​South African Basheer Walters is set for a third tour of duty at Alton having helped the Brewers back into the ECB Southern Premier League with a 39-wicket haul in Division 1 last summer.
The 36-year old will resume his player/coach role at the Jubilee Ground in late April, once South Africa’s domestic season has ended.
Walters, who has taken 64 league wickets in two seasons at Alton, is currently playing for South West Districts in the CSA Provincial Championships and took four wickets in each of the last two matches against KZ Natal and Border.
“He’s not only a high quality opening bowler and gun fielder, but the work Bash does off the field with the junior section is exceptional and has a real positive talking point around the town with the coaching work the does in local schools,” commented Alton skipper Scott Myers.
Walters may well have a new ball opening partner when last season’s Division 1 winners host Bashley (Rydal) in the opening round of matches on Coronation Day, May 6.
PE teacher Tom Andrews, who played Minor Counties Championship for Berkshire ten years ago, has joined from Thames Valley League Binfield.
Also arriving on the Brewers scene is all-rounder Dan Sumner, who has left relegated Division 1 club Sparsholt.

Hampshire Academy prospect Dom Kelly bowled England Under-19s to a 25-run victory over their Australian counterparts in the opening Youth Test in Brisbane earlier today. 
The Winchester-based pace all-rounder took 5-69 and was later named Man of the Match for his overall contribution to England’s victory, having earlier made two important contributions with the bat. 
But it was his second innings return which won the match for England, who set Australia 300 to win – a target they looked unlikely to reach after Kelly’s initial four wickets reduced them to 197-8, but one they still eyed while centurion Liam Blackford remained at the crease. 
But after reaching 106, the Geelong left-hander edged Kelly to second slip where Durham’s Ben McKinney took a diving catch to end Australia’s fightback at 276 all out – and give the Millfield teen his career-best fifth wicket. 
Kelly, who took 1-44 in Australia’s first innings total of 268, twice made significant contributions with the bat for England, his initial 36 helping lift the visitors from an uncertain 176-6 to an eventual 314 all out. 
After Australia had been dismissed for 268 , Kelly came to the rescue again, this time after England had lurched to 172-8.  He made 32 in a match refining ninth-wicket stand of 76 with Sussex spin prospect Bertie Foreman, who hit an unbeaten 58 which helped England post 254. 

It's 11 weekends before warm-up matches for the 2023 season begin in earnest. Clubs are emerging from winter hibernation, pre-season nets are about to begin, new captains are being appointed and, in some cases, overseas players are being recruited.
This website is always delighted to carry news from around the local circuit, so please either email vimpscricket@gmail.com or use the form on this site so we can keep things bubbling in the lead-up to the season. 

Hampshire cricket has been saddened by the passing of gentleman cricketer Derek Tulk, one of the few surviving members of the formidable and all-conquering Old Tauntonians team of the early Seventies. Aged 88, he had been in poor health for some time. 
He made two first class appearances for Hampshire during his brief spell on the Northlands Road groundstaff, his debut back in 1956 was against Gloucestershire for whom England's Tom Graveney opened the batting. The following year he played one more against a powerful Cambridge University side that included Ted Dexter and Bob Barber.  He also played at Lord's in a Second XI Championship match against Middlesex.
Tulk’s bowling action – a high leading left-arm and fingers pointing upwards – was near enough coach perfect; after all, Arthur Holt would have had it no other way.
“Derek was old school. He threw the ball up above the eyeline, gave it a big tweak, and aimed to induce a false shot.  He was ideal for Saturday afternoon club cricket and stuffed us all at one time or another,” recalled long time opponent John Wolfe, from New Milton.
Derek spun the ball a lot and, with his accuracy, perfectly backed up the OTs opening bowlers Tony Baker and Bernie Thomason.
Tulk had begun to make his mark in local cricket as a promising teenager for Tauntons in the Hampshire Schools’ Altham Trophy and in 1951 began a long rivalry with Itchen Grammar School’s Don Cartridge, who became one of the best batsmen ever to play locally.
He joined the Hampshire groundstaff in 1956, and later, having forged a lifelong career in insurance, joined Old Tauntonians, where he played a prominent role in the club’s Southern League championship successes, alongside numerous wins in the old County Ground knockout competition. 
More importantly, Derek was a nice man who always had a word of encouragement for those on both sides who’d had a bad day with bat or ball.
“He was one of the finest players and finest people I had the honour to call a teammate,” reflected Phil Green, who kept wicket to him on numerous occasions.
Both of Derek’s sons, Stuart and Ian became leading club cricketers and played in the same OTs team on a regular basis. His grandson Harry is now a prominent all-rounder with OTs & Romsey, whom Derek watched regularly.  
​Below, the cricketing Tulk family, Ian (left), Derek, Harry and Stuart, right.

Hampshire Academy all-rounder Dom Kelly featured in two late order partnerships, totalling 100 runs to put England on the front foot in the opening Under-19 Test against Australia in Brisbane.
Batting eight in the order, he arrived at the crease at the Allan Border Field with England an uncertain 176-6, but initially added 70 with Sussex teenager Dan Ibrahim (43) and then another 30 with Lancashire's Tom Aspinwall (28) before being dismissed for 34. 
England reached 314 all out before bowling the Aussies out for 268, having creaked at 206-8. Kelly (1-44) took the tenth Australia wicket. Academy team-mate Eddie Jack bowled ten wicketless overs for 39.
England reached 93-4 by stumps to take a lead of 140 into the third day's play. 

The Hampshire Indoor Sixes Championships are at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday 19 February 2023, with six clubs vying for a place in the ECB national indoor competition which Bashley (Rydal) won at Lord's last winter.
The draw for the Hampshire championships is -
First round: Compton & Chandler's Ford v Hook & Newnham Basics, OTs & Romsey v Burridge.
Semi-finals: Basingstoke & North Hants v Compton & Chandler's Ford or Hook & Newnham Basics, Havant v Burridge or OTs & Romsey.
The final is at 5.40pm.

This website will, as always, be happy to post 'fixtures wanted' requests from clubs wishing to fill pre-season Saturday dates, ie 15, 22 and 29 April 2023.

South Wilts require an AWAY match for their SPL3 team on 29 April 2023 : contact Rob Pitman 07809 606 823.
​
Either use the form or email vimpscricket@gmail.com with vacant dates, whether fixtures are to be home or away, and provide contact details. 

​Havant cricket has been saddened by the passing of two stalwarts, Michael Loat and Alan Baker, who was the club’s secretary for three decades or more in the Southern League days.
An optician by profession, Michael Loat played his cricket at nearby Hayling Island, where his son Phil emerged as a decent opening batsman and later a miserly left-arm bowler. He was a frequent visitor to Havant Park to watch his grandson Simon and a staunch Hampshire supporter at the Ageas Bowl.
Alan Baker was the Southern League’s longest serving club secretary by a country mile. A schoolteacher, he was a batsman in Havant’s second and third teams and did sterling work behind the scenes for Havant Sports & Social Club.

​Burridge teenager Nathan Schultz hit a second consecutive half-century as Cape Town recovered from an uncertain start to beat Western Province Premier Division rivals Brackenfell by four wickets.
The Mother City club wobbled at 40-4 chasing 132 when Schultz (53) began a match winning fifth-wicket stand with the emerging Craig Jeffery, which ended in an unfortunate 'yes, no, sorry' run-out.     But Geoff Dods completed the win.  Late of Rondebosch Boys’ High, Schultz (pictured) plans a second season at Burridge, where he made a top score of 90 against Lymington in an inconsistent 2022 campaign. He made 64 the previous week when Cape Town took table topping WPCC to the wire. 
Elsewhere in sweaty Cape Town, Harry Came hit 115 as Claremont made a towering 382-3, highly rated Cobras prospect Daniel Smith scoring 161 . Hambledon's Matt de Villiers later took 3-38.  Kent's Daniel Bell-Drummond got 119 for UWC.  

‘Mankads’ will cause ‘absolutely carnage’ in club cricket this summer, according to former England batter Mark Butcher.
Run-outs at the non-striker’s end before the ball is bowled have become an increasingly common sight in international cricket.
India spinner Ravi Ashwin was branded ’embarrassing’ by Shane Warne after using the method to dismiss England’s Jos Buttler at the Indian Premier League in 2019, but there is now a growing acceptance that ‘Mankads’ are part of the game.
India’s Deepti Sharma used a ‘Mankad’ to dismiss England’s Charlie Dean (daughter of retired Havant opener Steve Dean) and win an ODI at Lord’s last September, while Mitchell Starc warned South Africa’s Theunis de Bruyn to stay in his crease during a Test match at the MCG.
There have also been ‘Mankad’ attempts – some successful, some not – during Australia’s Big Bash League and the Women’s U19 World Cup.
More recently, a top Western Province Premier League match in Cape Town between Rondebosch and Claremont (in which Hambledon run gun Matt de Villiers and Harry Came played, though were not directly involved) ended in an acrimonious tie, with a 'Mankad' run-out off the last ball.   
The mode of dismissal continues to divide opinion but Butcher believes the real ‘carnage’ will take place in recreational cricket as teams and players wrestle with ‘Mankads’, which are in the laws of the game but often viewed as against the ‘Spirit of Cricket’.
Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly Podcast, Butcher said: ‘The other side to this is we’re looking at this very much through the prism of professional cricket.
                                                                                Effect on league cricket
‘Or cricket that is subject at least to behavioural norms that comes with it being scrutinised by a worldwide audience.
‘What is not being talked about is the effect that this is likely to have in recreational league cricket and on village greens on Sunday afternoons up and down the country if this starts to become the norm.
‘And you can argue until you’re blue in the face that it’s in the laws and you’re within your rights to do so.
‘And I may have used this analogy before about something else, but it’s the idea that you’re absolutely within your rights to sleep with your best mate’s ex-wife minutes after they’ve split up but don’t complain if you get punched in the face for it!
'I can just see absolute carnage happening up and down this land and many others if people start doing it as a matter of course in club games.
‘Because there’s very little regulation in terms of people’s behaviour there and the game as it is played and has been played for years and years with guys umpiring their own players and that type of thing.
‘The game has always been played on the basis that there will be a bit of good sportsmanship. Otherwise, we will not be sharing jugs in the bar, type thing. And if this starts happening up and down the land there will be blood – I’m telling you that now.
'Mankad' run outs is certainly a topic the South Coast Panel of Officials will want to debate ahead of the new season and too when the Southern Premier League captains hold their pre-season meeting in April 2023.

​There is increasing speculation on Portsea island that Australian Fraser Hay is contemplating a return for a fourth tour of duty at St Helen's this summer.
It won't have gone unnoticed on Southsea seafront that Hay, now skippering Melville alongside the banks of the Swan River, blazed a season's best 132 (four sixes and 13 fours) to set up a big win over arch rivals Fremantle, who were dismissed for 171 chasing 232-9.  He has just been picked to play a Second XI State match for WA against Tasmania at the WACA.
Also in the WACA Premier Division, Hampshire's Toby Albert hit 28 as Joondalup made 293-8 in beating Rockingham Mandurah.
Havant raised Andy Gorvin, now with Glamorgan, starred with bat and ball across in the Victoria Premiership, but finished on the losing Camberwell Magpies side (232-5) against Melbourne. He hit 97 (two sixes and eight fours) and took 3-37, but his side lost by two wiciets with eight balls to spare. 
St Cross Symondians' prospect George O'Connor made his first grade debut for Southern Districts against the might of South Australia West End leaders Kensington.
He walked to the crease with Southern Districts in desperate straights at 41-6 and had to face former SA quick Elliott Opie and ginger haired leggie Lloyd Pope, who plays in the BBL and took 8-35 against England U19s in 2017.  
O'Connor 'only' made 12 but was second top score in a partnership of 42 which was by far the biggest of the innings as SD were rolled over for 90 and soundly beaten!
Cape Town youngster Nathan Schultz, who plans a return to Burridge this summer, made his top score of the season and played a significant role in a Western Province Premier League thriller against table toppers WPCC.
Schultz made 64 before his side collapsed from 179-5 to 193 all out, but then clung on to three catches as WPCC plunged to 61-7, former SPL pair Darren Rolfe and Geoff Dodds taking two wickets each.  A remarkable turnaround saw WP's eighth-wicket pair share a century stand before two more wickets left the outcome on a knife edge.  WPCC eventually got home with a big six to win the match.   It as pulsating stuff ... 

Hampshire's Tom Prest marked his comeback from a broken hand by scoring 42 while opening the batting for is adopted Australian club Eastern Suburbs in the New South Wales Premier League.
He hit two boundaries in his 67-ball stay at the crease as Eastern Suburbs totalled 226-9 but were beaten by six wickets.
Wimborne-based Prest, alongside Ageas Bowl team-mate Mason Crane, has been selected for the England Lions' three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka in Colombo in mid-February. 
County team-mate Toby Albert struck 78 (three sixes and seven fours) as WACA grade club Joondalup hit 324-3 at Mount Lawley, whom they dismissed for 199.
Joe Weatherley top scored with 32 before being run out as Adelaide club Woodville was rushed out for West Torrens, who took an overnight first innings lead with 154-5.
Bashley (Rydal) cricketer Michael Porter put his pre-Christmas batting woes behind him to make a highest yet 71 for Brunswick against Malvern in the Victora Sub-District League.  He hit a six and eight fours as Brunswick made a winning 263-8 off 45 overs. 

​Vimps at the Crease - HCL News

Christopher Bazalgette, a true Hampshire cricketing legend with the Hogs and Hambledon, notwithstanding 30 or more years with the XL Club, has bowled his final ball.
He died on Thursday, aged 84, after bravely battling a long illness, which left him bedridden for the closing year or so of his life. 
He had been advertisement manager for The Cricketer, a founder of the European Cricketer Cup, a Life Member of Hambledon, a life member of the Hogs CC.
In a long and distinguished amateur career, he took over 2,500 wickets including those of Mark Nicholas (3 times), Ravi Shastri, Jeff Crowe and Doug Walters. 1,405 of these wickets were taken for Hampshire Hogs, for whom he made over 800 appearances, the last in 2017.
Christopher joined XL Club in 1977 and over the years was a match manager, chairman of the Cricket Committee, South District Chairman, and a member of the Executive Committee. 
In some 138 matches for XL between 1978 and 2009 he took 205 wickets with best figures of 7-50. He achieved a five-wicket haul nine times.
His bowling was deceptive; he cut a portly, balding figure in an outsized pair of flannels held up by a gaudy Hogs' tie and would lope up to the wicket and deliver the ball above the batsman's eye-line at a slow medium-pace. He relied on fractional away swing and fielders who could hold on to catches in the deep. Many a visiting batsman to Warnford aimed to hit him over the wall and out of the ground, but few did. Bowling to his infamous 7-2 field, the Jette was so meticulous with his bowling game plan that he would mark where his fielders should stand. Woe betied them if they strayed a foot or two ...
A larger than life character and hugely respected in club cricket circles, he appeared on tour for many amateur teams around the world and even taught Channel 4 comedian Ali G to play the game.
As a writer he penned over 800,000 words, mainly for 'The Cricketer International'. He has starred in a number of American, Australian and British television programmes on the game and wrote a book entitled Think Cricket.   His funeral predictably packed St James Church, Southwick, 

BOURNEMOUTH [pictured] were the best behaved ECB Southern Premier Division team last season, finishing a whisker behind overall winners, Fawley in the Fair Play award assessed on weekly marks by the panel umpires.
The Lions  received average marks of 19.71 compared with Fawley's 19.72.  Newcomers Sway (19.67) were third, with Trojans and South Wilts second also averaging over 19.  
Purbrook, relegated to the Hampshire League this coming season, finished rock bottom of the charts with a dismal 16.89, while Paultons (17.22), Sarisbury Athletic (17.61) and Hartley Wintney (17.78) were also in the bottom four.

Bashley (Rydal), overall winners Alton, Fawley and newcomers Sway achieved the highest divisional ground marks (by visiting captains and panel umpires) in the Southern Premier League in 2022.
With marks of 53.96, Alton won the George Winkles Memorial Trophy for a second consecutive year – and celebrated it on the pitch by lifting the Division 1 title – while Bashley, overall trophy winners in 2016, 2017 and again in 2019, topped the Premier Division charts.  Fawley’s Division 2 triumph would have come as wonderful news to the family of the late Alan Sturgess, who spent so many hours tending to the square at Holbury, which achieved the third highest marks (of 40 teams) overall. 
Sway will be delighted to have topped the Division 3 markings in their maiden SPL season, while Paultons received the Paul Thompson Memorial Award for the most improved ground.  That’s a prize Gosport Borough will be looking to win in 2023 having finished rock bottom of the overall ground marks. 
Pitch marks are out of 40, outfield 20, total mark 60.

ECB Premier Division

Bashley (Rydal) 52.94 (33.75 pitch/19.19 outfield)
Hampshire Academy 52.44 (32.94/19.50)
Hook & Newnham Basics 52.00 (34.25/17.75)
St Cross Symondians 51.00 (32.88/18.13)
Havant 50.25 (33.94/16.31)
South Wilts 49.25 (31.56/17.69)
Burridge 48.44 (31.94/16.50)
​Totton & Eling 45.88 (28.19/17.69)
Bournemouth 45.36 (30.57/14.79)
Lymington 43.19 (28.25/14.94)

Division 1
​
Alton 53.56 (34.81/18.75)
Ventnor 49.50 (32.94/16.56)
Sparsholt 49.00 (30.94/18.06)
Basingstoke & North Hants 47.88 (30.13/17.75)
Portsmouth 46.38 (29.81/15.56)
Liphook & Ripsley 45.94 (30.25/15.69)
Calmore Sports 45.81 (29.13/16.69)
Rowledge 45.81 (29.88/15.94)
Sarisbury Athletic 44.06 (28.81/15.25)
New Milton 43.94 (28.06/15.88)

Division 2

Fawley 52.75 (34.31/18.44)
Bashley (Rydal) 52.63 (33.00/19.63)
Hook & Newnham Basics 51.88 (33.50/18.38)
Andover 51.50 (34.29/17.31)
Hartley Wintney 49.00 (32.63/16.38)
St Cross Symondians 48.25 (30.00/18.25)
Fair Oak 47.00 (29.44/17.56)
Hambledon 45.62 (32.31/13.31)
Waterlooville 45.50 (29.21/16.29)
Old Tauntonians & Romsey 44.63 (29.25/15.38)

Division 3

Sway 51.31 (32.88/18.44)
Paultons 51.19 (33.31/17.88)
Basingstoke & North Hants 50.86 (38.50/18.36)
Havant 50.13 (33.63/16.50)
South Wilts 47.50 (28.50/19.00)
Portsmouth & Southsea 45.38/17.00)
Trojans 45.06 (28.88/16.19)
Langley Manor 44.81 (28.99/15.94)
Purbrook 43.13 (26.94/16.19)
Gosport Borough 41.19 (24.44/16.75)

Gosport Borough cricketer Jordyn Dore has not only won the Hampshire Young Coach of the Year award, but to his surprise when he went to Warwick to collect his prize, he found he had also been jointly chosen the ECB's National Young Coach of the Year award, along with two other young coaches.  He is pictured receiving his award from Jane Powell, England’s Disability Performance Manager.
Gosport had nominated Jordyn for the Hampshire award in recognition of the work he has been doing not only at club level but out in the community too. Alongside coaching and managing the club’s U9s, he helps out with other age groups and W10, captains the Midweek team, and plays Hampshire League cricket at weekends.  Jordyn is also part of the England Learning Disability squad and has twice travelled to play in Australia.
He also runs extra summer holiday sessions funded by the ECB Inspired to Play funding, he has been leading sessions in local schools and for Hampshire County Council's Holiday and Food Activities aimed at families on lower incomes who might not normally get chance to play cricket. 
Gosport Borough chairman Malcolm Whittington said: “Jordyn's grateful for the nomination, for all the support he gets from club members and for the kind comments made by parents of junior players which helped to secure him the awards 
“This is a fantastic achievement both for Jordyn and for Gosport Borough Cricket Club as it's a reflection on the hard work that goes into supporting a strong junior section and ensuring that we continue to make cricket as inclusive as possible.”
It's now back to business for Jordyn, 'Straight on to next year!' he said. He's right - it won't be long until indoor training starts again in January.

Long serving fixture secretary Stewart Frazier has pulled a plum Coronation Day curtain raiser on May 6 to launch the new ECB Southern Premier League season.
St Cross Symondians and the Hampshire Academy, who went toe to toe for the championship this past summer, go head-to-head at the Green Jackets Ground, Winchester.
This summer’s matches between the pair could hardly have been tighter, with Ed Ellis hitting a match winning six off the penultimate ball at the Green Jackets in June with the sides locked in a 244-9 total tie on the Nursery Ground in early August.   St Cross emerged champions by a mere four points.
Former champions South Wilts, who are believed to have recruited a Santa’s sack of as yet unnamed new players, will start at Totton & Eling, with Havant hosting Burridge and promoted Alton taking on Bashley (Rydal).
The playing format of Premier Division cricket remains unchanged, with nine weeks of 50-over ‘white ball’ cricket and, in mid-season, nine rounds of all-day ‘time’ matches.

Here's a potentially testing question for you.  Three past overseas Southern Premier League cricketers played in the BT Sport screened Cricket New Zealand 'Super Smash' overnight.  Who were they ?

Arch rivals Basingstoke & North Hants and Hook & Newnham Basics are set to lock horns in the Southern Premier League for the first time since September 2017.
The pair will both play ‘white ball’ Division 1 cricket next summer, Hook having been relegated from the ECB Premier Division this past season.
Led by then player/coach David Griffiths, Basingstoke completed a comprehensive double in 2017, the former Hampshire and Kent pace bowler taking five-wicket returns in both matches, with Hook being skittled for a dismal 53 in the first game.
Hook will host the first of next season’s matches at the KGV on June 10, with the return at May’s Bounty on August 12 2023..
The local duo play their first matches away on King Charles III’s Coronation Day, May 6, with Basingstoke facing the long haul to New Milton and Hook encountering a tough opener at Sarisbury Athletic.
Hambledon, who have achieved back-to-back promotions in the last two seasons, set sail to the Isle of Wight to play Ventnor in round one, with Portsmouth hosting Calmore Sports and Rowledge paired away to promoted Andover.
Division 1 set up: Andover, Basingstoke & North Hants, Calmore Sports, Hambledon, Hook & Newnham Basics, New Milton, Portsmouth, Rowledge, Sarisbury Athletic, Ventnor.

Southern Premier League new boys Parley face an away day start to life in Division 3 when they visit relegated Bashley (Rydal) II at the newly named Robert Fagan Fields on May 6 2023.
Parley, whose promotion as Hampshire League runners-up was recently confirmed, will play their first home game the following Saturday against Havant II.
Fellow newcomers Fareham & Crofton face a stern baptism against Sway at Bath lane, while in the other SPL 3 openers Fawley entertain Havant, Paultons play Gosport Borough, and Trojans tackle the inbound Salisbury city traffic en route to South Wilts.
Division 3 line-up: Bashley (Rydal) II, Fareham & Crofton, Fawley, Gosport Borough, Havant II, Parley, Paultons, South Wilts II, Sway, Trojans.

Runaway Southern Premier Division 3 winners Portsmouth & Southsea face an intriguing derby against Waterlooville in their 2023 SPL2 opener at St James's Park on May 6.
The clubs have met on several occasions in t20 cup ties in recent seasons, but not in the longer format 50-over.
Arguably the pick of the Division 2 openers is promoted Langley Manor's match against Old Tauntonians & Romsey at Knellers Lane.  OTs just missed out on promotion this summer, finishing third behind Hambledon and Andover.
Fair Oak's curtain raiser is against Hook & Newnham Basics II at the KGV, while relegated Liphook & Ripsley host St Cross Symondians II, and demoted Sparsholt look to get back on track when Hartley Wintney visit Locks Lane.

There's nothing quite like finding an old youth team photograph gathering dust, so how about this 'young and innocent' New Forest CA group snapped a few years ago ?
New Milton pair George Watts (back left) and Toby Edwards (front left) are prominent.  How many of the others are still playing locally ?

BEN JOHNS (left above) won the Division 1 batting award, the Calmore Sports left-hander scoring 769 runs, including two hundreds and four 50s, while the bowling prize was shared between Loperwood Park teammate LIAM CARTY and New Milton skipper GEORGE WATTS, each with 38 wickets.  Rowledge skipper BEN WISH (below) took the golden gloves award for a fourth time, with 29 dismissals.  He is pictured with former England captain Mike Gatting, who captivated a 150-strong dinner audience with a rousing speech.