Cole Campbell came within six runs of a century on debut for the Hampshire Academy against Havant – and confessed to be “gutted” not to have celebrated his next-day 17th birthday in real style with a hundred.
“It was disappointing not to get to the magical 100, but nonetheless feel honoured that I got an opportunity to play for the Academy, let alone get 94,” he smiled.
But his 94 effectively ruled out any prospect Premier League champions Havant had of turning a daunting 313-3 into a winning score on the Ageas Bowl Nursery Ground.
The Academy were in a spot of trouble at 73-3 – Richard Jerry (3-41) doing the new ball damage - when the Hampton School prospect arrived at the crease.
He batted 112 balls, hit 15 fours and played the lead role as the Academy happily played out time for a draw at 218-6.
So, who is Cole Campbell ?
“He’s a new kid on the blocks in terms of Hampshire Academy cricket, having been recommended to us by Chris Searle, who plays in the same school team at Hampton,” confirmed player/coach James Tomlinson.
“He did terrifically well, coming in when Richard Jerry was in full flight and then facing two quality spinners in Richard Hindley and Chris Morgan.”
Campbell is in the Lower Sixth at Hampton School, where now retired Surrey and England spin all-rounder Zafar Ansari learned much of his cricket.
He plays locally for Walton-on-Thames in the Surrey Championship and played junior age group representative cricket for Middlesex until county Under-13’s – when he was dropped !
“I did a few winter sessions at the Ageas Bowl over the winter and was selected against Gloucestershire in an ECB 50-over Cup game, where I got 29 and this led to my selection for the Havant game,” he explained.
“I’m playing against Portsmouth in a T20 game tomorrow and hope that, once school is finished, I’ll be selected for some more Academy and Under-17 county games.”
Chris Searle, head boy at Hampton and Oxford University bound next autumn if his A-level results go okay, was full of praise for his young team-mate.
He said: “Cole’s worked ridiculously hard on his batting the last couple years and has just got better and better. He’s got an amazing appetite for runs and has scored so many for Hampton.
“He was keen to see if he could get onto the county ladder so I recommended him to Matt Drakeley and things have done from there.
“Getting 94 against the top team in the league was an unbelievable debut, but I’m sure he’ll score some more runs yet.”
* Campbell is pictured below lofting Havant's Richard Hindley to the long-off boundary.
“It was disappointing not to get to the magical 100, but nonetheless feel honoured that I got an opportunity to play for the Academy, let alone get 94,” he smiled.
But his 94 effectively ruled out any prospect Premier League champions Havant had of turning a daunting 313-3 into a winning score on the Ageas Bowl Nursery Ground.
The Academy were in a spot of trouble at 73-3 – Richard Jerry (3-41) doing the new ball damage - when the Hampton School prospect arrived at the crease.
He batted 112 balls, hit 15 fours and played the lead role as the Academy happily played out time for a draw at 218-6.
So, who is Cole Campbell ?
“He’s a new kid on the blocks in terms of Hampshire Academy cricket, having been recommended to us by Chris Searle, who plays in the same school team at Hampton,” confirmed player/coach James Tomlinson.
“He did terrifically well, coming in when Richard Jerry was in full flight and then facing two quality spinners in Richard Hindley and Chris Morgan.”
Campbell is in the Lower Sixth at Hampton School, where now retired Surrey and England spin all-rounder Zafar Ansari learned much of his cricket.
He plays locally for Walton-on-Thames in the Surrey Championship and played junior age group representative cricket for Middlesex until county Under-13’s – when he was dropped !
“I did a few winter sessions at the Ageas Bowl over the winter and was selected against Gloucestershire in an ECB 50-over Cup game, where I got 29 and this led to my selection for the Havant game,” he explained.
“I’m playing against Portsmouth in a T20 game tomorrow and hope that, once school is finished, I’ll be selected for some more Academy and Under-17 county games.”
Chris Searle, head boy at Hampton and Oxford University bound next autumn if his A-level results go okay, was full of praise for his young team-mate.
He said: “Cole’s worked ridiculously hard on his batting the last couple years and has just got better and better. He’s got an amazing appetite for runs and has scored so many for Hampton.
“He was keen to see if he could get onto the county ladder so I recommended him to Matt Drakeley and things have done from there.
“Getting 94 against the top team in the league was an unbelievable debut, but I’m sure he’ll score some more runs yet.”
* Campbell is pictured below lofting Havant's Richard Hindley to the long-off boundary.
