POOLE TOWN are Dorset Premier League champions for the first time since 2014 - that despite losing two of their opening four matches in May.  A 14-match unbeaten run swept them to the title.
Badrul  Allam (469 runs, inc 129* at Puddletown), Jordan Betts (407), Lewis Marais (322) and Richard Armstrong (289) led the way with the bat, while Joey Wormington (33 wickets) and the evergreen Joe Wilson (31) spearheaded the Dolphins' attack, along with Scott Bellamy (25) and Dan Jackson (24) 
Runners-up Wimborne & Colehill had triple centurion Ben Brigden (674) as leading DPL run scorer, with Sam Goodhew's 38-wicket haul winning the bowling award for Bere Regis.

Twyford
Standing: from left): Tom Crowley, Josh Jablonkski, Cam Park, Steve Berryman, Scott Wilson, Malcolm Berryman (umpire). Front: Ralf Featherstonhaugh, Tom Watson, Dan Watson, Alex Reidy (captain), Nick Moreland, Tom Ducker,  Wyatt Brennan.

All conquering Twyford swept to the Hampshire League Division 4 North title with an unblemished record, winning all 15 matches with a side whose average age was regularly under 25 years of age.
Their points per match average was 23.13 (out of 24) and on three separate occasions they bowled opposition sides out for less than 100.
Aircraft pilot Cameron Park was flying high with bat and ball all summer long, getting his wings after scoring 509 runs and taking 27 wickets.
Park made an unbeaten 113 against Holybourne plus three scores of 50 or more and, with the ball, twice celebrated six-wicket hauls.  Steve Berryman (464) and Tom Crowley (409) both scored over 400 runs, while skipper Alex Reidy's 25 wicket tally included two five-wicket hauls.

What a bank holiday weekend its been for East Woodhay, crowned Hampshire League Division 2 champions on August 27, then Cyril Thompson T20 Cup winners at May's Bounty, Basingstoke, two days later.
The weekend was a personal triumph for South African teenager Ben Hummel, a gap year student at nearby Cheam school, who cracked a career-best 233 (5 sixes and 35 fours) and shared a massive 369-run third-wicket stand with Barnaby Talbot-Williams (135) as East Woodhay piled up 420-4 at relegated Sparsholt, who replied with 120.  The 300-run win ensured East Woodhay pipped Ferndown Wayfarers to the title.
Seeing the ball like a proverbial football, Hummel then hit a man-of-the-match 86 as EW posted 182-5 (Joe Lawrence 33*, Adam Barnes 23) before restricting Aldermaston Rugby Club to 129-7 (AK Sakakan 33, Madden Sharma 21, Rakita Parera 20) to win the Cyril Thompson Cup

Thirteen years old Manny Lumsden was the toast of Hook & Newnham Basics’ fourths after his unbeaten century turned the tables on Whitchurch and set up a three-wicket victory for his side at Stratton Park.
Prospects appeared bleak for Hook when they slumped to 46-5 in response to a competitive Whitchurch total of 211-9 (Jack Dancer 78, Oli Webster 4-28).
But Manny, left, who plays for Hampshire Under-14s, belied his tender years and took up the challenge of turning the match on its head with an undefeated 115 off 102 balls.
Lumsden, whose father Audley was a prominent full-back for Bath and Gloucester in top English Premiership rugby, firstly shared an 83-run sixth-wicket stand with 12 years old, wicketkeeper Dan Corbett (17) to lift Hook’s reply to 129-6.
He then added another 69 with Charlie Bland (23), which took Hook to the brink of a remarkable win which retained the club’s Division 4 North status.
Hook & Newnham Basics are the second highest placed fourth team in the pyramid behind St Cross Symondians.

Hampshire Cricket have announced that wicketkeeper-batter Lewis McManus has signed a permanent deal with Northamptonshire, effective immediately.
The 27-year-old had been on loan with Northamptonshire and has now joined them permanently. He will play against Hampshire in next Tuesday's Royal London Cup tie at Newclose on the Isle of Wight.
McManus was a student at Clayesmore School in Dorset. He is a product of the Club’s pathway system and was handed his First XI debut in 2015 in a County Championship game against Yorkshire at Headingley.
In 2016, McManus recorded his maiden century for the Club, registering an unbeaten 132 against Surrey in the County Championship.
He became an important member of the squad, keeping wicket in all three formats of the game, and was part of the side that won the 2018 Royal London One-Day Cup at Lord’s and qualified for the 2021 Vitality Blast Finals Day.
Hampshire’s Director of Cricket, Giles White said: “Lewis has been a fantastic servant to the Club and an incredibly popular player; we will miss him. On behalf of everyone at the Hampshire I’d like to thank him for his contributions over the years and wish him the best with his move to Northamptonshire.”
Lewis McManus said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a player over the last decade at Hampshire. I have made great friendships and memories that will last a lifetime. I supported Hampshire as a boy, so to play for the Club was a privilege. I am extremely grateful to the fans, players and coaches for their support over the years. Now, I’m excited about my future with Northamptonshire and I wish Hampshire all the very best.”
In total, Lewis made 153 appearances for Hampshire across all formats, scoring a total of 3,113 runs with 176 catches and 36 stumpings.

It's been a long time coming but Hursley Park cricketers have their first piece of silverware on the table in 21 years after carrying off the Winchester & District Midweek League title.
They remained throughout the T20 season and also reached the semi-final of the Tichborne Trophy.
Hursley Park
Standing: Gary Smith (Scorer), Will Flynn, Nick Wheeler, A Bryant, Oliver Bailey, Khaj Sharma, Kumo Sharma, Sam O'Brien, Bill Conroy (Umpire). Seated: Tom Flynn, Matt Dowling, Tim Bacon, Henry Sparks, Jenson Bishop.

Nearly men again ! That's Dorset, who have finished in fourth place in the south group and missed out on qualification for the knockout phase of the ECB 50-plus County Championships
They had to win their final match against Hampshire yesterday to progress, but a close run two-wicket defeat left them adrift of Cornwall for the last 16 qualifying place.
Alex Allum (353) and Jim Ryall (301) were leading batsmen, while skipper Joey Wilson took 15 wickets.
Dorset 50s
Standing (from left): David Humphreys, Gary French, Mike Stonier, Mike Collinge, Steve Gerety, Jim Ryall, Krish Subramanian.  Front: Mike Harper, Joe Wilson, Ian Paulley, Alex Allum, Martin Miller.

LYMINGTON won the Hampshire Under-11 Alan Rowe Trophy by defeating Tichborne Park by 38 runs in the final at Trojans, successfully defending 112-5 by bowling their Alresford cup final opponents out for 74.
Chay Howell caught the eye with bat and ball for Lymington, top scoring with 26 before taking 2-14. William Savill responded for Tichborne. taking 2-12 and making 22 runs.
Tristen Nudding, with superb figures of 4-25, and Daniel Salter (3-18) starred with the ball.
Match details: https://lymington.play-cricket.com/website/results/5470252

The New Forest CA's Presidents Cup final between holders Fawley and New Milton will be played at the Chapter & TM Ground (aka Holbury) on Monday week, July 25.
The Stone Cup final between Lyndhurst & Ashurst and Pylewell Park is at Burley on Friday July 29.

​Rory Kilpatrick kept his nerve during a batting collapse to hit an unbeaten 41 and guide St Cross Symondians to a five-wicket ECB Under-15 Cup victory over Wimborne & Colehill at the Green Jackets Ground.
After bowling Wimborne out for 88, Hampshire champions St Cross appeared to be cruising towards victory at 51-1 – but they promptly lost three wickets without adding a single run.
Kilpatrick, who had been batting well with Jack Roberts (19), later found a reliable partner in Oliu Knight (12) and together they knocked off the remaining runs.
Earlier, Harry Cross (3-20) and Arthur Molden (2-6) reduced Wimborne to 34-5. Fred Boger (36) boosted the visitors’ score.
St Cross now face a trip to Somerset for the ECB south and west regional play-offs on July 25.

​LONGPARISH, who lie 12th in Hampshire League Division 1 after Callum Giles (73) had inspired a dramatic one-wicket win at Ryde.
Standing (from left): Ben Gardner, Jordan Blackmore, Jack Ashmore, Sam Gardner, Nathan Smith, Toby Trinder.  Front: Chris Clarke, Zac Allen, William Samways, Callum Giles. Michael Taplin.

Mottisfont (from left): Ian Bradwell (56 years). Graham Blake (69), Craig Proctor (37). Richard Blake (37). Edwin Moody (64). Steve Godwin (54) Front: Jalpan Patel (41). Ian Jerram (65). Graham Collins (59). Darryl Lawrence (27), Pete Southwell (70).

There’s nothing like a bit of experience when it comes to winning a tight cricket match – and Mottisfont’s ‘Dad’s Army of a team had plenty of that when they beat Laverstock & Ford by one run in a Hampshire League Division 4 West thriller.
The Font sent out a team with a combined age of 579 years, one player aged 70, three in their mid to late 60s and there more of 54 years or more.
Richard Blake (47 runs) and Ian Bradwell (34) top scored in Mottifont’s 155-9, Laverstock finishing one short at 154 all out, 
Bradwell completed a fine day’s work with figures of 3-38, while Blake, Proctor and Patel took two wickets each.

South Wilts thirds suffered a bizarre and somewhat rare hat-trick of run outs in the penultimate over of their Hampshire League Division 2 match against East Woodhay at Bemerton.
With three balls of the 44th over of their innings remaining, South Wilts were handily placed at 209-5.
Off the fourth ball Freddie Sharlow was run out attempting a second run (210-6).
Next ball skipper Tom Pearce, who had made 45, was run out was non-striker and when new batter Rebecca Blake ran past him.
Then off the very last ball, Amila Maduragoda was run out as he too attempted a second run.
Ironically, the 45th over was a maiden, South Wilts closing  at 211-8, with extras top scoring with 50.
East Woodhay went on to win by four wickets, batting themselves out of trouble at 135-6.

Harry Shardlow and William Welch hit centuries before South Wilts’ pulled off a one-run victory over  Purton in a remarkable Wiltshire Under-15 League match at Bemerton which produced a staggering 677 runs and with the outcome in doubt until the very last ball.
Sharlow, with two sixes and 20 fours in his unbeaten 150, shared two significant partnerships, initially 171 with Welch (104) and then 150 with Alex Vincent (49) as South Wilts posted 339-7 in 40 overs.
With Adam Davison scoring 136, Purton hit back hard and eventually needed two runs to win off the last ball, which George Nash arrowed through the stumps of Cavan Bramwell (37) to give South Wilts a one-run win.  Purton closed an agonising 338-7.
South Wilts scorer Adrian James completed a marathon day with the books, starting at 10am with the U13s and not finishing until 7.10pm when stumps were drawn on the Purton thriller.  

Ben Rogers hit an unbeaten 120 to power Bournemouth to a 51-run victory over neighbours Parley in the HCB Under-17 Kerry Cup.  
His century contained four sixes and 12 fours and came in a hefty second-wicket stand with Conor Smith (40) as Bournemouth posted 181-4 before restricting Parley to 130-9 (Kieran Laird 43).
Second round draw: Alton v Trojans, Hursley Park v Bournemouth, Hambledon v Aldershot, Compton & Chandler's Ford v Havant or Petersfield, Rowledge v Hartley Wintney, Sparsholt v Hedge End or Winchester District, Totton & Eling v Bashley (Rydal).

Tichborne Park opener George Ayling (pictured) thought he was on a winner after smashing a career-best 155, including 11 sixes and 11 fours, off the Ryde attack in a Hampshire League Division 1 run fest at Harding Shute.
He scored just of half of Tichborne Park’s towering 304 all out – but it wasn’t enough !
Ayling found himself upstaged by 16-year old Oscar Vandecastle, who struck an unbeaten 138 to sweep Ryde to a remarkable one-wicket victory with 14 balls to spare.
The teenager hit two sixes and 13 fours, carefully shepherding Ryde from 227-8 and into a winning position.  Ryde’s last two wickets added 78 runs.  It was their first win of the season.
Compton & Chandler's Ford now top Division 1 after an emphatic 119-run win at Odiham & Greywell coincided with Old Basing losing.

Standing (from left): Ollie I’anson, Toby Gray, George McCarthy, Tinashe Chimbambo, Will Fisher, Fawwaz Anjum.  Front: Scott Spearing, Mat Scorey, Alex Spearing, Andy Gorty, Ethan Sharpe. 

Four wins from their opening five matches has taken Compton & Chandler’s Ford to within three points of Old Basing at the top of Hampshire League Division 1.
Powerful batting has enabled CCF to post totals of 275-plus on three separate occasions, with Will Fisher and Jameel Khan each scoring centuries.
Compton have just signed 33-year old Zimbabwean Tinashe Chimbambo, who plays franchise  cricket for Mountaineers and made 89 on debit against Longparish last weekend.
Results –
Compton & Chandler’s Ford 337-8 (Fisher 137*, Gorty 69, Jassal 47) beat Portsmouth 208 (Gorty 6-53, Rathod 3-28) by 129 runs.
Compton & Chandler’s Ford 227-8 (Rathod 68, Fisher 42) beat Winton 225-9 (Gorty 4-25) by two wickets.
Compton & Chandler’s Ford 95 (Power 5-23) lost to Tichborne Park 96-4 by six wickets.
Compton & Chandler’s Ford 275-9 (Khan 112*, Gorty 57, A Spearing 30) beat Alton II 144 (Sundram 3-37) by 131 runs.
Compton & Chandler’s Ford 294-8 (Chimbambo 89, Gorty 55, Sharpe 49, Spearing 37*) beat Longparish 111 (Anjum 4-25, Fisher 4-23) by 183 runs.

Former England and Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke divided opinion on social media after he posted a screenshot of the scorecard from his appearance in a Hampshire League game for Shrewton over the weekend.
Clarke, who retired from first-class cricket last summer at the age of 39 and represented England in 22 internationals from 2003 to 2006, scored 229 playing for Shrewton in the sixth rung of the Hampshire cricket pyramid - Division Two of the HCL against South Wilts thirds. .
Clarke’s 109-ball stay at the crease featured 22 sixes as his side scored 385-7 off their 45 overs. It was Clarke’s third league outing of the summer; he had only scored 28 runs across his previous two league games in 2022.
Clarke attracted some criticism online for playing against a club third team but was praised and defended by a whole host of former professionals. 
Former England bowler Simon Jones tweeted: “Ignore them [those criticising Clarke] Clarkey, there’s always going to be a minority who are envious and enjoy trying to create, take it as a compliment, you’re a huge asset to the club, smile and keep doing what you’re doing.”
Another former England Test cricketer, Gavin Hamilton, defended Clarke, saying: “Cannot actually believe this is being questioned.”
The three-time County Championship winner also highlighted how, aside for turning out for Shrewton, he has put in a lot of time helping to improve the club. 
In a further tweet, he said: “Spent about two days of my time jet washing the decking and helped paint it after to make the pavilion look better for potential visitors and new recruits. Went to winter nets to help coach all senior teams and did free junior coaching classes for new junior recruits.”
South Wilts, who fielded six teenagers, were bowled out for 146 and suffered a fourth straight defeat.  Clarke later bowled six overs without reward.  

So, what does it take to make sure that you play a game next weekend? Or, if you are a Club, how do you make sure that you have a team?
The CCC has decided to make this a singular issue Newsletter, the topic having acquired an immediacy and intensity of debate as a result of an open letter from a small club in the lower levels of the Hertfordshire league who admitted to being unable to put together enough players to fulfil their two Saturday league fixtures, and were forced to concede both.
This Pandora’s Box was opened by Bayford and Hertford CC who conceded both their games in divisions 3B and 10 East – despite having registered over 100 players with the Herts League at the beginning of the season.
It transpired that 12 other clubs conceded fixtures over the same weekend in Hertfordshire, and this was mirrored in Cornwall, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset – and – given the number of social media requests from across the country, we may surmise that there is a disturbing trend at the lower end of the club cricket league structure.  The picture was then repeated for the second weekend in a row.
During this period NCC has been active in acquiring data and has a lively social media dialogue across the country, as well having contributed to a Radio Essex programme covering distressed clubs in the region.
As Cricket Clubs we start our lives with the ethos of wanting to play cricket.
                                                                                    Competitive edge
We then morph into trying to be better at cricket and, at the same time, we try to provide the best facilities we can to sustain our cricketing aims.
Then we join Leagues to further sustain the competitive edge to our game, and those Leagues develop rules which make sure that the games we play are fair and equitable.
And this has been so for the past 9 generations since The Gentlemen of Hambledon graced our pitches.
Then we find that, in some cases, enthusiasm for the game is a diminishing asset and so we want to change the bases under which we wish to play.
But the Leagues, to which we have associated ourselves, are entrenched within their rules and, because they can, they prevent us from being flexible in our attitudes.
So, how do we react, with responsibility for the youth and future of cricket in our grasp, without appearing to be wrecking the infrastructure which we helped to put into place?
There is a strange dichotomy in the world of Club Cricket at the moment. 
On the one hand there are more registered players across the country than ever.
On the other, we have cricket clubs unable to fulfil their fixtures due to lack of players.
                                                                                             Pandemic
We know that the pandemic has had an odd consequence of Big Clubs getting bigger.  Equally we are aware that the individuality of Clubs does not easily accommodate a “sharing” mentality.
Surely now is the time to break the vicious circle and look for equitable and sensible solutions so that smaller Clubs can retain their core values?
Hertfordshire is one of the largest Leagues in the country when it comes to numbers of clubs and divisions in its remit.  The Herts League has already taken steps so that clubs in some of the lower divisions are able to have duplicate registrations by local region – but few clubs know about it.
Yet there are over 3000 cricketers registered in Hertfordshire.  How many of those registered are “regular” players, and how many of the  “regular” players did not get a game last weekend?
If a large club with three or more teams has an excess of say, 3 players on an any given Wednesday or Thursday, how can they tell other local clubs that they have players for loan purposes?  And in any case are they willing to do so?
                                                                                                Condone
But even if they were so disposed, how would they know which clubs to contact if they had either an excess or a shortfall? And would the Leagues condone such actions?
What appears to be required is to establish a central player register of both players and clubs, county by county and league by league, with availability on a weekly basis. The envisaged system can only work for extremely small geographical areas and should only reflect the situations in the lowest 20% of divisions in Leagues.  Preferably, clubs will pre-nominate the other clubs in their locality (not necessarily in their own League) to the central register for speed of response.
The National Cricket Conference has a remit from the ECB to “Find a Player – Find a Club” and we are making sure that we have the resource to make that work.  We are preparing a “forum” facility on our website where we can alert specific parties to either scarcity or glut.
Find a Player Find a Club
It requires a flexibility from the Leagues to allow cross registration abilities, not just within leagues but by geographical proximity. We can envisage a system evolving as in Hertfordshire but with modifications. The process is only workable on a very localised basis, as well as it being marketed correctly and openly.
This innovative process can only succeed if the Family of Cricket  acknowledges this as a need to be implemented from the bottom up, but it will have to change the terms of its Will. The NCC is available to write and enact the codicil, and we would like to do it as soon as possible – but only within a cooperative environment, encouraged and promoted by our major stakeholders – County Boards, Leagues and Clubs. 
Watch this space.
Any thoughts ? Email them to Robbie Brook : ccc@club-cricket.co.uk

Bishops Waltham cricketers will take the field in Saturday’s opening Hampshire League Division 2 match against Ferndown Wayfarers in shirts sponsored by First Choice Therapy, the sports and remedial massage therapists, based at 4 Cross Street.
The new season has begun on a promising note - a high scoring defeat at Southern Premier League Hambledon preceding a fine 14-run victory over Old Tauntonians & Romsey II in which James Hunter and Luke Carvey made unbeaten fifties and Ed Dadd took six wickets with the ball. 
The club fields three Saturday teams in the Hampshire League, along with a Sunday XI and a side participating in the Winchester & District Midweek League on Tuesday evenings.
Based at the Albany Ground, just off Winchester Road, they are pro-active in junior cricket and run sides from age nine upwards.

Colden Common, Otterbourne and Sporting Wessex are looking for a regular wicket keeper for the 2022 season, ideally someone who has previously played at Hampshire Cricket League County 3 level.
If there are any budding wicket keepers who aren't getting games at their present clubs, CCO & SW maybe be the club to offer you the opportunity to fulfil the role.
If you are interested please contact Colin Hutton on 07761 250832 or by email at chut@noc.ac.uk

A 1.75 tons roller which has sat for the past six years deteriorating in the long grass on the boundary edge at Parley has been fully refurbished for use by the local Hampshire League club this coming season.
The roller is 63 years old, 25 of which were spent at Dean Park playing an important role in preparing pitches for Hampshire’s County Championship matches.
Anxious to enhance the quality of their own pitches and so get their ground accredited for potential promotion to the Southern Premier League in 2023, Parley engaged DJB Machinery from Tonbridge, Kent, who sponsored the full refurbishment of the roller – and what a superb job they did !
“DJB Machinery took the roller back to their Tonbridge base, where they provided a mechanical upgrade, installed new parts, and repaired and repainted it. What a fantastic job they did, none more so than Dan Bryce and Albert,” beamed Parley cricket manager Keith Clarke.
“Hopefully, the roller will continue to serve the club for many years to come in the hands of the Parley ground volunteers, especially as DJB Machinery’s sponsorship deal includes a six-month service arrangement.” 
Parley will play pre-season friendly matches at Dorset Premier League side Martinstown and against SPL neighbours Bournemouth before opening their HCL Division 1 programme at Alton on May 7.

​The Hampshire Cricket League plans to return to normality in terms of playing regulations for its Saturday afternoon matches this summer.
Games across the board were restricted to 40-overs per side last year, but the league intends to return to a 50, 45 and 40-over format down the 19-division pyramid when play begins on May 7 2022.
That means Division 1 matches will be 50-overs per side, with a restriction of ten overs per bowler, with play starting at 12.30pm.
Games in Divisions 2 and 3 will last 45 overs (nine overs per bowler) with 1pm starts. 
Divisions 4 to 6 will be of a 40-over duration (eight overs per bowler) again starting at 1pm.