‘Wonderful’ memories of Hampshire playing in Portsmouth – 20 years on from the last county cricket games played in the city

Two decades ago, the curtain was brought down on county cricket being played at the United Services ground at Burnaby Road - 118 years after Hampshire had first played there.

The final acts were a Championship game against Kent (from July 19-22) and a Sunday League game - remember those? - against Middlesex (July 23).

Portsmouth’s demise from the county cricket fixture list was due solely to the construction of Hampshire’s new stadium, the Rose Bowl (now The Ageas Bowl), on the outskirts of Southampton and Eastleigh.

The international-standard ground followed Rod Bransgrove taking over as chairman the same year and turning the club into a limited company - the first of its kind in English cricket - as well as ploughing millions of his own money into the stadium project.

Once upon a time, Portsmouth had regularly staged Hampshire’s Championship games - five or six a year in the 1950s and most of the 1960s.

But 20 years ago they went the same way as Bournemouth eight years earlier, consigned to the lengthy list of towns and cities across England and Wales which had once hosted county cricket but found themselves surplus to requirements in the era of sponsored stadia and ever-increasing T20 tournaments.

Since The Ageas Bowl was opened in 2001, Hampshire have staged every home game in all formats at the ground - apart from three Championship games at Basingstoke (one each in 2008, 2009 and 2010) and one at Newport on the Isle of Wight last summer.

Dave Allen, Hampshire’s historian, was born in Portsmouth and saw his first game at Burnaby Road in 1959 when he was 10.

Still living in the city, he was also chairman of the Portsmouth Area Supporters group for a few years as well as sitting on the main Hampshire committee.

A distinct feeling of nostalgia continues to envelop him whenever he passes the ground where Hampshire played 313 first class games and 54 one-day matches.

In 1999, Hampshire didn’t play in Portsmouth due to the state of the wicket. Allen recalls: ‘I was split. On the one hand I wanted to see cricket in Portsmouth, but on the other hand I was on the main committee saying we would be fined or docked points by the ECB if we did play … it was a very difficult year.

‘It was a big relief that we were able to play some games in 2000. It was nice to finish that way instead of not having played at Portsmouth for two years, that would have been sad.

‘I remember the last Championship game very clearly. One of my roles was to look after (Kent legend) Colin Cowdrey, he was a childhood hero of mine, and he was very charming.

‘One thing I will always remember was a masterclass between Rahul Dravid batting and Shane Warne bowling - it was world class, like a little game within a game. You don’t often see cricket of that standard in the Championship.

‘In the end Warne took himself off and put on Giles White, who only occasionally bowled. He instantly got Dravid out!’

Hampshire went on to lose the game by six wickets, Dravid following up his 137 (out of a team total of 252) in the first innings with an unbeaten 73 in the second.

‘I remember it was very quiet on the Saturday morning,’ Allen recalled. ‘Paul Nixon hit the winning runs - I still have one of the stumps signed by Nixon.’

Allen confessed it was no huge surprise when the Portsmouth area committee discovered cricket would not be returning to the city.

‘We did fear it, but nobody would bite the bullet and say it,’ he remembered..

‘I was on the main committee at the time, and money was tight. You have to remember the club nearly went bankrupt before Rod Bransgrove came in.

‘We were warned by our solicitors that we were almost at the point of being unable to trade, and that the committee would be liable for any losses.

‘We were told there was only one option - Rod was on the committee as well at the time - and it wasn’t worth debating.’

That ‘option’ saw Bransgrove take control, turning what had been Hampshire County Cricket Club - a members’ organisation - into Hampshire Cricket Ltd, a public company.

Talking about watching county cricket in his home city, Allen remarked: ‘I really do miss it. I live a quarter of a mile from the ground, my doctor’s surgery is right next to the ground. It’s easy to get over-nostalgic or over-sentimental about it.

‘There was immense investment into the Rose Bowl and if you’re making that kind of investment you need a return on it - that’s what happened.

‘It’s a huge regret, though I understand it completely. I’m a cricketing romantic and it’s a huge regret we don’t get those wonderful outgrounds any more.’

For many years, the United Services ground staged a Festival Week - many counties had them, though only Cheltenham remains - where two three-day Championship games were played back to ‘Portsmouth still had a lot of seaside trade back then, and sometimes you felt as if half the city was at the cricket, you wondered if the dockyard was still working,’ said Allen.

‘It was great, the festivals were wonderful.

‘The crowds were decent. I remember the first game I went to, on the second day of a Championship game, there were over 5,000.

‘The crowds for the Sunday League games were always good, they were always popular games, but you have to remember at that time it was the only place around where you could get a drink on a Sunday afternoon!

‘In 1969, the first year of the Sunday League, there were over 8,000 for a late-season game against Essex.

‘That was probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen there.

‘Most people just sat on wooden benches.

‘In the later years the committee had a marquee for festival week, and the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth always took a marquee.

‘All the players went to the Mayor’s marquee once at the end of a day’s play during a game - that was one of the traditions of festival week.’

Allen added: ‘Generally it was a terrific pitch - it had a great reputation. It was hard, fast, true - it suited pace bowlers, it suited batsmen.

‘It was great watching Gordon Greenidge and Barry Richards because of the way they would hit through the ball, it was very exciting.

‘Bournemouth was always the ground where Hampshire would pick an extra spinner and Portsmouth where they would pick an extra pace bowler.

‘There were more results at Portsmouth than at any of the other Hampshire grounds.’

Hampshire’s decision to turn their backs on Portsmouth cost them a number of city-based supporters.

‘We did lose members from the Portsmouth area when the Rose Bowl opened,’ Allen recalled.

‘I know a few people have said to me they don’t go anymore because the ground’s got a Southampton postcode. It’s not in Southampton, though, it’s in the Eastleigh borough.

‘If you live in Hilsea or Cosham you could actually get to the ground quicker than if you live in parts of Southampton, but I admit public transport from Portsmouth is not easy.’

Is there any hope county cricket could one day return to Portsea Island?

Last year, a number of new grounds staged first-class cricket as the international grounds were needed during the World Cup.

Among that list was Newport, where Hampshire played Nottinghamshire - the county’s first class game on the Isle of Wight since 1962.

Next year, the delayed Hundred tournament will make its debut, and eight grounds - including Hampshire’s - will again need to seek alternative home games for Championship action.

‘Ironically, The Hundred could be a real boost for county cricket, the games could spread out again,’ Allen said.

‘That could mean more people could get excited by it, and more people could identify with it.

‘It’s always easy to identify with a football team like Pompey, but it’s not so easy to identify as a Hampshire supporter.

‘That doesn’t help when you’re trying to build the support.

‘You could see more Championship games at outgrounds, but I don’t think it will be Portsmouth unless we can find someone very wealthy.’

Counties are currently working out the truncated 2020 domestic fixture list, but The Ageas Bowl could be out of action for a while due to England matches taking priority.

‘The irony this year is where could Hampshire be playing?’ asked Allen. ‘I don’t think they’ll play at the Ageas Bowl because of the internationals.

‘My guess is they’ll play at Newport, Basingstoke or Arundel.

‘People still say to me ‘do you think they’ll ever play in Portsmouth again?’ but I don’t think so, the pitch isn’t fit.

‘Newport is a real possibility, I went there on all four days last year and it was wonderful, though we were blessed with good weather.’

For Allen, though, the days Hampshire played in Portsmouth retain a magical aura.

‘I’m just glad I lived when I did and I saw what I did, because it was terrific,’ he recalled.