Come in number 15 – Arundel set to be added to list of Hampshire’s ‘home’ grounds for first class fixtures

They will take on Surrey in their third Bob Willis Trophy South group match at Arundel Castle CC - 40 miles away from their Ageas Bowl home in neighbouring Sussex.

It will be the 15th ground on which Hampshire have played a home first class game, and the 10th in a first-class county competition.

Alphabetically, the county have played at Aldershot Officers Club, Alton, Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Cowes, Newport (Newclose), Newport (Victoria Recreation Ground), Portsmouth, Southampton (Antelope), Southampton (County Ground), Southampton (Ageas Bowl), Ageas Bowl Nursery, Winchester College and Winchester St Cross.

The five venues that did not stage a first class county competition game were Alton, Southampton Antelope, the Ageas Bowl Nursery Ground and the two Winchester venues.

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Arundel will, of course, be a home ground outside the county boundaries - but even that is not a first.

Hampshire have played on the Isle of Wight, and their most recent visit there last year, at Newclose in Newport, was their third home ground on the island.

In addition, after the boundary changes of the mid-1970s, Bournemouth became ‘away’ at home, having moved to Dorset.

But neither the Isle of Wight nor Bournemouth had previously been the home ground for another first-class county, so this will be an unusual occurrence.

Again, it’s not unique - Lancashire and Leicestershire met at Worcester’s New Road ground in the first round of the Bob Willis Trophy matches earlier this month.

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Despite Hampshire hosting Surrey in Sussex in a new first-class competition, the county does have history with this beautiful ground.

In late July 1990, Hampshire met Sussex in the inaugural first-class and Championship match to be played there.

Rupert Cox made his Hampshire debut and on the first morning coach Peter Sainsbury fielded substitute for a period.

On a slow pitch, Sussex – at one time 137-6 – declared during the second morning on 383-9 following a century for No 6 Colin Wells (107) and a seventh wicket partnership of 139 between Peter Moores (61) and Tony Pigot (64).

Young Shaun Udal, in his first match of the season and on his Championship debut, bowled a marathon spell of 43 overs, taking 4-144.

At close on day two Hampshire had avoided the follow-on with Chris Smith 132 not out, and Mark Nicholas declared on 254-5 off 98 overs.

To their lead of 129 Sussex added 144-7 in 31.2 overs, setting Hampshire a target of 274 in 66 overs.

Chris Smith added 61 but from 76-1 wickets fell regularly, until Cox (35 not out) and Bobby Parks (15 not out) played out time at 220-6.

Hampshire finished the season in third place while Sussex took the wooden spoon.

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Hampshire have made five subsequent visits to Arundel for Championship games - Sussex having played a four-day game at the ground every year since 1990.

In 1992, due to bad weather and two innings forfeited, Hampshire won a single innings game by 130 runs.

Kevan James top scored with 59 in their 271, before Raj Maru took 4-8 as the hosts were dismissed for 141.

Matthew Keech hit 104 in a drawn encounter four years later.

He top scored in a first innings total of 270 before John Stephenson (6-48) and Cardigan Connor (4-57) bowled Sussex out for 193.

Jason Laney (83) and James (72) helped Hampshire to 238-5 declared, with the hosts playing out the draw on 128-5.

Sussex claimed their first Arundel win over their neighbours in 2007, en route to winning the Championship title.

Shane Warne took 5-91 as Sussex opened with 341, with Mushtag’s 7-72 helping to dismiss the visitors for 202.

Chris Adams (103 not out) and Murray Goodwin (99) batted Hampshire out of the contest, with the visitors making 333 (Michael Lumb 62) in their second innings to lose by 166 runs.

Goodwin struck 184 as Sussex hammered Hampshire again 12 months later.

James Tomlinson was the visitors’ best bowler with 5-108 as Sussex amassed 426 - Ollie Rayner hitting 60 at No 9.

John Crawley (70) and Greg Lamb (54 not out) top scored as Hampshire replying with 257.

Asked to follow on, Ollie Rayner’s 5-49 saw them bowled out for 179.

That left Sussex an easy win on 11-0.

Michael Carberry reached three figures when Hampshire last played a Championship game at Arundel in 2009.

He struck 112 as the visitors, replying to Sussex’s 441 (Luke Wright 104, Goodwin 65), made 346.

The game petered out into a draw with the hosts 138- 2 in their second innings.

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Arundel’s inaugural Championship match in 1990 was not the first time a full Hampshire side had taken the field at Arundel.

During the last century, Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, the 16th Duke of Norfolk, was the man who established Arundel as a notable cricket ground.

He was a guest of honour at the Southampton dinner held by the club to celebrate winning the County Championship in 1961.

He reciprocated by inviting Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie to bring his champions to represent his XI in what was then the traditional opening game for the tourists – in 1962 that was Pakistan.

It was an ‘old fashioned’, so not ‘limited-overs’ one-day match, and after Pakistan won the toss Hampshire declared on 204-6 after 63 overs.

Roy Marshall (61) and Henry Horton (55) top scored.

In reply, the tourists took the opportunity to acclimatise themselves, reaching 173-6 in nine fewer overs. Intikhab Alam, later of Surrey, top scored with 45.

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Surprisingly, Derek Shackleton was not one of the wicket-takers in that 1962 match.

He had gone wicketless too in 1960 when the Duke of Norfolk’s XI met the South African tourists.

Shackleton finally got his maiden Arundel wicket in 1964 – the Australian captain Bobby Simpson.

The Duke of Norfolk’s sides for these curtain-raisers were generally established county cricketers, many from Sussex, with some internationals.

Hampshire’s Roy Marshall played quite often, presumably because his dynamic approach suited the Duke’s cricketing tastes.

The first of these one-day tourists’ matches took place in 1954 against a Canadian side and Hampshire men like Bob Cottam, Barry Richards and Richard Gilliat followed Marshall and Shackleton in the Duke’s XIs of the 1960s.

Then, in 1976, the West Indies were the first to field Hampshire players against the home team, with Andy Roberts having a brief bowl and Gordon Greenidge top scoring with 84.

This 1976 match was also the first in which the Arundel Castle side appeared as Lavinia Duchess of Norfolk’s XI, following the death of the Duke.

The last touring team to play a curtain-raising game at Arundel was the 1997 Australians.

A team featuring the Waugh brothers, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Michael Slater and Glenn McGrath scored 245-5 off 50 overs before dismissing their opponents for 122.

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The 15th Duke began organising cricket matches in the 1930s after inheriting the title from Duke Henry who had the ground built.

Coincidentally, it was completed in June 1895 as Hampshire began their first season in the County Championship.

In the early years most Arundel matches were played between the Castle Works XI and their visitors – the first record shows them losing by one wicket to the West Sussex Gazette XI in 1897 while the last recorded match before the First World War was 12-a-side and saw the Duchess of Norfolk’s team beat the 5 th London Infantry Brigade by 122 runs.

Duke Henry died in 1917 when Bernard was just nine years old, but in his 20s he began the country-house matches when his XI met and beat Lord Eldon’s XI by 21 runs.

Lord Eldon’s home was Longwood House in Hampshire and his XI included the Hampshire cricketer Lew Harfield who took 6-99 and 2-63.

He was outdone by Aidan Crawley, an extraordinary man who in later life was a journalist, MP and Prisoner of War, but as a young man played cricket for Eton, Oxford University, Kent, MCC and the Duke of Norfolk.

In this two-innings game he scored 147 and 164 and had match figures of 8-127.

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The Duke served briefly and was wounded during the Second World War, then after being evacuated at Dunkirk he served in Winston Churchill’s Cabinet.

Post-war, and despite his busy life, cricket resumed at Arundel Castle with a series of matches against military sides.

A week after the first of those, in July 1951, the Duke’s XI met a strong Sussex XI, but his team included notable first class and Test cricketers including Sir Learie Constantine, Colin Cowdrey, Jack Crapp, Gubby Allen, Hubert Doggart, the actor Trevor Howard and Hampshire pair Desmond Eagar and Shackleton.

For obvious reasons the Duke’s XIs, playing mostly single innings one-day games, called on the cricketers of Sussex and the adjacent counties, Kent and Hampshire.

In addition to those mentioned, and the 12 of Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie’s 1961 county champions, Hampshire’s ‘Norfolk’ players have included Ronnie Aird, David Blake, Norman Cowans, Nigel Cowley, Charles Fry, Chris Goldie, David Gower, Jon Hardy, Bob Herman, Kevan James, Trevor Jesty, Jason Laney, Richard Lewis,

Steve Malone, Malcolm Marshall, Raj Maru, Nicholas, Nick Pocock, Barry Reed, Richard Scott, Chris and Robin Smith and Mike Taylor.

One of the most successful was John Rice, who scored over 1,000 runs with four centuries at 52.10, although he hardly bowled.

Another notable contribution came from Neil Trestrail, the current Hampshire Members’ Committee chairman, with a highest score of 116 not out, an average of 65.50 and eight wickets at 27.63.