Hampshire Cricket History

I’m not sure how much should be read into the three pre-season friendlies, particularly given the dreadful weather which meant lots of amendments, abandonments and re-arrangements but for what it’s worth (and counting ‘retired outs’ as ‘not outs’):

Batting: Liam Dawson 117 in one completed innings; Ali Orr 97 in 2 completed innings; Tom Prest 87 in 2; Ian Holland 28 in one; Nick Gubbins 70 in 3; Ben Brown 55 in 3; Fletcha Middleton 24 in 4.

PLUS James Vince 39; James Fuller 39* in 2, Kyle Abbott 8 in one; Toby Albert 7* in one; Joe Weatherley 15* in three not out innings; Brad Wheal dnb.

Bowling: Kyle Abbott 9-54; Ian Holland 4-51; James Fuller 5-99; Liam Dawson 4-113; Brad Wheal 3-95;

PLUS Nick Gubbins 1-18; Eddie Jack 0-25; Dom Kelly 0-27; Tom Prest 0-44;

Players who might play from next week but did not appear in these friendlies: Mo Abbas, Keith Barker, Felix Organ, John Turner.

James: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/people/hampshire-cricket-james-vince-desperate-to-end-hampshires-51-year-county-championship-wait-4573219?fbclid=IwAR3cPZxNDjPGjF98nKXZBlzJXWuaGhAyYUvYKgBNmzLtNQqbhofYTMY0grw_aem_AU9_uaFsjCQTNZ8DJ5SMRD2Lgmfo1OoxbkYQrRDQDGRAvjvlZJJFCL6KuBB4k-7IBlUj8H4aUbyF_1lI4dUAeTXJ

Liam: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/liam-dawson-i-don-t-want-to-be-running-drinks-for-england-at-my-age-1426852?fbclid=IwAR3EBDNn-2b46wJW_HVg-wtKKMgWu42Dq5Ex85z0Z-Hy8Pdk0961q6zmb5s_aem_AU_3_KBNFWPgBmPy0h0hYO_MF_zSsGXHXXlnKhR9aa5D9UZh7tgUZ5tVTFRIKjRHS0-5oGuNHXYKRJkMg6S3Surn

There is a very interesting article in today’s Guardian about “the growing chasm between county cricket’s wealthy and needy” counties with some people believing it is moving inevitably towards creating a smaller elite and getting rid of of some counties.

The article contains quotes from three people – two, Ashley Giles and Paul Farbrace from smaller counties plus a chap called Bransgrove who says “My belief about sport is its a meritocracy. The best teams get to the top. The polarisation of talent at top clubs is part of taking the sport forward”.

Well it ain’t any kind of “forward” I welcome, so once again I find myself out-of-sync with my county. I think back to my favourite county cricket decade, the 1970s, when pretty well every county won something and there was a different county champion almost every season – meaning reasonable contentment around the country. It’s not like that now is it? Surrey for the title anyone?

(The article by Ben Bloom introduces a project he’s carried out, which is published in a new book Batting for Time: The Fight to Keep English Cricket Alive)

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2024/mar/27/the-spin-wealth-gap-county-cricket

Most of you will know that a couple of years ago Hampshire Cricket Heritage bought a considerable number of memorabilia pieces of/about Derek Shackleton which are displayed in the Shackleton Bar.

We have recently purchased some items related to ‘Shack’s’ opening partner in the 1960s, ‘Butch’ White including three balls, one from a 2nd XI game, one when he took 6-10 in dismissing Yorkshire for 23 at Middlesborough and one from 1966 when he took 9-44 v Leicestershire at Portsmouth. This photo was added to the purchases (and we had others already) – it shows his captain Roy Marshall presenting him with that 9-44 ball on the dressing room balcony at Northlands Road, in what were then the fifth best and are now the seventh best figures in Hampshire’s history (no one has ever taken 10 in an innings for Hampshire).

Even in Sunny Southsea. Clearly they played a one-day game today and batting first Ali Orr played well again (two out of three in the friendlies) while Fletcha failed to get going again. Not much to add really. It doesn’t feel much like the cricket season yet.

Well not really but it is fifty years since … and Worcestershire are 44-6 this morning with wickets shared by Herman, Roberts, Taylor …

No, sorry, Abbott, Wheal, Fuller, Holland. No sign of young Turner again – must be exhausted after that winter.

Scorecard from now on at

https://live.nvplay.com/ecb/?tab=m_scorecard#me69e9948-970c-4ea9-ae8c-9df42eba156f

While things are a little slow sometimes now I think the Comments approval is working OK and thank you for them. I mentioned keeping on Topic but adding that anything relevant can be a new Post so here is the perfect example – a question from Angela W (I don’t know the answer)

Also (bonus) photo of Annie Chave (County Cricket Matters) and Terry Crump at the Bat & Ball yesterday for the latest lunch of the Hambledon Club (our 25th anniversary) see more about the Club at https://www.thehambledonclub.com/

And here is the Question from Angela:

“I have been wondering if anyone knows the status of Ian Holland’s contract. My understanding was that it ended at the end of 2023 season. My gut feeling (even though I am a fan of his) was that it would not be extended. To the best of my knowledge there has been no news on any extension and I see his is still part of the squad so I was just wondering if anyone knew the position in regards to him?”

Today is precisely the 14th anniversary of the first Blog Post, the year that Hampshire finally cracked the T20 and at least a decade before anyone thought ‘seriously’ about the Hundred.

It should be a moment of unreserved albeit modest celebration – at least 95% of it has been great fun – but for reasons I guess everyone understands I have finally imposed restrictions on Comments which means anyone who takes pleasure in making offensive comments, moaning about things which in the grand scheme of things are utterly trivial and/or winding up other Bloggers should not be able to do that any more. Everyone who wishes to make sensible, useful or amusing Comments can still do so – there just might be a bit of a delay before I check in.

If you make a Comment that is ‘off message’ from the Post I might stop it but if significant, I will create a new post (and give you credit)

Not quite the fun message I planned for today but thank you to everyone who has contributed positively or just enjoyed reading it over the years.

This is a message from Tigger. Any Comments would be great but from now on I’m monitoring all Comments and asking that you stick to the topic.

There is no need to post scores from Hampshire’s friendly as everything is available on the Club site (with videos):

“Before the new season starts, I have made some changes to the Overall averages pages.

You can now click on ‘From Date’, ‘To Date’, ‘Player’, ‘Runs’ (scored),
‘Average’ (batting), ‘Wkts’ or ‘Average’ (bowling) to get the averages
in that order.
Basically, there are 7 different web pages for each format and you should be able to
click between them.
On the Batting and Bowling Average I have not put in any qualification but
maybe will do that subject to comments received.

Here is the link to the County Championship Averages in player name order.

https://hampshirecricket.net/CC_averages_by_name.htm

from there you can just click on the column heading for whatever order you want.

They should be in blue.

Comments appreciated.

Cheers,

Tigger

We know he was the archetypal Establishment man but here is an interesting cutting from the Portsmouth Evening News on 5th August 1941: