​Parley are underway with the work they required to do to upgrade parts of their pavilion to get their ground ready to host Southern Premier League Division 3 cricket next season.
The club’s long awaited promotion has been confirmed, subject them upgrading the dressing room showers and decorating a tearoom.
The winter work, in association with the local Parish Council, is underway and when completed will see an upgrade and resurfacing to parts of the pavilion roof, a redecoration of the tearoom and a repair and replacement of the boiler system for all of the changing room showers. The roofing work has started, the new boiler will be installed early in 2023 and cricket club volunteers will decorate the tearoom as a project. All of the scheduled work will be completed by the end of March.
Parley achieved seven promotions in ten years after entering the Hampshire League back in 2008, but on-going accreditation issues relating to the tenure of the ground and below par outfield marks denied them the opportunity of joining the Premier League after their successes in 2018 and again the following season when they were County Division 1 champions.
2020 was Covid affected and they finished out of promotion contention by finishing third behind Havant II and Sway in 2021, but this summer finished runners-up to Compton & Chandler’s Ford to put themselves back in the frame again.                                                                                      
At the third time of asking and with the ground issues firmly behind them, Parley have finally been given to nod to play Premier League cricket next summer.
“Our pitch has consistently been marked well above the required standard for Dorset, Hampshire and Southern League cricket, but challenges have always come from outfield marks in the past,” explained Parley first team manager Keith Clarke.
                                                                                      Benefitted
“Being a multi-sport venue, the provision of several adult football pitches was not conducive to the best outcome. But there has been no adult soccer at Parley since the 2018/19 season.  Youth football remains, but this provides much lighter use and a shorter season.”
Parley has also benefitted from the employment of Southern Grounds Care, who undertake all the professional work required to maintain every part of the playing surface.
Keith added: “The cricket club has invested in equipment and with volunteer support now maintains all work within the boundary rope and immediate surrounds during the cricket season. The combination of all these factors has secured outfield marks above the average standard requirements for the last two years.”
Having to remain in the Hampshire League led to Parley losing several players to Southern Premier League clubs in recent seasons, but batting duo Alex Nippard and Sam Collins have returned to the fold, along with batsman/wicketkeeper Tom Jacques, who will skipper the side in 2023 after a spell with Bashley (Rydal).
Parley won 13 of their 17 matches this last summer, finishing second, 19 points behind Compton & Chandler’s Ford, with Nippard (652 runs), Collins (459) and home-grown teenagers Marcus Bragginton (503) and Kieran Laird (412) prominent in the league batting averages and Ollie Green snaring 29 wickets.

Havant, South Wilts and champions St Cross Symondians each provide three players for the ECB Southern Premier Division’s Team of the 2022 season, with title winning captain Ed Ellis chosen to skipper a 12-man squad.
Harry Gadd, seamer Richard Jerry and Chris Stone are Havant’s chosen three, while record Premier Division run scorer Tom Morton and his opening partner Jack Stearman are selected alongside South Wilts clubmate Josh Croom, who took 48 league wickets this past summer. Aussie Sam Beer and left-arm spin all-rounder Charlie Gwynn join Ed Ellis under the St Cross Symondians banner.
The 12-man squad is completed by Bournemouth duo Dan Conway and Luke Webb, and aspiring Hampshire Academy spinner Ethan Baker.  
Southern Premier League Team of 2022 –
+ Ed Ellis, St Cross Symondians
Ethan Baker, Hampshire Academy/Bashley (Rydal)
Sam Beer, St Cross Symondians
Dan Conway, Bournemouth
Josh Croom, South Wilts
Harry Gadd, Havant
Charlie Gwynn, St Cross Symondians
Richard Jerry, Havant
Tom Morton, South Wilts
Jack Stearman, South Wilts
Chris Stone, Havant
Luke Webb, Bournemouth

Hampshire Academy trio Joseph Eckland, Eddie Jack and Dom Kelly could be headed to Brisbane in January with England Under-19s for a multi-format series against their Australian counterparts.
All three recently returned from the Emirates where England Young Lions shared the spoils in two ODIs before beating the UAE in a three-day match in Abu Dhabi.
Academy captain Eckland did particularly well in the two 50-over internationals, hitting a half-century in the opening match and an unbeaten 89 in the second which England won.
Canford all-rounder Jack and Winchester-based Kelly played their roles as England thrashed the UAE by 185 runs in the three-day game.
Batting down the order, Kelly made quick-fire knocks of 18 and 31 not out as England posted scores of 302 and 182-7 either side of the Emirates making 183.
Jack shone with the ball, taking 3-21 in the UAE's first innings and 2-26 in the second, returning match figures of 5-47 off 13 overs.   Emirates were dismissed for 116 to give England an emphatic victory.
Eckland, Jack and Kelly now face a three-day training weekend at Loughborough before the squad for Australia is finalised. 
The Young Lions will play two four-day matches, three ODIs and a T20I played across Brisbane's National Cricket Campus in late January and February. 

Tasmanian left-hand allrounder Tom Willoughby is set for a 2023 return to Bournemouth, where he scored 707 ECB Southern Premier Division runs this past summer, the third highest aggregate behind South Wilts pair Tom Morton and Jack Steadman.
He enjoyed a prolific final five weeks of the season, plundering 398 runs, including centuries against Totton & Eling and Burridge.   He his pictured by James Robinson hitting a big six against Lymington.

Hampshire Academy captain Joseph Eckland has been in stunning form for England Under-19s in two One Day Internationals against the UAE in Abu Dhabi.
With England in difficulty at 102-5 in the opening 50-over international, Eckland steadied the ship with a half-century and piloted the visitors to an eventual 206 all out – a total the Emirates polished off for the loss of three wickets, Hampshire team-mate Dom Kelly returning 0-49 off seven overs.
Chasing the UAE’s 263 in the second ODI, England were in trouble again at 46-3, but Eckland linked up with Lancashire prospect Matthew Hurst in a match winning double-century partnership. 
The fourth-wicket pair added an unbroken 218, Eckland hitting three sixes and ten fours in an unbeaten 89, while Hurst, who hails from St Helen’s in Liverpool, cracked 108 not out.
Eckland picked up a winner’s medal from the inaugural Pakistan Junior League in Karachi – but food poisoning after the second match for Gwadar Sharks prevented him from playing a full part in his team’s triumph.
Bashley (Rydal) left-armer Ben Fletcher has produced some tidy bowling figures for Richmond in the Victorian Premier League Second Grade, taking eight wickets in a weather cut five-matches, his best return 3-9 against Melbourne University.
BCG team-mate Michael Porter has found runs hard to get as rain has eaten badly into Melbourne club cricket, but he made a best-yet 40 as his adopted club Brunswick beat Strathmore by 47 runs.
Brunswick were racing along at 173-2, but collapsed, leaving Porter to bat with the middle and lower order and guide his side to a match winning 232.  
Lymington offie Dan Cox was the five-wicket hero of Middle Park’s close four-run win over Apendale in the Southern Bayside League Second Division.
Having made a 25 with the bat, Cox took 5-38 with the ball, removing five of Apendale’s top six. He has taken ten wickets in his last three games. 

Like Dan Cox and Michael Porter in Melbourne, former South Wilts pace bowler Luke Evans has had to be patient for his season to begin on the New South Wales/Victoria state border.
The Cadnam raised cricketer missed five Saturdays due to washouts, but struck form last weekend when he came in at number 8 for St Patrick’s with the score on 154 for 6. He put on 54 with Angus Kilby (21)and then added another 32 with Isaac Keighran. 
Evans was still there at the end of the innings 60 not out from just 31 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes  and an impressive strike rate of 193.54 having helped St Pat’s to a very respectable 242 for 7 from their 50 overs.  Wodonga could only muster 183 for 9 in their reply.
​Photo of Luke batting courtesy of Rob Lacey

Already fed up with sitting at home in front of the fire as the mercury level falls, why not pop out and get some fresh air on Thursday afternoon ?
Retired Hampshire left-arm fast-medium pace swing bowler James Tomlinson, now the county's Head of Pathway Development, is the guest speaker at the Dorset Cricket Society at Christchurch FC's Hurn Bridge clubhouse, starring at 1.45pm.
In keeping with his outgoing personality, James is an entertaining speaker, who will talk about his 15-year career with Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl, and specifically his introduction to the first class game against India in 2002. He took 380 wickets in his injury ravaged career, including 67 in 2008. Always a popular and intelligent player, he naturally moved into coaching upon retirement and is already massively involved in bringing on an abundance of talent through the Hampshire cricket pathway.
DCS meetings are open to all cricket enthusiasts, so why not pop along on Thursday afternoon ?

Hampshire prospect Fletcha Middleton produced his best form of the winter so far, top scoring with 87 to set up a big win for Cape Town, his adopted club, over Ottoman in the Western Province Premier A League.
Middleton hit two sixes and eight fours in his 87 which set the base for Cape Town to post a match winning 229. He later pouched two catches as Ottoman fell to 118 all out to give CTCC a 111-run win.
Hambledon's Matt de Villiers was in the runs again, following up his previous week's century with 54 as Constantia beat Rylands by 58 runs. Harry Came made 31 before De Villiers got into the act again the field, taking two matches and being involved in a run out as Rylands fell to 120 all out.
In Australia, Lymington spin all-rounder Dan Cox took 3-35 and later made 16 and featured in an important 79-run stand as his adopted Melbourne club Middle Park won their first match in four in the Southern Bayside League Division 2 with a victory over bottom of the log Carnegie.  

Influential Calmore Sports pair Mark Lavelle and Ben Johns, along with Bramshaw run gun Tom Arnold, have been 'selected' in a National Village Cup XI following a reader's poll by the Cricketer magazine, who organise the competition.
Lavelle, who has led Calmore to consecutive Lord's finals, was nominated as captain, alongside his role as economical left-arm spinner.  Left-hander Johns, with 497 runs, was the leading NV Cup batsmen this season, with 450-run Tom Arnold close behind.  Bramshaw were Hampshire county village finalists.

Sparsholt’s Jeremy Frith has been appointed Guernsey’s Director of Cricket, a post he has taken up with immediate effect and which will involve being head coach to the island’s national team and developing the pathway system for youngsters from 11 years of age upwards.
Quite how Frith’s Guernsey role will affect Sparsholt in 2023 remains to be seen. In his Locks Lane career, he has scored one shy of 4,000 league runs (five hundreds and 27 50s) and taken 206 wickets, including seven five-wicket hauls.  He is pictured by Bob Selley batting against Portsmouth this past season. 

Hampshire are set to return to the Isle of Wight again next summer, with Newclose set to host a 50-over Royal London Cup group match against Kent on August 22 2023.
It's the third time in recent seasons the ground will have hosted county cricket, Hampshire having entertained Nottinghamshire there in 2019 and Northants in the RL Cup this summer. On each occasion the match has been blessed with superb weather and good sized crowds attracted to the venue.
Kent, of course, are Royal London Cup holders having beaten Hampshire in this season's semi-final at the Ageas Bowl.
As a bonus, island fans will also be able to watch the Southern Vipers women's team play at Newclose in July.
Hampshire launch their County Championship challenge against promoted Nottinghamshire at the Ageas Bowl over the Easter weekend, April 6-10 and host champions Surrey in the final round of matches in late September.  Alas, there are no Lord's trips, the T20 Blast away match against Middlesex being at Radlett, with the sole CC fixture being at the Ageas Bowl. Travelling fans will, though, be able to visit Southport, York and Welbeck .,.. alongside the Isle of Wight !

Matt de Villiers, whose 1,295 run haul was pivotal to Hambledon's Southern Premier Division 2 championship triumph this past summer, hit an unbeaten century to guide his South African club side Claremont to a seven-wicket victory over UWC (Cape University) in the Western Province Premier League.
He made a run-a- ball 102, including 11 fours, as Claremont chase down a UWC total of 232-8.
Playing in the same competition, Hampshire's Fletcha Middleton made 26 for Cape Town (193) who lost by seven wickets to Green Point, for whom Gloucestershire's Gareth Roderick made 66 not out.

Hampshire's Toby Albert celebrated his maiden century in WACA Premier 1st Grade cricket when he made an unbeaten 106 for his adopted Perth club Joondalup at Wanneroo. 
​He faced 191 balls, and hit only six boundaries as his side totalled 265-5 in the only innings of the match, day one last weekend having been rained out.
South Wilts’ left-arm quick Josh Croom pulled up lame with a side strain during Glenelg’s recent West End SACA match against Port Adelaide and hasn’t bowled since.  
Also sidelined is exciting Hampshire prospect Tom Prest, who has broken his hand playing for Eastern Suburbs in New South Wales Premier cricket. He hopes to be back playing in the New Year.
Joe Weatherley has arrived in Adelaide to play for Woodville in the West End South Australia League.
Bashley (Rydal) left-armer Ben Fletcher took two top order Camberwell Magpies wickets to put his adopted Melbourne side Richmond on top in the Victoria Premier Division Second Grade, finishing with 2-16 off seven overs.  It was Fletcher’s second brace, the other coming against Fitzroy Doncaster.  Melbourne cricket continues to be hit by bad weather, with three of Fletcher’s six matches being rained off.
Team-mate Michael Porter has been similarly affected and had to resort to a fact finding visit to Melbourne’s tram museum on one his rain days. Playing for Brunswick in the city’s sub-district league, Porter made 28 in this weekend’s 87-run win at Plenty Valley.
It took Dan Cox, Lymington’s Isle of Wight based spin all-rounder, until November 12 before he even got a game in soggy Melbourne, having flown there in late September.
Playing for Middle Park in the heady heights of the eight-team South Bayside League second division, Cox’s side were rushed out for 56 and beaten by eight wickets by Bentleigh, but they drew their next game with the islander making 43 against Beaumaris.  Cox took 3-27 in this weekend’s 100-run defeat by Parkdale.

Three members of Alton’s championship winning side are included in the Southern Premier League’s Division 1 Team of the Year, finally announced after a lengthy selection debate.
Scott Myers and Dan Harris, each with over 700 runs, are among the six specialist batsmen picked, alongside South African Bash Walters, whose 39 wickets was the highest in Division 1.
Sri Lankan Dineth Thimodya, rumoured to be making a Ventnor return in 2023, fills the opening slot with Calmore left-hander Ben Johns, whose team-mate Liam Carty gets one of the spinner slots.  Martin Blackman’s remarkable 701-run season gets him a middle-order place.
Joe Oates, who stepped into the Basingstoke & North Hants captain’s shoes midway through the summer, has nailed one of the seam all-rounder spots.
Premier One Team of the Year –
* Dineth Thimodya (Ventnor): 966 runs and 26 wickets
Ben Johns (Calmore Sports): 850 runs
Dan Harris (Alton): 773 runs
Scott Myers (Alton): 705 runs and 19 wickets
Martin Blackman (Ventnor): 701 runs
Nathan Feltham (Sarisbury Athletic): 686 runs
Joe Oates (Basingstoke & North Hants): 496 runs and 21 wickets
Liam Carty (Calmore Sports): 35 wickets
* Bash Walters (Alton): 39 wickets
*Ronan DeGrussa (Sarisbury Athletic): 38 wickets
+ Ben Wish (Rowledge): 29 dismissals
Water boy: Oli Baker (Rowledge)

​* overseas player. + wicketkeeper.

Pat Pocock, who played for Surrey and England, will be the guest speaker at the Dorset Cricket Society at Christchurch FC, Hurn Bridge, on Thursday, 1.45pm, so please advise any friends who might be interested to provide a bumper audience. 
Past was a distinguished Surrey and England Cricketer whose career spanned the years from 1964 to 1986.An effective off-spinner he took 1607 first-class wickets –figures which contained an extraordinary spell of 7 wickets in 11 balls v Sussex in 1972. He was instrumental in Surrey’s successes in the County Championship in 1971 and the Nat West Trophy in 1982. He skippered the county in his final season. His 20 Tests for England (plus 1 ODI) were spread over the years between 1968 and 1985. His experiences in an era when England was very well-stocked with quality slow bowlers and Test selection was haphazard should make for a fascinating afternoon.
Coming soon !
Thursday 1 December: Rod Bransgrove ... Thursday 8 December: James Tomlinson.

Below par outfield marks over the past two summers have cost Hampshire Cricket League champions Compton & Chandler’s Ford promotion to the Southern Premier League in 2023.
Compton were eagerly anticipating the prospect of playing in Premier Division 3 next season after winning 14 of their 17 matches this past summer to be crowned County Division 1 champions.
Having only been promoted to the top flight of HL cricket in 2019, Compton have spent only the past two seasons in Division 1, finishing mid-table in 2021 and title winners this year, the 2020 campaign having been cancelled due to the covid epidemic.
But outfield marks for Compton’s Shepherds Lane ground – seven (out of ten in 2021) and only six this past summer – fell short of the minimum required under the Premier League’s accreditation scheme. Ground marks are made by visiting captains and panel umpires.
A disappointed Compton & Chandler’s Ford captain Alex Spearing commented: “It’s obviously very disappointing for everyone involved at the club to be denied promotion to the SPL. 
“We have worked hard over the last few years to develop the facilities, deliver a thriving junior section and a progressive club so to fall short by such a small margin on the outfield scores is tough to take. 
“It’s been a hard few weeks going through all the appeals but we now have some clarity from the Hampshire Cricket Board and are looking forward to working with them and getting the support from the Premier League so we can get the accreditation sorted. 
                                                                                            Prominent
“We already had plans to keep improving the facilities and are working closely with the football club to get the outfield scores up. For now though it’s about making sure we deliver on the pitch again and defend our title in 2023.”
Premier League chairman Steve Vear added: “It is always disappointing when we are not able to grant accreditation - especially to clubs that are as prominent in the local area as Compton and Chandlers Ford. 
“That said, our accreditation requirements only updated in 2021 and re-validated by our membership to ensure we maintain the standards expected of a premier league club. Once Compton’s marks are consistently hitting the required levels, we will look forward to awarding the required accreditation level to be able to welcome them into the SPCL
Being denied promotion for failing to meet Premier League accreditation requirements is not unique to Compton & Chandler’s Ford, Parley winning Hampshire League championship in 2019 and finishing runners-up two years later, only to find their playing facilities were not up to scratch.  Only now, with ground marks having improved and upgrades to the West Parley pavilion scheduled, have they been allowed up.
Fareham & Crofton, who finished third in HL Division 1 this season 45 points behind Compton, join Parley in Premier Division 3 in 2023.

Andover teenage talent Sam Ashman has been named Hampshire Under-15 Player of the Year – and awarded a place on the Ageas Bowl academy.
He is pictured with the Peter Lewin Memorial Trophy awarded annually to the top county Under-15 player.
He made over 600 runs in Hampshire Pathway cricket this past summer – one innings of 140 against Sussex at Horsham was particularly outstanding – and played a significant role in Andover’s successful Southern Premier League campaign, scoring 547 runs at average of 36.47.  He made a century at Bashley (Rydal) and three other scores of fifty or more.
Andover finished runners-up behind Hambledon and will return to SPL1 cricket next season, having been relegated at the end of 2021.
Ashman, who is also a talented youth footballer on Swindon Town’s books, will play for the Hampshire Academy in the ECB Southern Premier Division in 2023.  He has already begun intense winter training at the Ageas Bowl. 
Andover’s Matt Hooper was delighted with Ashman’s award. “Sam is a cracking lad and has shown a maturity beyond his years. He has been a standout performer for Andover, despite being of such a young age and doing one of the hardest jobs in cricket, opening the batting. 
“He’s been dominating for us and we are pleased he’s taken this form into his county youth cricket. This award is richly deserved for his skill, hard work and dedication, we are delighted for him.”

​Southern Premier League Division 1 clubs have narrowly voted to ditch traditional red ball cricket in favour of using a white ball and wearing coloured kit for their 50-over matches in 2023.
A proposal for the second tier of the competition to go ‘white’ got a 6-4 majority vote from the ten SPL1 clubs at last night's annual general meeting.
‘White ball’ cricket for is for all 18 matches throughout the summer, with clubs receiving a £300 grant from the SPL to offset the cost of buying coloured cladding/stockings for pads.  Players will not be allowed to wear white pads in matches.
Season-long 'white ball' cricket will only be for Division 1. The ECB Premier Division will continue with a mix of 50-over/all-day 'time' matches using white and traditional cricket balls.  Division 2 and 3 will continue to use a red ball in their limited-over games. 
                                             Cladding: www.cricket-hockey.com/en/clads-4-batting-pads​
The Southern Premier and Hampshire League are scheduled to commence on May 6 next year, but the start date coincides with the coronation of King Charles III, which could have an impact on fixture planning and start times.  Both league are awaiting clarification from the ECB on a start date.

​​Andy Barnes walked through the gates of Priory Park in 1962, aged 16 years. What has followed is 60 years of playing and serving a Club with nothing but his total commitment.
Few people are so synonymous with a club across the County than Andy (or ‘Boss’ as he is affectionally known) is with Chichester Priory Park Cricket Club.
Six decades on, the Priory Park stalwart has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sussex cricket in recognition of his enormous contribution to the recreational game in the county.
During this time, he played and captained every XI in the Club, scored well in excess of 10,000 runs (including 2,796 first Eleven Sussex league runs) and taken over 300 wickets. He has been the instigator of junior cricket, instrumental in starting 4th and 5th Elevens and has been passionate about helping others enjoy the game of cricket. He wants to give everyone a chance to enjoy the game he loves.
A double England Seniors international at cricket and hockey – he skippered England 70s in Australia several winters ago - many will also know Andy from his exploits on the County Senior circuits, none more so than his Hampshire counterparts whom he has put to the sword on numerous occasions. He has now played more than 200 matches in Sussex Senior Over 50, 60 and 70 teams. Scored over 6300 runs, taken 78 wickets and 50 catches. Quite extraordinary numbers.
His work off the field has included Club President for 6 years, committee member for more years than anyone can count, a driving force behind Fundraising for the Club including Real Ale and Jazz Festival and umpteen Cricket Week Lunches.  
His energy has no bounds and as his time at the Family’s Sports Shop ‘Game Set and Match’ has slowed down, he has taken on more volunteering roles for the Club. This year he taken on responsibility for rolling the Goodwood pitches and Umpiring for the Second Eleven.
It is fully appropriate to mention his life partner in all of this, his lovely wife Jan.  No one has possibly done more for Chichester cricket over this period apart from Jan herself. Her roles have included Chairperson, Membership and Safeguarding, Fundraising, organising social events and countless years of scoring. She continues to serve the Club and can be found on a Saturday afternoon scoring for our 5th Eleven.
Andy’s passion for Sport and service to the local sporting community has no boundaries and when he is not on a cricket ground, he is at a Hockey pitch. An incredible sportsman he has represented both Cricket and Hockey at senior (over 60 and over 70s) international level. He works equally hard each winter coaching junior and senior teams and remains a driving force behind Chichester Hockey. 
He will tell you that he has been blessed with his talents (a high elbow at its core) which have allowed him to travel the world and make wonderful friends. 
Chichester Cricket and Hockey are honoured and extremely fortunate that Andy walked through those gates 60 years ago.

​Hampshire’s Tom Prest has notched his maiden half-century on Australian soil.
The exciting Wimborne-based batsman, who captained England to last year’s ICC Under-19 World Cup final in the West Indies, is spending a so far rain affected winter in Sydney.
He is playing New South Wales Premier first grade crcket for Eastern Suburbs, whose famous Waverley ground – where Australia’s David Warner grew up and Sir Geoffrey Boycott and the late Tony Greig played in the past - is little more than a six-hit from Bondi Beach.
Prest made his mark when he scored 55 (one six and five fours) as Eastern Suburbs posted 375-9 declared and then took two wickets, besides pouching a catch, when the University of NSW replied.
But his efforts were to little avail as an unbeaten double century by New South Wales and Sydney Thunder left-hander Matthew Gilkes swept the UNSW to a five-wicket victory.

Burridge stalwart Gerry Candy is the first recipient of Southern Premier League's Tony Baker Unsung Hero award, which will sit nicely alongside the prestigious NatWest OSCA Lifetime Achiever Award he collected from the England & Wales Cricket Board in February 2019.
Now a sprightly 84-years of age, Gerry was a founder figure and past captain of Burridge, having played a significant role in the club’s rise from the regional division basement of the Hampshire League to become an ECB Southern Premier League cricket side.
Some 40 years ago, he was a prime mover behind Burridge’s purchase of farmland and the establishment of their home on the eastern banks of the River Hamble. 
Since then, he has managed the grounds that have allowed the club to develop and flourish.  It has been his tireless effort and commitment that has taken BCC from a village team to the pinnacle of cricket in the county.
Gerry Candy is the heartbeat of Burridge, there seven days a week and on occasions 16 hours a day. From dawn to dusk throughout the summer months, he is preparing strips, mowing, moving boundary ropes, sight screens and covers and then locking up at the end of the day.
He continues to be almost irreplaceable and a worthy recipient of the inaugural Tony Baker Unsung Hero award which will be presented annually, in memory of the late Tony Baker, the former Hampshire Chief Executive and Old Tauntonians all-rounder, who died in 2017 having dedicated his life to cricket and was massively involved in club and county cricket in Hampshire.

The ECB Southern Premier League was charged £4,652 to hire the Ageas Bowl arena for the Twenty20 finals on September 25 2022.

Hampshire all-rounder James Fuller addressed the Dorset Cricket Society and provided members with a lively and interesting afternoon.
James was born in South Africa, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was only two. A keen cricketer, his English father was the route to a British passport, which led him to this country to play county cricket. He initially joined Gloucestershire before moving on to Middlesex where the lure of playing at Lords was the great attraction, to say nothing of the lunches.
He told of the unwanted record of conceding 38 runs off a single over in a T20 quarter final, but also of the upsides of cricket in winning the Royal London Cup in 2015 and playing a part in Middlesex winning the County Championship in 2016. He was invited to join the England Lions tour to the UAE, though the following season was wrecked by an elbow injury which needed surgery.
For Hampshire he has played a role as a back-up bowler, after the likes of Abbott and Abbas have performed and as a very dangerous late-order batsman, usually coming in around number 9 in the order. He has also proved very effective in limited over and T20 games and was voted the players Player of the Year in 2022. 
Future Meetings
Thursday 10th November Robin Brodhurst will be speaking about his grandfather, Harry Altham, who played for Hampshire back in the 1920’s, but was also President of Hampshire, Treasurer of MCC and also President of MCC. Robin is an author in his own right, having edited letters between his grandfather and Don Bradman, amongst other books.

WINCHESTER KS, pictured at North Walls in 1994, with Mike Rose back row, far right, and left pictured scoring with Phil Green for Solent University.
​
Mike Rose, an incredibly dedicated, likeable and conscientious scorer for Hyde Ramblers, Winchester KS and Solent University, as well as many representative sides, has closed his scorebook for the final time.
He died this weekend having not been in the best of health for several years.
A hard hitting batsmen with Flamingo in his playing days – he never really favoured the defensive shot out of the coaching manuals – he was forced to retire prematurely through illness, but continued his love and devotion for cricket from the scorebox for well over four decades.
When he wasn’t actually at matches, Mike devoted his time to compiling comprehensive statistics for the old Southern League and was left to regret that, in the embryo days of the early seventies, official result sheets were never printed. Despite exhaustive efforts in tracking down old club scorebooks, the early SL records were never 100 per cent complete. A great shame.
Mike retained his involvement in the SPCL results and stats process right up to the end, loading the 2022 T20 Cup and Plate final scorecards on to Cricket Statz, the Premier League’s official database. “He was a huge help to me every match weekend, often spotting errors and inconsistencies in scorecards before I had had a chance to look myself,” reflected Premier League statistician Stephen Jones.
“Over the last few years, despite his declining health, he was very keen to pass on all of his expertise and stats details, and following a clean up we performed during the first Covid lockdown, the League stats remain in rude health.”

A service to celebrate Mike's life will take place at 1:45pm on Wednesday 23rd November at Wessex Vale Crematorium. Family flowers only, donations if you wish to National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS). These can be made online at www.mike-rose.muchloved.com c/o Wessex Funeral Services 02380 371677.