

We’re almost exactly halfway through the game (sadly not a match), West Indies are 500 ahead and James Anderson, having been warned for running on the pitch (confirmed by TV replays) is typically grumpy.

The umpires are of course required to be entirely impartial, and entitled to give Anderson a hard time. But if you were West Indies’ captain Jason Holder (116*) surely you’d want the umpires to shut up and let him trample all over it.

I wonder whether the West Indies will bat until tea at least. Tomorrow is mostly a non-working day in Barbados and the locals are likely to show up to cheer victory.

The West Indians are a bunch of “very ordinary, average cricketers”, are they?

Lunchtime, the sun is shining here and the TV is on for a whole day of blokes playing cricket in white clothes …

If that’s not enough, here’s a new Blog for you. It’s by Bill Riquier who lives abroad but was Neil Jenkinson’s brother. The three of us wrote the 100 Greatest Hampshire Players book about twenty years ago. Entirely independently Bill and I both recently told each other that we think we missed two names who deserved to be there, the two Alans, Castell and Rayment.

https://billpavilionend.com

There have been a few times in recent seasons when supporters have ‘whispered’ the rumour that James Vince will be moving to Northshire or Eastshire or wherever …

Well he ain’t – and I’m delighted. BBC today: “Hampshire captain James Vince has signed a new four-year contract to keep him with the club until the end of the 2022 season. The 27-year-old England batsman has made 347 appearances across all formats since making his debut in 2009”.

“I’m delighted to have signed a new contract and look forward to all the challenges that lie ahead,” he said.

“We have a great set-up and fantastic facilities here and I’m very proud to be able to call Hampshire my home.”