Hampshire Cricket History

Is this right?

The Eastleigh Hundred team finish tonight in Yorkshire and will not progress further, thereby releasing Vince, Fuller and Weatherley (he must be knackered) to return to Hampshire, whereas London, with Dawson, Wheal, Crane (plus Wood & Ellis) will continue until Friday and/or Saturday.

Well Played

We’re not going to win it but I think it was truly memorable. Here are some of the final stats:

Most runs:

Tom Prest 402 (n 9 completed innings); Nick Gubbins 386 (9); Toby Albert 339 (7); Aneurin Donald 227 (9); Fletcha Middleton 219 (8); Ben Brown 191 (9); Felix Organ 140 (7); Scott Currie 122 (6); Ian Holland 113 (2); Keith Barker 57 (3); John Turner 23 (3); Dom Kelly 17 (1); Jack Campbell 1 (2).

Most wickets

John Turner 20-334 runs; Scott Currie 18-452; Jack Campbell 17-370; Ian Holland 8-213; Felix Organ 5-259; Keith Barker 4-114; Nick Gubbins 2-201; Tom Prest 1-42; Dom Kelly 0-36

Good Score?

This is Hampshire’s 23rd semi-final, since the first in 1966
They have only once scored more than today (or more than 299): v Yorkshire in 2018 when they made 348-9 in 50 overs
On only one other occasion have they scored more quickly – at Hove in 2012 when they chased down 222-2 to beat Sussex in 33 overs at 6.72 runs per over
Today was 6.2 runs per over

Ain’t that the truth?

BBC: “It is now supposed to be only a ‘development competition’ and it no longer has the prestige of a Lord’s final – but that has not stopped the One-Day Cup being a roaring success for a second year running”.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/62715426?fbclid=IwAR2AvoFoIOw_-1zbwFRuc9nKLbeQnZvzJL-RU_j1F9LAw_6yez22GoA9Sgg

News from Kent

Ollie Robinson needs four more runs to pass 400 for the tournament, with a batting average of 56.57, & his 12 sixes total one more than Alex Blake on 11 – the left-hander totalling 284 runs so far.

Darren Stevens has a batting strike-rate of 134.34 following two important contributions with the bat against both Lancashire & Leicestershire Foxes, & Ben Compton is averaging 47.25 after his 378 runs at the top of the order.

Hamid Qadri has been impressive in this year’s 50-over competition & has 12 wickets to his name so far, followed by Nathan Gilchrist (9) & Grant Stewart (8).

Nothing from Hampshire yet, but there is an interesting interview with Jack Campbell:

https://www.ageasbowl.com/cricket/news/jack-campbell-id-love-to-be-part-of-a-final/

Oh Dear!

Well I shared that rather delightful photo of HMS Prince of Wales leaving Portsmouth Harbour accompanied by the Sugababes on Saturday, but sadly …

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/28/hms-prince-of-wales-breaks-down-day-after-leaving-portsmouth

(I often feel like that when leaving Pompey)

How Long?

Has this been going on?

Yesterday’s Test Match went into the third day but it didn’t last three days – in terms of overs more like two days and two sessions. The previous Test lasted just under two days.

There is an interesting table in today’s Daily Telegraph showing the average number of overs bowled in Test Matches by decade. Post-war that figure has declined consistently since the high point in the 1960s when it was close to an average of 400 per match. By the 1980s the average was just below 350 overs per match, now it is barely above 300 which even at the rate overs are bowled today is far fewer than the schedule of 360 in four (not five) days.

The article also suggests that “we would not care to return to that dull era” of the 1960s when often “the result would be a bore draw … (and) even a five-Test series would end 1-0 or 0-0” – but in England at least that only happened once in a five match series (1964) and 33 of the 53 Tests ended in a positive result (almost two thirds):

1960 v South Africa, England won 3-0

1961 v Australia 1-2

1962 v Pakistan 4-0

1963 v West Indies 1-3

1964 v Australia 0-1

1965 v New Zealand 3-0 (3) v South Africa 0-1 (3)

1966 v West Indies 1-3

1967 v India 3-0 (3) v Pakistan 2-0 (3)

1968 v Australia 1-1

1969 v West Indies 2-0 (3) v New Zealand 2-0 (3)

Laugh? I Nearly …

If you can get past all the good news on the front pages, today’s papers can delight you about the future of County Cricket. Here’s Tanya Aldred in The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/aug/26/ecb-review-recommends-fewer-playing-days-and-smaller-county-championship-cricket-top-tier

I’m cheering myself up today down at sunny Southsea’s seafront for the annual Victorious Festival. I might give Ocean Colour Scene a miss despite their appropriate name but I’m very much looking forward to a lunchtime special with the Sugar Babes.

Think of it as my Hundred moment.

PS Well the Sugababes (apologies for the earlier spelling) were actually very good – more like high-class Championship than Hundred. The day was odd because there was no WiFi on site so I had to leave to discover that England won by an innings (and Pompey are top-of-the-table). Meanwhile sometimes magical things occur under special circumstances – as The Sugababes were performing, in the distance the huge aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales left Portsmouth Harbour bound for the USA.

All Change (again)

Just before play started TMS revealed some of the ‘proposals’ from the Andrew Strauss group. More will emerge I’m sure but apparently one suggestion is a smaller top division – probably from 2024. Stephen Finn speculated on a top six, noting some issues that would arise for players in Div 2 – a Top Six would of course mean all-play-all over ten matches per season.

They’ve clearly thought this through. In 2016 the Championship was two divisions of nine and nine (16 matches); then from 207-2019 it was a top division of eight and 10 in Div 2 (14 matches).

We followed that with two seasons of Covid-induced groups and leagues, then this year we went to 10 in Div One and eight in Div Two. Now they want it the other way round again. If that happens from 2024 the only certainty is that by 2026 or maybe 2027 it will change back – probably 11 in Div One and seven in Div Two.

PS Report online now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/62688060

Semi Satisfactory

The knock-out cups started in 1963 but not only did Hampshire have to wait 25 years for a Final appearance – longer than any other county – they also had to wait 13 years before they got lucky with a home Semi-Final although the luck didn’t hold as they lost on the penultimate ball to Northants by two wickets.

The full list of HOME Semi-Finals, with winning matches in Bold is:

Northants (1976); Gloucestershire (1977); Essex (1985); Middlesex (1989); Northants (1990); Somerset (1992); Lancashire (1998); Yorkshire (2005); Warwickshire (2007); Glamorgan (2013); Yorkshire (2018); Lancashire (2019);

Which makes next Tuesday’s Home Semi-Final number 13.

The only one of those I didn’t see was Middlesex in 1989 because I was abroad on holiday – and probably had to wait a day or two for the English paper to get the result – and I’ve seen other semi-finals away at Chelmsford, Edgbaston, Hove and Worcester.