The tabs across the top of the Home Page on this website spell HAMPSHIRE and contain the following sections;

H     - HCH Events, How to join HCH, Website Guide, FAQ Sheet, Publications

A - Archive Room Updates and Collections

M - Memories and Matches from every season in first- class cricket

P - Photos and Players

S - Supporters page including all the e-Magazines

H - History of the Club, Hampshire’s Historians, Hampshire’s Grounds

I - International cricket played in Hampshire

R  - Records  and Statistics

E - Extras and miscellaneous articles on cricket played in Hampshire

We will be looking over the next few years to share images and information on much of the collection in the Archive Room on this website. It will also contain numerous essays about all aspects of Hampshire's rich cricket history, grouped under the headings above. 

Hampshire's return to red ball action

Week Thirteen:  Beginning Monday June 30th 2025

The third day at Chelmsford was another fine one for Liam Dawson. He scored his 18th first-class hundred for Hampshire and then followed that up by taking two key Essex wickets, as Hampshire took a firm grip on their Rothesay County Championship match at Chelmsford. Tilak Varma on debut also added the two runs needed to his overnight score to reach a century in his first innings for the club. He was out straight after to Harmer for exactly 100, while Liam made an invaluable 139 from 235 balls. Together they added 133 for the fifth-wicket. In a sixth-wicket partnership of 98, Tom Prest made 41 on his return to the side. Hampshire’s first-innings finished on 453, which left Essex requiring 157 to make their opponents bat again, or survive four-and-a-half sessions to prevent defeat. Dawson quickly dismissed both Essex openers inside the first 16 of 46 overs, either side of tea. For the second time in the match, Eddie Jack then removed a fairly subdued Jordan Cox, leaving Essex on 108-3 at the close, still 49 runs behind.

In the end the Kookaburra ball won out and like three other games in the top flight this match ended as a stalemate. Tom Westley and Michael Pepper added  215 runs in a sixth-wicket partnership that ultimately frustrated Hampshire. They came together at 131-5, still 26 runs short of making Hampshire bat again, and could not be separated for nearly three-and-a-half hours. Skipper Tom Westley, reached his 30th century in red-ball cricket and finished unbeaten on 130 from 322 balls, while Pepper made his highest first-class score of 140. When handshakes were exchanged to signal the draw at 4.50pm, the Essex captain had batted for all but 12 overs of the 119 Essex faced in their second innings.

Hampshire are now seventh in the table on 96 points, 11 points ahead of Essex in eighth. Below them both are Yorkshire on 71 points and Worcestershire on 57. In view of all the discussions about definite change for the start of the 2026 County Championship, it is quite possible none of the Division One teams will be relegated at the end of this summer. An announcement as to what exact change that will be is expected before the current season ends. 

Hampshire's ninth game of the season started on Sunday June 29th at home to bottom club Worcestershire. It is fair to say that the day went far better off the field than it did on it. History was made by Worcestershire's Adam Hose who played for Hampshire at Under 13 and Under 17 levels, having been born and raised on the Isle of Wight. Adam's eye-catching 266 is the highest ever score by a visiting player at Utilita Bowl, surpassing the previous record of 243 scored by Phil Jaques for Yorkshire on this ground in 2004. Only Zak Crawley for England and Hampshire's John Crawley and Michael Carberry (both with triple centuries) have made higher individual scores on this ground. Adam did play one first team match for Hampshire, a non-first-class three-day game against Cardiff MCCU, but never progressed through into the professional ranks and moved on to Somerset. Once Hose found his rhythm with his side in trouble at 60-2, he countered every one of Hampshire’s plans with great attacking intent: a field set for short-pitch bowling resulted in pulls and hooks to the boundary; a defensive idea - with an umbrella field - just saw punchy drives either side of the wicket down the ground. 

Everything Hampshire’s beleaguered bowlers tried with the Kookaburra ball simply resulted in runs for Hose. Other than an incredibly testing chance at short leg when on 69, he raced through the milestones. His 50 came up in 74 balls, his 100 in 126, his 150 in 178, his 200 in 208 and incredibly his 250 in 240. In total, he hit seven enormous sixes during a mammoth 395-run third-wicket stand with stand-in captain Jake Libby, who knocked up 137 unbeaten runs of his own on a lifeless wicket. Worcestershire ended day one on 456 for three, having easily taken maximum batting points. They had come into the match with the fewest amount of batting bonus points in the division (three) and had only passed 300 on three previous occasions in either innings in eight previous games

The sunbathed home crowd did have one highlight during the Lunch Interval. The gathering of thirty former Hampshire players, including Barry Richards and the oldest living Hampshire cricketer, Dennis Baldry from the 1961 Championship winning team, were introduced on the outfield. Barry received a warm ovation when he was interviewed live over the loud speakers. Barry, of course, scored 325 in a single day for South Australia, but there again he was very often playing a different game to all his contemporaries. He could not fail to be impressed, however, seeing a Hampshire-born player score a run-a-ball 250 in the County Championship, on his return to watch his county and meet up with former team mates as part of his trip over from South Africa. By attending the Former Players' annual reunion lunch in the Hampshire Suite, partly organised by Hampshire Cricket Heritage, I was struck by the warmth, admiration and high regard shown by every former player towards a hugely popular team mate who is, of course, universally acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen ever to play the game. His aura in the room has definitely not left him. Another reason why Sunday 29th June was so special was that HCH's Dave Allen was honoured with his lifetime achievement award in front of all of his heroes by Rod Bransgrove. Only Tim Tremlett has been awarded the Rose and Crown previously by the club. HCH Chair, Richard Griffiths, also made a presentation to Dave, which he received from Trevor Jesty, on behalf of the HCH Directors for all his continuing work to support Hampshire Cricket Heritage. 

Underneath the Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie Stand at the Utilita Bowl

DESMOND EAGAR

When first-class county cricket resumed in 1946 Hampshire needed a secretary – the 1940s version of a CEO – and a captain. Before the war they had five captains in six seasons, all amateurs and they wished to maintain that tradition but with a greater sense of continuity. But these were times of austerity and fewer men of independent means felt able to devote themselves to a full season of cricket so Hampshire’s solution was to amalgamate the  two roles, pay the secretary and have him play as an amateur for expenses only that he controlled.

They interviewed a number of men, offered the joint post to the Surrey and England cricketer Freddie Brown but he preferred an offer from Northamptonshire so the position went to EDR (Desmond) Eagar. He was born in Cheltenham in December 1917, attended Cheltenham College and age 14 was in the field at Lord’s when Denis Compton scored a century for the Elementary Schools XI. At Cheltenham Eagar was coached by the great Hampshire bowler Alec Kennedy and at 17 he made his debut for his native Gloucestershire for whom he played 21 matches before the war. He went up to Oxford University and won his ‘blue’ in 1939 but then war intervened; he saw service as an officer in the army before taking up his post at Northlands Road.

His playing record for Hampshire was modest but as a captain and secretary he worked hard to develop a side, not least based on fine fielding, that combined the best of local men and astute signings. In 1955 his team finished third for the first time ever and the team he handed on to Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie came second and then three years later won the title. He was still ‘in charge’ when they won it again in 1973 and set out on a succession of ‘white ball’ trophies two years later, before his untimely death on holiday in September 1977. He left a wife, Marjorie, and two children, one of whom, Patrick, became one of the world’s leading cricket photographers.

Desmond Eagar might have been an adopted Hampshire man but from the age of 28 he poured himself into the County Cricket Club heart and soul – and that included marking and honouring a history that already went back 200 years to the great Hambledon days and beyond. One of his first tasks was to revive the county’s ‘annual’, known before the war as the Hampshire County Cricket Guide and forever after as the Hampshire Handbook. There was little money when he started again in 1950, indeed not enough even to publish in 1954 but he raised funds through extensive advertising and from the pre-war versions which tended to be full of lists and statistics he created something just as factual but also far more literary.

Over his years as the Editor or at least overseer of the publication he attracted some of the finest cricket writers;from Hampshire, Arlott of course, John Woodcock and Eagar’s friend and mentor Harry Altham and from elsewhereTrevor Bailey, Neville Cardus, EW Swanton, Hubert Doggart,Brian Johnston, and Roland Bowen plus Hampshire cricketers including EIM Barrett, RH Moore, Charlie Knott, Neville Rogers, Peter Sainsbury, Vic Cannings, Roy (and Mrs) Marshall, Bob Stephenson and the statisticians Roy Webber and Norman Drake. In 1963, the club’s centenary, AA Thomson contributed ‘Onward from Hambledon’ in 1963 and Harry Altham wrote of John Nyren and also the founding in 1863.

There were also many pieces by Eagar himself including more than one about building a cricket library – that became more than an idea however as he created Hampshire’s first cricket library for use by members at Northlands Road. Some of those original books are still in the Archive with the book plates he commissioned and the collection has grown considerably over the years although currently less accessible than he would have liked. In the 1951 Handbook he produced a specific Hampshire cricket bibliography and in 1964 he published 25 copies of “A Reader’s Guide to Hampshire Cricket” – both much expanded in recent years by Stephen Saunders (1997 & 2010) but inevitably now out of date! He wrote tributes to Phil Mead and his old coach Alec Kennedy and also a very valuable first index of Handbook articles, as well as working with Roy Webber on regular updates of statistics and records.

His most important written contribution surely came in 1957 as one of the authors of Hampshire County Cricket: the Official History. Eagar along with Altham, Arlott and Webber traced a story from well back into the eighteenth century through to 1956 his penultimate year as captain. It is a salutary thought that almost 70 years have passed since then, yet, for its facts and insights, it remains an invaluable resource for today’s historians. In following years, Eagar updated the records in succeeding Handbooks.

Eagar was also an enthusiastic collector of books and memorabilia; when he died a large part of that collection went to auction although there are still some pieces in the Archive including well-kept scrapbooks of press cuttings from his years as captain. 

Being a collector, while straining the average purse can always be a strong basis for being an historian but it is not the same thing – the collector may keep and savour what he or she has but ultimately the historian must share those things, they must make them public. In Desmond Eagar’s case that meant in particular to the Hampshire cricketing public, including but not exclusively, the club’s members who in the days pre-sponsorship were the lifeblood. So it was that despite the very limited spaces at Northlands Road he created various displays and paved the way for those who followed – in particular he installed glass cases on the ground floor and stairway to his office on the first floor and they were well used until the last days at the old ground. 

If being an historian requires sharing, publishing, making public what is available then the best of historians will also leave a legacy – artefacts of course but also a solid foundation of facts and ideas on which future generations can build. As he did that, while leading the county cricket club on-and-off the field, Desmond Eagar was among the best of all Hampshire historians.

Dave Allen

June 2025

2022 - Hampshire v Lancashire

16th July 2022 - Vitality Blast 2022 Final

Edgbaston 

Hampshire 152-8 (20 overs)  McDermott 62

Lancashire 151-8 (20 overs) 

Result: Hampshire won by 1 run

"I have never experienced a feeling like it on a cricket field"

2025 Wisden Cricketer of  the Year Liam Dawson 

in conversation with John Winter

Which is your favourite Hampshire one-day game - either in T20, 40, 45 or 50 over cricket - which you played in and maybe immediately springs to mind, Liam? 

It has to be the 2022 Vitality Blast T20 Final at Edgbaston for all the drama at the end of the game. It was also a game where we were just never ahead at any stage, until that final ball. We effectively won it twice against a very strong Lancashire side! By the end of that competition, we had put an amazing winning run together. 

What is special about the T20 Blast compared to any other franchise tournaments that you have played in?

The Vitality Blast is truly unique and very different to franchise competitions all around the world. You play on such a variety of grounds - with all different types of surfaces and playing dimensions here in England. Franchise games are all on the television and played at bigger grounds. The Blast is definitely a tournament all the players love. 

How does T20 Finals Day compare with the Lord’s knockout finals you played in? 

My first two Lord's Finals were both sell-outs on hot days. That was 2009 (Sussex) and 2012 (Warwickshire). They were the showcase events for all county cricketers back then. Lord's Finals were truly special days in any player's career. Nowadays, the showpiece event in the county season is T20 Finals Day. The Somerset game at Lord's back in 2019 was a real shame to miss. (Liam, James Vince and Aiden Markram were not allowed to play because the ICC World Cup started a few days later). 

How significant was the fact Hampshire were on such a good run to get out of the Southern Group, from such a slow start, in terms of momentum for the quarter-finals onwards?

We really got on a roll at the end of that T20 campaign. and going to Edgbaston for both the Quarter-Finals and then Finals Day felt like a "free hit". After we had gone seven or eight games unbeaten in a row at the back end of the group stage, we really hadn't expected to get as far as we did. And so it definitely all felt a bonus and the pressure was off us. Playing away in the Quarter-Final, you are under slightly less pressure and I just remember us blowing away that Warwickshire batting line-up for about 80 with our really strong bowling attack. They had regularly posted scores of 220 and 230 in the Northern Group - with the wickets on the edge of the square at home - but we squeezed them in the field and never let up. We knew that we always had a real chance with our attack.

With Hampshire missing out on so many occasions on Finals Day at Edgbaston, how much was it beginning to play on the players’ minds that this was becoming a bogey ground?

We had obviously been to Edgbaston for a number of years and never got past the semi-finals. People say that you should just forget those losses at that same ground when it comes to winning the next game, but there’s no doubt about the fact that it plays on your mind. I always personally enjoyed us playing in the second semi-final. You can see how the wicket plays in that first game; the toss can also be crucial in that early game. We batted so well in that second 2022 Semi-Final against Somerset, with an above par score of 190. With a score like that, you really don't expect to lose. Plus our strongest area in the competition was our attack, in particular, that year. 

How important was the fielding again that day? 

Our fielding as a group looked after itself by Finals Day, with the momentum and confidence gained from that string of wins on the bounce. A couple of the run outs in the Somerset innings were also crucial. In big games, you really have to fight in the field. When you are winning and playing really well, confidence is always high and the fielding can tend to look after itself. 

What do you remember most about the two games on Finals Day in 2022?

The fact we had lost the previous year in that really close game at Aigburth - which partly determined the outcome of the Championship - was maybe a minor motivating factor, but much more, for us as a group, was the incentive of playing against a really strong Lancashire side, packed full with international experience. As I recall, we didn’t bat that well in the Final and a score of 152 felt a bit below par, especially as they had knocked off over 200 in their first game that day against Yorkshire. Chris Wood made an absolutely vital 20 or so not out at the back end, but I’m not sure any of us were really fully confident it was going be enough at the half way point. That said, in a final funny things often happen, and you can always add a few more runs on with scoreboard pressure for the side batting second. Having said that, with the start they got, we were probably out of the game. I came on at about 70-1 with the game almost gone; again, it felt like a free hit in a way, with the pressure off. I managed a couple of good overs, grabbed a couple of wickets and suddenly the game changes, a bit of panic sets in. We had played a number of games that year where we turned them round from an almost impossible position. That certainly gave the lads tremendous belief.  

How crucial were your two wickets of Keaton Jennings and Dane Vilas that evening? 

Yes, taking wickets is always crucial in those middle overs and my role with Mason (Crane) was to keep it tight, apply pressure and induce the mistakes. Keaton is a fine player of spin, so having him caught at Long Off was a big wicket. We knew he could anchor the reply and when he got out, it felt things changed a bit. It certainly felt like the intent that they had earlier showed in the Power Play dropped off slightly. I can remember looking up at the big screen and I saw Dane looked pretty nervous in the dug-out. It is amazing what pressure can do in major finals. Once Dane went, caught by James Vince, the pressure just built and built on them. It seemed like they all got starts, but we kept taking vital wickets at crucial times to stay in the game. In the end, it came down to about 30 to win from the last three overs. We were never ahead of the game at any point, but we were managing crucially to stay in the game.

How confident were you at the start of Nathan Ellis's last over with 11 needed and Lancashire 7 down?

Nathan Ellis was world class at closing games out, but Luke Wells was still in and very much the dangerman, having hit a six at the back end of the previous over to keep Lancashire about on track. Funnily enough, I felt more confident with us getting to down to the last over than I did with 30 required off the last three. 

Can you describe how you felt when the third umpire intervened to call a no ball, with all the Hampshire players celebrating thinking that they won the Final?

It was just a surreal moment. The wicket, the elation, the happiness and fireworks going off. I have never experienced a feeling like it on a cricket field. All I remember is the ground then going quiet, before the announcer was saying it was a free hit. The feeling inside my body was horrendous. A free hit, the game isn't done, they could win again............ it is hard to put into words. Thankfully, Nathan managed to do the job next ball.

How did winning the 2022 Final compare with the 2012 success in the Final at Cardiff?

That was another game where we batted first and made 150. We didn't bat particularly well that day either, but that was a tougher ground to bat on in some ways. The difference in 2012 was that we were ahead in that game, until David Miller began to pull it back round for them. I remember Chris Wood (4-0-26-3) bowling a brilliant last over to defend our score. He has done it so often for us. It also seems a long time ago now.

How much did it mean to you that both James Vince and Chris Wood were in the side for that dramatic Lancashire Final, given the fact you had all come through together from those early academy days?

It means a tremendous amount. So many players don't win that many titles and for us to do this together for the club where we grew up and played so many years together is truly special. Nobody can take that away from us. Going forwards, we will definitely be mates for life. I owe so much to so many team mates at Hampshire. Particularly in the early days, when you are trying to make your way in the game, you need so much help from the senior players and I was very fortunate in that regard. Back in 2007, it was a dressing room packed full of great players and great people who looked after me so much. I will never forget that.   

The Archive Room is run by The Archive Room Committee of Hampshire Cricket Heritage which was established in November 2023.  The current members of that committee are Richard Griffiths, Ray Stubbington, Glen Williams and John Winter. Our aim is to re-organise this room over the next 12 months, cataloguing all its contents, with a view to making it more accessible to our HCH supporters in 2025. If you have anything that relates to Hampshire Cricket that you could donate to our growing Archive Room Collection, please just email us at hantscccheritage@gmail.com

Our Chair, Richard Griffiths, has recently donated to HCH his own copy of an "Derek Shackleton - An Appreciation" by John Arlott. It is signed by both the player and author. It is a series we are very keen to complete for our Archive Room collection because only 50 of each were issued. This fine book was published in 1958 by the Boscombe Printing company in its original slightly faded green sand grained cloth cover with the title in gilt letters. The money raised from the sales in 1958 went to Derek Shackleton's Benefit Fund. The contents of John's piece were reproduced in the 1958 Hampshire Handbook.

If you wish to support Hampshire Cricket Heritage Ltd. in its work by becoming a Supporter, please complete the electronic Google form below. Alternatively, you will be able to obtain a paper copy of the Application Form from the Club Shop, from the middle of March onwards, which includes details of how to apply and indicates which details we just need from you. In order for all our records to be up to date and correct, we would ask that existing HCH Supporters who already joined us before 2020 also complete this form below.

We don't charge an annual fee to join, but we do hope that you can make a donation of £20 (or more - once or annually) in the knowledge that you will be making a contribution that will go towards the project undertaken by HCH Ltd. On the Supporters Page on this website, you will also be able to read about, during the season, some of the new acquisitions which have either been bought by your donations or which have been donated directly to the HCH Collection by our Supporters. Over the past twelve months, we have for example bought some limited copies of rare John Arlott books and ephemera relating to the 1961 Championship winning side.

For our Supporters we aim to send out a Supporters Newsletter in the form of an e-Magazine at least once a year. You will also be able to collect your HCH Supporters Pin Badge at any of the Book Sales held in the Club Shop during the season. In 2023 we were given rare scorecards, numerous books, valuable Hampshire Handbooks, prints, clothing and a very interesting cricket ball (used in a game where Phil Mead made yet another ton!) which have all gone into the Archive Collection. We are, of course, constantly looking for donations of any Hampshire Cricket articles of interest to add to our unique collection in the Archive Room in the Shane Warne Stand. 

Some of you will have enjoyed the chance to see some of the progress being made in that room during this winter's Members Tours with Dave Allen. We are holding our first Open Day in the Archive Room for all HCH supporters on Monday July 1st 2024.The plan is to continue to create more opportunities in 2025 - once the room  has been properly reorganised - for our HCH Supporters to visit the Archive Room. 

In order to join therefore, either please just complete the application form below by signing into Google and clicking on the word Form.  Please note you will not be able complete this electronic form without using Google. 

Google Application Form 

or complete the paper copy from the Club Shop and return it to us:

• either by posting it to Hampshire Cricket Heritage, with your donation as a bank transfer 

(HCH Account: 67818860 Sort Code 30-98-97), or as a cheque (made out to Hampshire Cricket Heritage Ltd.), addressed to the Archive Room, The Utilita Bowl, Botley Road, Southampton, S030 3HX

• or by dropping it off at the Club Shop - where you can pay your donation by card - in a sealed envelope addressed to Glen Williams, Hampshire Cricket Heritage Ltd. 

All of our HCH Publications will also be available throughout the year in the Club Shop to purchase. 

In 2004, Archivist Dr Tim J McCann published an award-winning History of 18th Century Sussex Cricket. He then began work on a similar project for neighbouring Hampshire, but sadly, he died in 2022 before the project was completed. In the summer of 2024, Tim's wife Alison gave a printed copy of this unfinished project to the Hampshire Records Office and then made a digital copy available to HCH Director Dave Allen. Since then, Dave has worked  on this project and the result is this fantastic new publication. 

DOCUMENTING CHANGE: HAMPSHIRE’S CRICKET HISTORY

I am grateful for this opportunity to write about the historical work being undertaken at Hampshire Cricket as our contribution to a series on each of the counties in this journal.

At the end of the 2024 season, approaching my 75th birthday, I retired as the Historian, the public face of Hampshire Cricket, although as I shall reveal, that is not quite the end of my endeavours.

You will note that I name Hampshire Cricket. When I first became formally involved in preserving and presenting our history 30 years ago it was as a co-opted member of the Museum Sub-Committee of Hampshire County Cricket Club(HCCC), an organisation which ceased to exist shortly after our move to the then Rose Bowl, which held its inaugural first-class match in 2001. Since then Hampshire has been a limited company with members in name only and resembling rather more football season-ticket holders. The move from Northlands Road to the Bowl which now has its third full name (Utilita) in a quarter-of-a-century and the transfer of power from an elected committee to a Board makes our situation unique but our tale of heritage and history over that period might become more broadly applicable as we move into the days of 49%, Franchise take-overs and the like at other counties. 

I am no economist or business expert so I will leave that tale to others but I can relate something of how at Hampshire we have approached the representation of our history in a context different both in terms of environment and management from that of any other members’ county club, with a 19th century ground.

I was a Hampshire member from my ‘junior’ days in 1961 but only became involved in the formal work on our history in the mid-1990s, after I offered the club the loan of a small but interesting collection of Hampshire cricket memorabilia. This led to an invitation to become a seconded member of the Museum Sub-Committee from the Archivist Neil Jenkinson which was approved by the full committee to whom we were responsible. Other ‘Museum’ members back then were mostly also on our full committee, including our former amateur bowler and cricket chairman Charlie Knott, cricket historian Andrew Renshaw, Major Doulas Nation who once played a pre-war first-class match while serving in India and gentleman farmer Andrew Murdoch. 

The 30+ years since then have been an ‘interesting’ experience as I have gone from being the ‘bright young(ish) thing’ of the 1990s to the occasionally grumpy senior Historian in recent years. Given all the changes that have occurred along the way our experience over those thirty years is surely unique among county clubs not least in terms of the most pressing project which has been to find ways of sharing our history with members, supporters and at the ground at least, visitors. 

In my experience, the majority of cricket lovers love tales of the past but perhaps for most of them it is their past; the players, grounds, matches, seasons or series that have had most impact on their cricket-loving lives that provide the material of their memories. Cricket is a very rich source of such memories since it is accompanied by a plethora of facts and the process, entirely understandable, often affords great pleasure - especially when shared, since more than say football, watching cricket, in particular the longer forms, allows plenty of time for conversations.

The challenge for a county Historian is to acknowledge this particular form of engagement with the past, allowing the ground and publications to become a canvas on which to paint this picture. But should it be more than that? If the engagement I have described so far is to be seen as a kind of (often well-informed) nostalgia how is that different from ‘History’ and what are the implications of such a distinction for what is made public? What forms should be used to make the past public and hopefully relevant today?

When we arrived at the Rose Bowl on D Day 2000 for a 2nd XI game on the Nursery Ground the main pavilion and ground were still building sites and for financial reasons the pavilion remained incomplete for some time – with two more stands and the hotel added some years later. While there was very little money to create displays there was at least a blank canvas on which to work.

When the 2nd XI played that first match we were still Hampshire County Cricket Club with the historians reporting to the full Committee. It is perhaps interesting to reflect on the people who were then running affairs, for they all lived in the county and in many cases were, like Neil Jenkinson and me, Hampshire born-and-bred. The Chairman Brian Ford from Bournemouth was a third generation Hampshire Committee man, Bill Hughes, a main driving force on the new ground was a former Hampshire Colt and member of Hampshire Hogs CC, Chris Ayling the club’s GP was from Portsmouth, the Chief Exec, Tony Baker was a well-known Southampton cricketer who had played for the 2nd XI, while recent Cricket Chairmen Charlie Knott and Jimmy Gray were successful Southampton-born Hampshire cricketers. There were others with similar local backgrounds,

Does that matter? I am not sure but I think it is worth asking the question at the moment when we hear that Hampshire might well be bought by an Indian Franchise and it is a question that has exercised me in a different respect in recent years. The main historical project at Hampshire can be traced at least back to the mid-18th century with the inaugural first-class matches often involving Hampshire/Hambledon and a century later came the formation of the County Cricket Club (1863) and its successor Hampshire Cricket plc. But our new ground has in recent years also hosted two other professional organisations not called Hampshire: The Southern Brave in the Men’s Hundred competition and the Southern Vipers women’s sides. 

Their performances are these days recorded in the Hampshire Handbook with which I have been involved for many years although that part is dealt with by other people. Around the ground there are displays about the Vipers which they curate themselves and I have never had a conversation with anyone about whether they think the role of Hampshire’s Archivist/Historian should embrace these new formats and different team names. Should I continue to follow in detail the performances of Vince, Dawson and others in the Hundred, even when Dawson is playing for a team called London Spirit? If so to what extent? What is my role or that of the recently re-formed Hampshire Cricket Heritage (all men) in preserving and sharing the histories of regional women’s cricket, disabled sides, junior teams or the Academy, who this year won the Southern League for the first time? 

I have generally avoided engaging with these implicit questions, perhaps because there is always something else to deal with but maybe betraying my own areas of expertise and bias against the Hundred and non-county names for sides – none of that a secret! In retirement I can choose my projects but those questions remain for my successors and others elsewhere. I wonder for example, what view my colleagues at Sussex take of the notion that their county is part of this thing called ‘Southern Brave’? Do they maintain the records for Mills, Archer and perhaps the side? What is the role of a County Cricket Historian in the second quarter of the 21stCentury? As an historian must I always take the disinterested position even in a project in which I have a life-long emotional investment?

I think it is well-known that our early years at the Rose Bowl were to say the least precarious financially and while there was very little money to create displays there was at least that blank canvas on which to work and that was often an interesting project.

In the winter of 2000/1 we brought everything across from Northlands Road which had been rapidly reduced to a demolition site and much of our memorabilia was stored in a Portacabin where the car park now stands. Initially an outside company was brought in to frame lots of photographs and hang them around the ground but they knew nothing of our history and did this simply on aesthetic grounds. With others I have spent most of the last 20 years moving them, firstly to create some historical coherence but secondly to pursue an alternative more contemporary aesthetic, in line with the Bowl’s 21st century architecture. To be specific, wherever possible we took a thematic approach to wall displays removing old wooden frames and producing large Perspex displays about trophy successes, leading Test cricketers, notable other teams and individuals. With little money we held book sales from members’ donations and pursued sponsorship from supporters’ groups or more modest amounts from individual supporters. I particularly enjoyed succeeding in renaming the Atrium in honour of John Arlott, using the exposed white iron girders to display his quotes about the players he knew and loved, from Lord Tennyson through to the 1970s trophy winners. Each quote on its own girder was sponsored by a supporter.

Away from the ground we created one or two exhibitions for other sites, notably marking the 150th anniversary of the formation of the club in 2013 at the Hampshire County Archives in Winchester and this year the anniversary of the first known match in Portsmouth at the city’s Central Library. These displays were designed like the Perspex boards but less expensively on foamboard and for some years the 150th boards were displayed in the Atrium – a history of 150 years of men’s county cricket. They were removed a couple of years ago which means that these days it is not so easy to find much acknowledgement around the ground of the great achievements of Wynyard & Poore, Mead & Brown, Kennedy & Newman and others beyond living memory. 

In the past two or three years a new group of volunteers has arrived to succeed Stephen Saunders, Terry Crump and me in the re-formed Hampshire Cricket Heritage. Under Chair Richard Griffiths, John Winter, Glen Williams and Ray Stubbington have done a very fine job of properly organising the Archive which houses a Library, started post-war by Desmond Eagar, as well as many bats, balls, caps, stumps, trophies, photographs and scorecards. Both the latter have also been ‘digitised’ for easier use, not least on the brand new website at 

https://www.hampshirecountycricketheritage.co.uk/

One of our main projects for the winter, led by Ray, is to update the players’ A-Z which I published in two editions a few years ago and add that to the website for all to see. Ray is particularly adept at searching out information about births, deaths and other details online where there are of course so may remarkable resources. For myself, I give thanks constantly for the wonder that is Cricket Archive but at Hampshire we have another volunteer, Tigger Miles, whose statistical site is equally valuable to us:

https://hampshirecricket.net/

One of our key challenges has always been displaying the fascinating artefacts that we hold such as Wynyard’s record-breaking bat from 1897, ‘Butch’ White’s hat-trick ball of 1961, Barry Richard’s Champions cap of 1973 or the last (white) ball ever used at Northlands Road, signed and dated by Shane Warne. As Kit Harris noted in the 2024 edition of Wisden we have no museum or room of any kind in which to display such artefacts, so the Heritage website and a succession of shorter booklets - £5 each and numbering seven so far with more planned – have an important role. But how we would love to display more of our possessions – even if a formal museum has too many economic and organisational implications right now. For the time being, solid objects tend to appear at specific events including public talks.

So, what might come next? My first serious encounter with Hampshire cricket history at least 65 years ago was the ‘official’ history of the county club (1957) which stretched from Hambledon through about 200 years to the late 1950s and was written by three notable Hampshire historians, Harry Altham, Desmond Eagar and John Arlott, assisted in the statistics by Roy Webber. It was concerned almost entirely with men’s first-class cricket including the ‘great’ games at Hambledon but If we assume that the sharing of county histories is now broadening considerably beyond that focus, there are I think four key questions to be borne in mind as county historians or history groups plan future projects:

What is the anticipated or intended audience?

Who is communicating?

In what media and formats? 

Who & what is being represented?

Addressing those questions can help us maintain and develop inclusive strategies for sharing the most wonderful histories with growing numbers of cricket enthusiasts and to finish I would like to give particular consideration to one particular group of ‘enthusiasts’ who seem to get quite a bit of media attention these days but are not obviously engaged in preserving and producing the histories of our game.

I am fairly typical of the breed of current cricket historians in age, background and disposition as part of that shrinking group that can recall watching county cricket when it consisted only of first-class matches – indeed I watched for ten years before there was more than the occasional limited-overs Gillette Cup match. The influence of those formative years is strong in my endeavours and that is one reason why it is time to move on and hand over.

But in the longer term, I am thinking of the so-called  ‘new’ audience of families and particularly young people who we are told have been attracted to cricket in recent years. There might be among them and across two or three generations, cricket enthusiasts who could be encouraged to enjoy the past – however recent – alongside the present and ensure that the future for the historical project is secure, whatever its subject matter, whatever its forms and audience. I wonder how we might ensure that the future of cricket’s many histories is in safe hands in our digital, AI and multi-format future?

Dave Allen

September 2024

Take the ‘metro’ to an outground and don’t just keep the ticket!

Today is Friday August 2nd 2024; tomorrow it will be exactly 50 years ago to the day that I made one of the best decisions in my 61-year old life: I went to watch my first ever day of professional cricket at Portsmouth. By way of a kind of celebration, I am off to watch Warwickshire in a 50 over white-ball game at Rugby School in the Metro Bank Trophy. As an outground, it is simply a stunning venue. It also helps that there is a packed crowd of over 3,000, sitting out on white plastic chairs, enjoying the beautiful and hot, late-summer sunshine. There is, though, also a hint of autumn or two, with a few leaves on the outfield; the rugby posts are already up in place on the adjacent outfield, ready for the start of the new school year early next month. 

It is a school like no other in the country with its own novel and unique contribution to British sporting life. The rugby memorial on the edge of the 1st Team outfield, adjacent to one of the largest and most beautiful trees at any cricket ground in the world, is a must to visit for any visitor here. Thomas Hughes’s “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” famous 1857 novel feels now very much a book of its time and, as a result, perhaps less necessary to visit on a winter’s evening. Every outground on the county circuit retains its appeal, particularly for the first time visitor. This is now my 53rd different ground watching at least one of the eighteen first-class counties during these past fifty years. From Basingstoke to Blackpool, Beckenham to Bournemouth, Canterbury to Colwyn Bay, Cardiff to Colchester, Chesterfield to Cheltenham, the journey continues to be a complete joy. The Hundred has definitely helped me in that regard, as this 50 over competition strives to find more temporary - if sometimes more upmarket and atmospheric - homes. Never mind being persuaded to get on The Hundred band-wagon or runaway train leaving from Platform 9 and three-quarters, just jump on the ‘metro’ for Sedbergh, Scarborough, Neath, Kibworth, Gosforth, Guildford, Northwood and Nettleworth for not just this, but, hopefully, the next few summers!

Warwickshire were also one of the two teams playing back then for my first game in August 1974 in a three-day Championship game. They were a team packed full of international class cricketers. The home team also happened to have three world class legends in their line-up that day with Richards, Greenidge and Roberts. Hampshire were reigning County Champions that season, with a rich mix of outstanding county professionals and a brilliant captain, Richard Gilliat. Today’s opponents for “The Bears” of Warwickshire are Surrey. There are two former international players on show in Foakes and Sibley, but otherwise it is a question of diving into my Playfair regularly to learn more about a host of promising youngsters - fresh from their own schooldays - on both teams. The venues are also linked, fifty years apart, in that my first ever ground at Burnaby Road in Old Portsmouth remains to this day the home of United Services Rugby. For the last 25 years, Hampshire have ceased to play there. For the twenty-five before that it was home from home for me  -  along with Northlands Road, May’s Bounty and Dean Court.

Today I made my way to the ground from the station with a best friend; we have both travelled into Rugby on separate trains. They run on time, thankfully, because I can’t relax until I complete the most important task of any day at the cricket. News overnight comes in that Hampshire are due to be bought by GMR - which has wholly or joint-owned Delhi Capitals since the creation of the IPL in 2008 - and my mind is racing about what changes that means for the future. The only thing that trumps those thoughts, however, is whether there will be a scorecard available to buy and then fill out neatly for today’s game. Before you stop reading this article immediately and condemn me for a level of disproportion, nerdiness and obsession that is mildly disturbing, please let me offer my solid and robust forward defence with my wide Ben Warsop - or better still - Jumbo bat. My truly heartfelt joy is that there are proper scorecards available - free of charge today - in the temporary Rugby School Club Shop (and catering van). It means I can now relax properly and acquaint myself with all these recent alumni from schools around the country who are just about to step onto this lush green outfield. I also have my special keepsake to archive away in a private collection, whose value only fellow avid collectors would fully appreciate. 

Picture postcards, personal diaries, football programmes, love-letters, sepia family photos and cricket scorecards are all the stuff of wonderful nostalgia, where intrinsic value trumps monetary value every time. When asked by slightly nonplussed friends and family what the attraction is for collecting Test and County Cricket scorecards, it is so hard for me to express that in only a short text like this, let alone a few sentences. In the course of this article, the appeal of purchasing a scorecard as the first thing I do every time I go through a turnstile or entrance gate to watch a game of County or International cricket will be explained. It is sadly not a given, though, as a continuing pleasure going forwards. Scorecards are threatened with being consigned as much to the past as the exploits they record for posterity - especially when filled out accurately with accompanying key notes recording quirks, landmarks and boundary counts. 

Just over a year ago the First Ashes Test, in this very county at Edgbaston, was capturing the imagination of the whole cricket watching public across the world. Crawley’s imperious cover drive to the first ball of the day, Brook’s freakish dismissal, Root’s majestic hundred, Stokes’ incredibly audacious declaration were just a few of the many highlights on Day One when I still felt slightly deflated watching in the Wyatt Stand. The fact Warwickshire and the ECB had decided not to issue a scorecard for that game left me with an irrational emptiness that left me feeling like football programme collectors now attending a game at the likes of Blackburn, Millwall or Reading (where they have ceased to be printed). Thankfully, someone in the know has also obviously changed that back now a year later at Edgbaston, in order that the devoted County Members are once again able to buy them at Warwickshire home games. 

Even more than match tickets - which have also been collected by this writer for the past fifty years - they are a fantastic reminder of all those past games that you have been privileged enough to attend in person. Somehow they contribute to that enduring visceral feeling of knowing you were there to witness history being made. They are the tangible evidence which help archive and then revive memories of just being there at the game. Watching sport on TV is also one of my favourite past times; actually being at the game and ground in person, however, has always been a matter of taking that fun and enjoyment to a completely different level. It is like comparing a rich Italian meal on the Amalfi Coast, sitting outside a local family restaurant while bathing in beautiful sunshine under an azure sky, with fuelling in a hurry on a warmed up ciabatta in the microwave at home. In a nutshell, I was really there and have recorded that I was there. 

Cricket scorecards - unlike football programmes which contain so much more information ahead of the game - have always meant so much more to me when they have been neatly completed and then filed away in the right place, long after the action on the field has finished. If duly completed with all relevant details, they serve to chronicle the factual details and personal landmarks achieved by the twenty two players in that particular game, preserved for posterity in the scribe’s memory bank. Consequently, collecting scorecards from games that I haven’t attended has never quite had the same appeal. Unsurprisingly, they also show how my handwriting has first matured and then definitely declined in terms of legibility through time! 

Back in August 1974 I did something you will probably hardly see anywhere at a County Cricket match anywhere in the country this summer. I was only doing what generations of lads did before me, mind you. Aged 11, I walked twenty minutes to the local train station, caught the train to Portsmouth and Southsea station, spent 8 hours at the cricket watching Hampshire for the very first time and then caught the train home, arriving back after supper. It would almost be a Child Protection issue now, if a child of that age did likewise in 2024. Embracing that freedom, whilst sitting amongst adults and concentrating for the three two hour sessions of play, it did wonders for your powers of concentration and understanding of all the special facets of the game. Admittedly, with Barry Richards at one end and Gordon Greenidge at the other for some of that time, there could be no excuse.  That 5p blue first scorecard, for a top of the table Championship game against Warwickshire at the start of Portsmouth Cricket Week, began my collection. The 121 partnership between BAR and CGG in Hampshire’s only innings on the way to an easy victory makes it a unique keepsake. 

What it did mean as youngster, at that time, was you had three choices: (1) you sat and scored every ball in your own scorebook (which I preferred to do bizarrely for the JPL games on tv); (2) you completed the fall of wickets (and score at the end of each over in the limited over games) on your scorecard purchased before the start of play; (3) you did neither and nipped to play at the back of the stand when the action was less compelling. Since the scoreboard on all the grounds only gave the scores of the two batsmen at the crease, way before any mobile phone had been invented - let alone purchased - your scorecard acted as record of all that previously happened that day. When there were the full 120 overs in the day at Gillette Cup Games that was a huge amount to record and recall. In other words, for most on the ground, scorecards were an aide-mémoire. For me, they were a prized possession, just like my growing football programme and pre-decimalised coin collections. It was the age of Green Shield Stamps, Esso Cup Coins and Brooke Bond Cards after all. 

Ever since the enforced Covid break, the printing of cricket scorecards to buy at our county cricket grounds has become a bigger lottery: should the  time-honoured tradition be respected for loyal match going supporters, or will anybody notice if we save a few hundred quid on our very tight balance sheets? Scorecards have carried adverts on the reverse in all the time I have been collecting them, but maybe that revenue stream is harder to tap into in modern times. The fact that an electronic version - as an alternative to the printed card copy - gives you the same information, but without any of the same sense of uniqueness or permanence, spells “real danger”. 

We are constantly challenged in our daily lives with what we keep and what we throw away. If we do keep it, why are we keeping it and how do we store it? The pace of technological change constantly asks questions of how we adapt and embrace opportunities to save what really matters in a more accessible form for others. Do we need to retain the physical article, when there is already an electronic copy? I would argue, like the best First Day Cover or specialist mini library, they are enhanced as a collection or series by every latest similar addition or edition. They have, as previously mentioned, no monetary value worth speaking of, even with a precious few signed by the leading protagonist, but in terms of personal importance, they remain a prize collection. 

As the latest Ashes series last season demonstrably showed, it is getting increasingly harder to buy a scorecard at a professional cricket match in England. Were Warwickshire for the opening Test in July 2023 at Edgbaston, making the large contingent of Australian fans feel even more at home? Could they not have seen that such a great finish deserved a fine scorecard? There is of course no tradition down under for ever issuing scorecards at Ashes games. Why would we now suddenly start - 140 years later -  following suit? Either through tough economics in the county game, changing spectator habits or the need to move towards an electronic version of previously printed material, they have now become an “endangered species” over here. The Lord’s One Day Finals had previously had match programmes (as well as scorecards), even before the introduction of the John Player Programmes in the mid- 1970’s, but they just don’t quite hold the same appeal. 

Last summer, my Headingley Ashes Test Scorecard for the Third Test - with England now 2-0 down in the series - took on particularly special significance. It very nearly also doesn’t exist. A couple of weeks ahead of the game, I took a phone call from a cricket watching friend. He is first and foremost an avid collector of scorecards, but he also engages in a huge amount of voluntary work at both his beloved Hampshire and at Headingley, near where he lives. While the rest of the cricketing world were debating the ifs, buts and maybes around the Carey/Bairstow incident, we had bigger fish to fry in the north. Never mind a few of the more entitled Lord’s members stepping beyond any acceptable line, our big discussion on the phone revolved around the layout and format of a homemade Ashes Scorecard for the 3rd Ashes Test to go on sale only in the Yorkshire Museum. All profits from its sales would go to the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation supporting charitable work in the wider Yorkshire area. For five times the price there would, of course, be a less than glossy, expensive match programme on sale, with over half the contents exactly the same as the match programmes on sale at all the other four Ashes Tests.

The discussion initially centered around likely line-ups for both teams, with injuries and form making it a difficult call. In the end, CR Woakes and  MA Wood came into the England side with devastating effect. Australia were to make three changes with MR Marsh lighting up Day One with 118 off 118 balls. Limited by certain parameters of what could be printed, we decided against putting the counties and states next to the players' names, as they do at Lord’s with their scorecards. What we did though was add the heading THE ASHES, having been spared the need to splash the sponsor’s name for this series across the top. Each player had his full initials before the surname and his national team number after it. That of course was not always the case on either count. The distinction of amateurs and professionals was denoted at different grounds, either by the inclusion of initials or the position of those initials either before or after the surname. 

Imagine my joy then a year on for my Hampshire Scorecard Collection: Warwickshire had started issuing proper scorecards again for Championship matches, and not just pieces of paper. In a far less rarefied atmosphere than an Ashes Test - at the end of Day Three of the Warwickshire v Hampshire County Division One clash at Edgbaston in June 2024 - my completed scorecard for the game now records that Ashes Headingley star, CR Woakes, had a tough day back in the office. Hampshire declared on 453-6 from 117 overs in which he remained wicketless. He did though bowl 19 very tidy overs on his return after a break from the game. Of far greater statistical significance is a record stand of 255 for the sixth wicket by two greats of the modern Hampshire era, JM Vince and LA Dawson. My written notes at the bottom of the scorecard document that Vince  scored an unbeaten 166 off 197 balls, which was his 29th first-class century, while Dawson’s 120  from 157 balls, was his 15th. The previous record for the sixth wicket for Hampshire against Warwickshire in the County Championship had stood for 96 years. Two more Hampshire greats of the early 20th Century, Phil Mead and Jack Newman, had added 251 together at Bournemouth in a game Hampshire won by 8 wickets. 

The reason why this is so significant is I have waited 50 years since I saw my only other Hampshire first class record partnership against Warwickshire. Bob Stephenson and Mike Taylor added 124 crucial runs in the first innings for the eight wicket back then at Burnaby Road in that top of the table clash. It is a record which still stands today. The record for the ninth wicket for Hampshire against Warwickshire is far older, far larger and in some ways far more famous: 101 years ago, CP Mead (222) and WR de la C Shirley (64) added 197 in Hampshire’s 511. Hampshire won the game by an innings, exactly a year after winning at Edgbaston in that legendary comeback game where they had been bowled out for just 15 in the first innings. Oh to have been lucky enough to have been there on the ground  in Birmingham June 1922 and bought that scorecard! 

Today’s game is a minor modern classic of its own for my scorecard collection. Surrey managed to take the game to the last ball of the day, needing four to win. That seemed highly improbable even at the start of the last over, with the traditional rabbit followed by the ferret (numbers 10 and 11 both new to the game and to the crease) still needing 20. Chasing down Warwickshire’s 311-9 in their fifty overs, Surrey amazingly only lost by 3 runs in the end. Dom Sibley’s 149 was eventually in a losing cause, but was a knock appreciated and applauded by both sets of supporters, who have seen him take far fewer risks for both their respective teams in the past.

No scorecard can, of course, reveal all the minutiae of every game, nor indeed any of the back story, intrigues or full context of any particular game in any particular competition in any particular era. However, they can serve as a wonderful reminder of that innings, catch, run-out, partnership, dismissal or spell which you can only say with absolute certainty that you were there to see when the completed evidence is always neatly filed and ready at hand. My scorecard collection of only the games I have been there to see is a treasure trove of memories that include last ball finishes in a Lord’s final between Hampshire and Warwickshire, too many Hampshire last ball semi-final cup defeats to mention, Botham’s ballistics, Gower’s grace, Greenidge’s greatness, Anderson’s accuracy and Hampshire heroes who have given me so much pleasure for half a century. It also includes that final day at Headingley in 2019 when Leach made 1 and his mate at the other end smashed Australia to all parts of Leeds. Being in the Western Terrace that day with my cricket-loving family was priceless; my match ticket and neatly-completed scorecard are both truly great keepsakes. 

What Surrey would have given for the last ball of the game to be smashed on the up through extra cover for four to win the game today! Somehow certain names and initials, certain numbers and scenarios, certain records and near misses often come to mind, either when I complete the scorecard after the game at home, or when I browse through my collection on a winter’s evening. Electronic devices may be the way forward when paying for one, but I still need my scorecard to remain a physical object to acquire wherever first-class cricket is played in this country. T20 Finals Day has been a lost cause for a number of years in this regard, but maybe someone at Edgbaston or the ECB will read this article and see the light! As a Hampshire fan, desperately willing every season to see your team win their first County Championship Title since you began watching them, you have to remain the eternal optimist! 50 years ago this week, after my first two games, they were 31 points clear as reigning Champions with five games to go. Unlike today’s beautiful weather in Rugby, the rain fell and fell and the rest is history.

The final point to add is that my scorecard collection will eventually be donated to Hampshire Cricket Heritage, which is housed in the Archive Room of the Shane Warne Stand at the Utilita Bowl. 

The Website for All Hampshire Cricket Heritage Supporters

Welcome to our new website for Hampshire Cricket Heritage Supporters. We relaunched this site ahead of the 2024 season because we want to provide you with a treasure trove of material on the history of cricket played by and in Hampshire over the past 300 years. We hope to add new content each month over the next few years. We have set most of the title pages up, at this stage, showing what we want to populate  - under the tab headings across the Home Page which spell HAMPSHIRE. The first few articles, already posted under various headings, should give you an idea of what we ultimately want to create for you. 

Hampshire Cricket Heritage is based in the Archive Room in the Shane Warne Stand at the ground. We are currently six months into a three year project to reorganise completely the amazing collection in that room. Those HCC members who have attended the Club's inaugural official Members' Stadium Tours this winter will already have visited us for the first time, under Dave Allen's guidance, as part of that tour. 

It is certainly our intention to engage far more closely, from now on, with our own HCH  Supporters who paid to join HCH before Covid-19. Whether you have always loved following Hampshire Cricket and signed up in the first year in 2019 as HCH Supporters, or are just new to following the county side for the first time last season, we hope you find plenty of interest on this site. If, as hopefully will be the case, you do want to find out more, meet us and join or rejoin Hampshire Heritage as a current HCH Supporter, you will  be able to read details on how to do this by clicking on the How to Join HCH Tab under the Home section on this site.

While viewing the growing sections over the next twelve months on this site - under the ARCHIVE ROOM Tab - about the various parts of the HCH collection, we hope you can all appreciate why we want to encourage future donations. Our collective aim is for this collection of Hampshire Cricket Memorabilia and Ephemera to continue to grow to be the finest of its kind in existence anywhere in the world. We also want to share it far more with others who really appreciate connecting with any aspect of Hampshire Cricket Heritage.

Writing on behalf of the dedicated and newly formed very active team of HCH Volunteers, Dave Allen, Richard Griffiths, David Ackland, Glen Williams, Ray Stubbington and myself, we all hope very much you enjoy this new resource on Hampshire Cricket. We also look forward very much to meeting many of you each year at one of our Book Sales in the Club Shop at a Championship game in May and August.  

Enjoy, in the meantime, beginning to engage with our new website content over the next few months and if you have any feedback or questions for us please get in touch at hantscccheritage@gmail.com.

John Winter

HCH Website Editor and HCH Archivist

2024 Hampshire Cricket Heritage Annual Report – November 2024

This has been a busy and rewarding year for the small team of volunteers helping to run Hampshire Cricket Heritage, under the Chairmanship of Richard Griffiths. We have doubled the number of HCH supporters this year: we now have more than eighty people receiving our monthly email bulletin from David Ackland, our membership secretary, during the season. They have all donated to our cause in some way or another. That number now also includes a few former players, after we helped with the organisation of an extremely enjoyable Former Players Reunion Lunch at the Utilita Bowl at the end of June. Details on how to join HCH are on our new website, using this link:

https://www.hampshirecountycricketheritage.co.uk/Hampshire-Cricket-Heritage/how-to-join-hch

The driving force behind so much that is great at HCH for more years than he cares to admit, Dave Allen, has been busier than ever with his research and writing. Dave is working jointly, for example, with Ray Stubbington on updating the Hampshire Cricketers A-Z. Ray’s role has been to link a photograph of each player to Dave’s text. HCH has published three more booklets this year, which are all priced £5, and they have each sold well. Stephen Saunders’ Ordained Hampshire Cricketers was followed by John Winter’s A Glorious Week - Hampshire v Warwickshire and Hampshire v Worcestershire in August 1974. The third booklet, published in August and written by Dave Allen, celebrated the 10th Anniversary of Hampshire winning the Second Division Title and is called - Going up! Dave is currently deep in research about 18th Century Hampshire Cricket for an exciting new publication due out in 2025. For more details on all our publications and how to obtain them, use this link:

https://www.hampshirecountycricketheritage.co.uk/Hampshire-Cricket-Heritage/hch-publications

Glen Williams and Ray Stubbington have been hard at work re-organising and cataloguing many of our collections in the Archive Room in the Shane Warne Stand at the Utilita Bowl, as we seek to make the winter Hampshire Members’ Tours ever more interesting. They have also taken receipt of some wonderful Hampshire cricket related donations this year, including a screen which has some of the oldest cricket scorecards ever produced. This famous screen, which has been in the possession of the Butler family of Hambledon for seven generations is covered with the original scores of the matches of the Hambledon Club from the year 1777 down to the break-up of the Club in 1788, (when it was absorbed into the Hampshire County). Having previously been housed at Lord’s, it is now on permanent loan with HCH. To learn more, just click here:

https://www.hampshirecountycricketheritage.co.uk/supporters-page/supporter-donations-to-the-hch-collection

Two Second Hand Cricket Book Sales, held in May and August - overseen by Glen and run by the whole team - at The Club Shop again proved a valuable source of income for us to be able to make some more important purchases for our growing collection. These include limited edition signed monographs about former Hampshire players, written by John Arlott.

Finally, we have been pleased with the reception for the new Hampshire Cricket Heritage Website. I have posted new material every week on a wide range of themes relating to the heritage and history of Hampshire Cricket. I have also kept a weekly diary running through the season documenting the Club’s eventual second place finish in the County Championship:

https://www.hampshirecountycricketheritage.co.uk/memories/johns-journal-of-the-2024-season

One of the new weekly features for the close season is a section entitled My Favourite Game - 75 Not out! It is a celebration of Dave Allen reaching 75 this October and the plan is for 75 current players, former players or cricket supporters to pick and write about their favourite ever Hampshire game where they were there on the ground. Andrew Murtagh and John Rice have set the ball rolling for the former players and you can read more at:

https://www.hampshirecountycricketheritage.co.uk/memories/my-favourite-game

Next year, we are already planning more publications and more ways to share our growing collection with cricket supporters via the website. Any visitor to the recently named Utilita Bowl will be able to see so many of the displays created by Dave Allen already, and it is that tradition we will also seek to build upon. Our eventual dream and stated aim, of course, is a Club Museum at the ground, but in the meantime, we will endeavour to make the existing Archive Room a better resource centre and small display space for our HCH supporters. 

John Winter

HCH Website Creator and Editor

In the first week of October 2024, we were given - on permanent loan - a truly prized artefact for our growing Hampshire Cricket collection. 

It was previously housed in the Lord's Museum.

Mark Butler and his family have lived for 7 generations in Hambledon, until the house was sold in 2022. One of the more valuable artefacts in the house was a screen with a lot of old score cards, including one when Hambledon defeated the rest of England in 1777, thanks to the skills of the likes of John Small and Richard Nyren. His family has been very concerned that such an important part of cricket’s history should never be lost, particularly as at is still in such good condition. The screen was housed at Lords for some time (back in the 90’s), but the then new curator had different plans, so it was returned to their Hambledon home. Their thought has always been that it remains part of Hampshire history, and Mark therefore contacted Hampshire Cricket Heritage via e-mail last month for us to take custody of it. Not only has the Butler family very kindly donated it to HCH, Mark even dropped it off with us at the Utilita Bowl - see picture of Mark above.  We can't say thank you enough for the culture of giving that now exists towards Hampshire Cricket Heritage and we are only too delighted to take receipt of this unique screen from the extremely generous Butler family. They have also provided information on the screen for us to publish on our Website. The link below takes you to that piece in the Other Items in the Archive Room Collection tab on this site. It includes research from Ian Maun, the notable cricket Historian, who spent many an hour studying the screen for one of his books.