Born On This Day: 17th October

Pace bowler Peter Haslop was born in Midhurst in 1941 and first played for Woolbeding age 10. Age 16 having taken 100+ wickets in a season, he moved to Midhurst CC where he played against touring sides and was recommended to Hampshire who signed him after a trial; he began playing for their 2nd XI in mid-1961.

Twelve months later he made his first-class debut in a televised match against Pakistan at Bournemouth, and in their one innings, his figures were 34-5-84-2. He was deputising then for the rested first-choice seamers Shackleton, White and Heath, and with Shackleton now 38 and Heath about to retire through injury, he had the chance to win a first-team place. Shackleton however continued playing regularly for six more years and in 1963 the highly promising Bob Cottam appeared.

Haslop continued to play for the 2nd XI to the conclusion of the 1965 season, by which time leg-spinner Alan Castell had converted to pace, and it appeared that his chance had gone. He followed his mentor and friend Arthur Holt as a coach, playing for many years for the Deanery club in Southampton (eight years as captain) and in representative matches for the Southern League.

In 1971, he was suddenly selected to deputise for the injured White in a Sunday League match v Leicestershire at Portsmouth. He dismissed opener Duddleston but Leicestershire chased down their target of just 114 without difficulty. He bowled a tight but wicketless spell in the following week at Worcester, then White returned. At the end of that season, White and Cottam both left Hampshire, along with Castell, and the county set about rebuilding their attack.

Haslop, now 30, played two matches in a west country weekend in May, dismissing Somerset’s Burgess and Kitchen, while his final wicket, at Bristol, was the crucial one of Mike Proctor as Hampshire forced a tie v Gloucestershire, with a last ball run out. He still lives locally and is a regular visitor to the The Ageas Bowl.