Hampshire Cricket History

Are we playing who we are playing (once/twice) in the County Championship?

Either

(a) because the ECB are too stupid to allow everyone to play everyone or

(b) Thanks to Paul from Lizzie Ammons:

60 years ago this very afternoon (a Saturday) I saw my first football league match, Pompey 1 Cardiff City 1 in Division Two:

There have been very few changes in the leagues over those six decades. These days they wear shorts instead of knickers, there are substitutes, and most people stand in front of their seats instead of on terraces. There are no crush barriers to lean on and Pompey have ‘progressed’ over the years downwards from Division Two to Division One.

By contrast everything that happened in County Cricket that year has changed apart from 11-a-side.

Way back, when I first watched Hampshire we always went to Canterbury to play Kent over the August Bank Holiday and we’ll be there again next season. The only difference is that then it was the first weekend in August; now it’s the last.

Meanwhile, what links Hampshire’s 2020 Championship season and a 1980s erotic movie drama starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke? (see first comment for answer).

The fixtures are out and you can find lots about them on BBC (probably elsewhere), including all the important ones:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50549193

HAMPSHIRE in the proper stuff have the following (nothing on any home outground**)

Sun 19 April: AB v Kent

Sat 25 April: Taunton v Somerset

Fri 1 May: AB v Yorks

Fri 8 May: Edgbaston v Warwicks

Fri 15 May: Chelmsford v Essex

Fri 22 May: AB v Lancs

Sun 14 June: AB v Warwicks

Mon 29 June: Cheltenham v Gloucs

Sunday 5 July: Oval v Surrey

Sunday 23 August: A B v Gloucs

Sat 29 August: Canterbury v Kent

Tues 8 September: AB v Northants

Mon 14 Sept: Leeds v Yorks

Tues 22 Sept: AB v Somerset

**One-day RL Cup match v Lancs at Newclose on 9 August (during that other tournament)

Incidentally for those of you more media-savvy than me, Hampshire Cricket announce: “The full 2020 fixtures are now available for fans to view in the free-to-download Hampshire Cricket App”.

Just maybe,

Some good might come of England’s performance this week – especially if it continues.

Just as the approach and focus shifted to ‘White Ball’ cricket after the 2015 World Cup failure, so, maybe it will shift back to Test and Championship cricket.

Maybe.

Not a mention of cricket but I am VERY grateful to Colin for spotting this News item from yesterday and passing it on. Here he is then, the oldest cricketer still with us, albeit looking considerably older even than when I saw him last year, but talking very clearly:

Postcard from ‘Bloggy’ in Tauranga for which many thanks. Decent start by England; Hampshire’s only player took 1-40 in a different Test

(Almost)

I went over to Southampton yesterday to collect a donation of cricket books, either for the Archive Library or to sell on to members. A couple were signed (BA Richards and Ingleby) and inside the 1957 Official History were these two 4-page Echo Supplements

They are from 1961 (The Championship) and 1963 (the County Club’s Centenary), so they also marked 65+ years in the Championship which we joined in 1895 – except that we lost ten years to the War, so 1963 makes 58 years and since then we’ve played 56 years.

During 1963, we played our first single-innings, one-day Gillette Cup match, losing our only game that year to Derbyshire at Bournemouth. We were therefore playing pretty much the same cricket season that we had in 1895, with 16 three-day County Championship matches – we finished 10th of 14 – and one against the MCC.

In 1963, we played 28 three-day matches, and finished 10th again (of 17). In 1895 our home matches were played at Northlands Road and Southampton – Bournemouth came in 1898, and those three grounds featured again in 1963, when we also played the MCC to celebrate our centenary. In addition, we met the West Indian tourists and Oxford University at Bournemouth. But apart from an increase in fixtures and an extra home ground, Hampshire’s cricket in 1895 and 1963 was remarkably similar. But the second half has seen one change after another, after another, after another …

Both supplements had team photos of that year and the 1961 supplement showed individual photographs of Roy Marshall, Shackleton, White, Mead, Newman, Kennedy and Holt. In 1963, it was Marshall, Shackleton, Mead, and Newman again, plus from the early days, Russell Bencraft & Francis Lacey, plus Charlie Knott, Jim Bailey and Neville Rogers.

Next year marks 125 years since our first Championship season. If the Echo was to publish a 2020 supplement (improbable) I wonder who would feature?

Left Taunton at the end of the season, having prepared the pitch v Essex:

BBC today: “Somerset have been docked 24 points after being found guilty of preparing a “poor” pitch for last season’s County Championship decider against Essex. A hearing at Lord’s found the wicket prepared for the match had “excessive unevenness of bounce”.

The points deduction will take effect in the 2020 Championship season, but 12 points are suspended for two years.

are just meant to be.

I’ve had a thrilling morning with Mrs A, shopping at B&Q and Waitrose, but at least it started with a proper breakfast. We went to Southsea seafront’s 10th Hole Café by the little golf course, and discovered they’ve built an extension that looks across the St Helen’s cricket ground (where a number of volunteers were busy at work). I ordered, while Mrs A found a table – not only could I look across the ground, but she picked the table – note the number (she thinks I might be bonkers).