Hampshire Cricket History

Latest player update – I have to say this is my big Hampshire grumble because I think he’s a player of huge potential in the first-class game but too often neglected; there again, I’m a bit biased because I love spin bowlers, especially wrist spinners, indeed I’m even managing to enjoy bits of the T20 World Cup, watching the bowling of Rashid Khan, Adam Zampa and others (with the sound down of course).

Mason Sidney CRANE (535) born Shoreham-by-Sea 18.2.1997.

Mason Crane is a leg- break/googly bowler and right-hand batsman, who was coached by Raj Maru at Lancing College, and played for England under-19s from 2014-2016. Although born and educated in Sussex he played for Hampshire’s age group sides from the under-15s onwards and made his first team debut in all three formats in 2015, taking 5-35 v Warwickshire at the Ageas Bowl, still his best Championship figures. He played more regularly in 2016, taking 31 Championship wickets, but in 2017, played in just seven Championship matches, with a best of 5-40 v Somerset in the first of those games. In 2016/17, he played first- class cricket for New South Wales, the first overseas player to do so for some decades. In 2017, he played for England Lions, then for the full England side in two T20s v South Africa, and he went on the ‘Ashes’ tour to Australia, where he made his Test Match debut in January 2018 in the final Test, taking 1-193. He then joined the England Lions in the Caribbean but came home with a back problem, which prevented him from playing any first-class matches that season.

He took just five wickets, in Championship matches in 2019 although he seemed back to his best in the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020 with 14 wickets in the five games at 13.57. He took 10 wickets at 35.0 each in the first three Championship matches of 2021 but was then omitted for six matches before returning for the vital game at Cheltenham where match figures of 5-110 helped Hampshire to qualify for Division One. He played in the first of those matches (3-87) was omitted from the next two and then having not bowled in the first innings at Liverpool came within a whisker of bowling Hampshire to the Championship with 5-41 on the final day. It was not quite enough.

He has often been most effective in T20 matches for Hampshire, and has 57 wickets from 35 games with a good economy rate of 7.26, plus 61 limited-overs wickets from 37 matches. Despite the injury in 2018 he played in the Royal London Cup missing only the semi-final and although less than fit in the Final he bowled seven overs (1-53) and effected a fine run-out but that ended his season; he played no T20 matches. In 2019 his 14 List A wickets came at just over six runs per over but he has not played in that format since – in 2021 he played in six matches in the Hundred for London Spirit Men, taking six wickets at 23.00 each. In the T20, he took 11 wickets in 2019 at 16.63, following that with nine wickets in 2020 at his best economy rate of 6.60, while in 2021 his 22 wickets at 23.63 was his highest figure in one season. At the end of the season he was one of seven players awarded his county cap. Squad number 32.  

His figures for Hampshire:

First-class: 40 matches; 400 runs at 10.25; HS: 29. 103 wickets at 38.64; BB 5-35.

List A: 37 matches; 109 runs at 27.25. HS 28*. 61 wickets at 31.11; BB 4-30.

T20: 48 matches; 57 runs at 21.50. HS 12*. 57 wickets at 21.28; Econ 7.26; BB 3-15.

I suspect I’m a bit late in noting that the current (October) edition of The Cricketer is pretty good on county cricket, including a very clear assessment of Hampshire’s plusses and minuses – very complimentary about James Vince and deservedly so, although a separate piece about that fateful Liverpool day does record the view with which I agree (and did at the time) that Crane needed to bowl sooner.

There are evaluations of every county and lots of other stuff including one intriguing letter pointing out that Warwickshire finished six points behind Notts in the first phase and got 12 points fewer than Notts in the second phase yet Warwicks were Champions and Notts came third! Only in a Conference system …

There are also two pages on Calmore’s triumph at Lord’s in the Village Cup and a rather good piece by Vic Marks about this-and-that.

‘Hampshire’s’ Markram hits a fifty as South Africa win by eight wickets with ten balls remaining – and one of their two wickets was a run out. Reigning Champions West Indies struggling to progress now.

One of those ‘Hampshire’ players has just led the way in hammering Scotland.

I stress ‘think’ because Ian (below) confirmed that Aghanistan’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman played for Hampshire a few years ago but he appears on Cricket Archive as Mujeeb Zadran. In today’s World Cup match Mujeeb Ur Rahman took 5-20 in his four overs as Afghanistan won by a huge 130 runs. Munsey top-scored for Scotland with 25 but Brad had a poor day: 0-42 and a ‘duck’.

Incidentally, while Afghanistan is going well in the World Cup the BBC six o’clock news led with a story that their country is facing a HUGE humanitarian crisis. In the cricket, it’s interesting that already three of the T20 matches in the ‘Super Twelves’ have been ridiculously one-sided. T20 doesn’t really work when that happens (unless it’s your team that’s winning I guess).

Regular contributor (and London Evening Standard informant) Colin Price has come up with the following very useful England XI

But I wonder – can you see what the main criterion was for his selection, so (for example) no Jimmy Anderson?

All (and more) will be revealed:

Jack Hobbs

John Edrich

Peter May

Tom Graveney 

Ken Barrington

Ian Botham

Bob Taylor (WK)

Alec Bedser

Bob Willis 

Steve Harmison

Sydney Barnes

Alternatively: Monty Panesar as second spinner if two spinners required

I see Shaheen Shah Afridi knocked over the Indian top three as Pakistan went to their conclusive victory yesterday. He’ll be coming up in our updated biographies having had an unusual ‘career’ with Hampshire in the 2020 T20. Very few supporters will have seen him playing for us ‘live’ as it was all during lockdown (unless you booked a hotel room).

Apart from the two Scots, I’ve spotted Markram playing for South Africa – are there any other ‘Hampshire’ players in the World Cup?

It’s delightful that folks are recalling Alan Rayment’s radio interview back in May 2019. Here are a couple of photos of Alan with Kevan (Dave Bracegirdle from Notts in the background) and one with Adi and the Physio during the “injuries” bit!

I think most of you will recall that Alan was that rare thing, a Hampshire cricketer who was also a Blogger. We became good pals, spending time most weeks talking this-and-that around cricket.

It’s possible that many of you have already seen this message from Stephen Chalke via Dorset or Hampshire Cricket Societies but in case not, here goes:

Second Volume of Alan Rayment’s Autobiography – Completed by Stephen Chalke

On Thursday 28^th October, at 2;00 pm at Hurn Bridge Sports Club (Avon Causeway, BH23 6DY), the Dorset Cricket Society in conjunction with friends of Alan Rayment will be celebrating Alan’s life. I will be speaking, as will Canon Tim Biles, Alan’s oldest friend in cricket; copies of the new book ‘Punchy’s Hampshire Years’ will be on sale for £15; and we will be serving a cricketers’ tea with sandwiches and cakes.

It promises to be a joyous occasion, filled with ‘love and laughter’, two things that were dear to Alan’s heart. Admission is free. If you want to let us know you are coming or have any questions, please e-mail me at stephen.chalke@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 01225 335813.

Alan had not finished the book when he died in October last year so I have taken on the task, weaving together his writing with notes, taped conversations and other material to make a complete book, covering the years from Alan’s arrival in Southampton in 1949 to his summer at Lord’s in 1959 when in an extraordinary sequence of events he finished up being offered the position of MCC Head Coach. Apart from the cricket, the book also covers the highly successful dance business that Alan and his wife Betty built up and the spiritual experiences that led him into a new life. It’s a lively read, as you would expect if you knew Alan.

His funeral took place at a time when numbers were strictly limited – so here is our chance to gather together and celebrate a special man.

With best wishes

Stephen Chalke

Well done Scotland including two Hampshire players Brad Wheal (of course) and George Munsey who played for us in 2020 in the T20. Their comfortable win against Oman today means they are through to the next stage of the T20 World Cup with the ‘big boys’ – having topped their first group they are now in the opposite group to England but might play Ireland if they win tomorrow.

Not such a good day for Brad today – but he held a catch!

Just to remind, my principal purpose in posting these biographies is to update the entries in the second edition of Hampshire County Cricketers – I am considering collecting these together as a booklet in the style of the Kyle Abbott one and making it available at the start of the 2022 season. None of this precludes the expression of personal views but I think that despite his brief career with Hampshire this entry is almost ‘perfect’ in respect of a Blog which is clearly about History.

Harry Robert Charles CAME (561) born Basingstoke 27.8.1998

Harry Came is a right-handed batsman from a cricketing family. His father Peter is on the Hampshire Members’ Committee and played for the county 2^nd XI, while among the other cricketers in his family, Harry’s Great Grandfather Walter Robins played for Middlesex and England. Harry Came had only a brief Hampshire career although it began in record fashion as he was the first Hampshire player to make his first-class debut as a full-playing concussion substitute when replacing Aneurin Donald in the match against Surrey at the Oval on 20 August 2019 (day three) and scoring 23* in his one innings. This was not the first such instance in the County Championship as Anuj Dal of Derbyshire made his first-class debut in the same circumstances in August 2018. In a different situation many years earlier the opposing captain allowed JWW Nason, a 17-year-old schoolboy to replace the Australian JEBBPQC Dwyer for Sussex v Warwickshire at Hastings in August 1906. Dwyer had injured his hand in the field and under Law 37 at the time the opposing captain’s consent was required to allow Nason to substitute fully. He scored 53 in the Sussex second innings when they followed-on (they lost) the youngest player to score a fifty in the Championship until overtaken by B.M.Shafayat (later of Hampshire) in 2001. Nason, an amateur, played subsequently for Cambridge University and Gloucestershire for whom he scored his one first-class century and was killed in action in Flanders on Boxing Day 1916 while a member of the Royal Flying Corps.

Harry Came played for Hampshire’s age group sides and in August 2015 scored 56 as Hampshire won the Under-17s County Championship, beating Warwickshire at Arundel. Despite this, he played his first 2^nd XI matches for Kent, although he was a member of the Hampshire 2^nd XI that lost to Lancashire in the 2017 Championship Final at Newclose (IOW). In 2018 he played for Kent again but at the end of that season chose his home county ahead of offers from Kent and Leicestershire and signed a two-year contract. After his 2019 first-class debut he was selected for the Hampshire side in the Bob Willis Trophy when first-class cricket resumed in mid-August in the Covid-affected 2020 season. He began with a Hampshire best score of 25 against Sussex at Hove and played in the first four of the five matches that season but having not batted in the rain-affected fourth game (v Essex) he was dropped and at the end of 2020 he was not offered another contract. In 2021 he went on trial to Derbyshire who offered him a three-year contract and for whom he has played in three Championship matches, seven List A matches and 11 in the T20 competition.

His first-class figures for Hampshire:

5 first-class matches; 72 runs at 14.40. Highest score 25 v Sussex (Hove) 2020.