Hampshire Cricket History

I’ve just read that there will be no Championship fixtures in August

There’s a surprise.

PS: (BBC) Gloucestershire have appointed Dale Benkenstein as their new head coach on a three-year deal. The former South Africa all-rounder, 47, was head coach at Hampshire between 2014-16, leading them to two T20 Blast finals days and promotion to Division One of the County Championship.

I had no idea this was going to happen but I rather like it. I’ve reached number 100 in the list of our List A debutants and he was the only one in 1999. He was Lawrie Prittipaul (from Portsmouth of course) and – since Hindley played only in that one Championship match – Lawrie is also the last List A debutant from Pompey. In the following September he was also the last Hampshire List A batsman to score a half century at Northlands Road, in the final match on that ground, v Notts.

On with the numbered list of Hampshire’s LIST A players and (from 1963) I’ve just completed 1993 and number 78

I was struck by the players who made their debuts in the early 1990s – a pretty successful period for us in List A matches – and realised that in four seasons from 1990-1993 there were exactly eleven, but I wonder how many you could name? It’s not easy – but I’ll give you clues and add the whole list in the first comment.

There were three bowlers born overseas – one from an unusual birthplace – and three men who signed from other counties. Two men came from Hampshire – one from our ‘origins’ – while three had three initials but never made it to captain Hampshire. Only two were ‘capped’ by Hampshire – in one case his second county cap and one bowler (not yet mentioned) added his name to our list of first-class hat-tricks then departed for other counties. Two of them played Test cricket during this period (and beyond) but none of the others did, although one became part of England’s ‘backroom’ and another went into cricket administration.

OK?

Chris asked, had I seen the piece in Wisden Cricket Monthly about 1963 and Roy Marshall. I hadn’t, I’m a Cricketer bloke myself (what about you?) but I bought it this morning at the one remaining WH Smith’s on Portsea Island.

The piece is quite a lot about the West Indians tour of 1963 but the photo of Roy was interesting – the wicketkeeper is Pakistani Imtiaz Ahmed and then the ground was easy to recognise – it’s Arundel – and it’s not 1963 but the start of the previous season, when Hampshire’s XI were invited to represent the Duke of Norfolk in a one-day opener for the tour to honour their clinching of the County Championship the previous year.

1962 would be the first year of a knock-out cup competition between four midlands counties, but for this April fixture the two sides played it like a normal club match – the Duke’s XI 204-6 declared in 63 overs, the tourists 173-5 in 54 overs, match drawn – Marshall top-scored with 61.

The article mentions Marshall’s feat in scoring 1,800 runs in 1963. In fact in 1955 and then over five seasons from 1958-1962 he passed 2,000 runs. 1963’s total impressed because it was a wet summer with uncovered pitches but so too were his 2,118 runs in 1958 (when we finished second). The totals from 1959-1962 with a best of 2,607 in 1961 (and best average of 43.45) were all during the brief experiment with covering which changed again from 1963, for almost 20 years.

Here is the photo

I’m up to 1984 now but here are some answers to the questions on the previous post. As Stephen discovered, number one is Dennis Baldry, followed by Portsmouth-born Mike Barnard. The five spinners are Alan Wassell, Peter Sainsbury and Keith Wheatley from Hampshire plus West Indian Larry Worrell and New Zealander David O’Sullivan – the convert, Alan Castell.

The other Hampshire-born players were Jimmy Gray, Brian Timms, Barry Reed, Richard Lewis, Trevor Jesty and oddly perhaps, three who came from other county staffs – Geoff Keith (Somerset), Bob Herman (Middx) and John Rice (Surrey). The three captains are Gilliat, Marshall and Ingelby who was also the first wicketkeeper, followed by Timms and Bob Stephenson (future captain). In those first ten seasons the men from overseas were O’Sullivan, Worrell, Marshall, Richards, Danny Livingstone, John Holder, Barry Richards and Gordon Greenidge (via Reading).

The majority were regular Hampshire players but pace bowler Peter Haslop made his List A debut in 1971, nine years after his only first-class match (v Pakistanis at Bournemouth).

If you can remember the Arlott Atrium you will recall seeing the Cricketers’ Board with numbers against all our First-Class cricketers, starting with the XI that played at Taunton in 1895. I’m now working on a similar numbered listing for all out players in List A matches (40-65 overs) which began with the Gillette Cup in May 1963. The men in that side were numbered 1-11 in alphabetical order.

I’m happy to share the list when it’s finished – so far I’ve done the first ten seasons – but here are some facts and/or questions to see how many you might be able to remember.

In total, there are 31 men in the list from 1963-1972; alphabetically then, who might be number one from 1963? There were five specialist spinners** in those first ten years, two from overseas and three born in the county; three regular wicket-keepers; six men who had been with other counties previously; 12 of the 31 were Hampshire-born, while seven were from overseas – five from the Caribbean. In those 10 seasons, there were three ‘official’ captains. (**plus one who converted to seamers by his List A debut).

Of Cage Cricket:

The first one shows Jimmy Adams at St Edmund’s School (inner-city comprehensive) in Portsmouth at the launch of their Cage facility in November 2013. It was filmed for South Today with Kevan James. Below that (April 2016), the only time I was invited to be on the pitch at Fratton Park, handing over a cheque to PFC for their Cage as part of PFC in the Community. The money was raised through sales of my book Forever Changes (which needs an update!!)

read the Daily Telegraph though:

A couple of shots of the first day of Cage Cricket at the Ageas Bowl. In the centre of the first photo, the man in the suit is Trevor McArdle who with Lawrie Prittipaul (purple T-Shirt) created this version of the game, initially in inner city Portsmouth:

Some photos from the launch at the Houses of Parliament in June 2012 – Ian Botham there in support, Rod Bransgrove in his purple Cage T-shirt and MPs trying out the game.