Dave Allen: The Run In

Whatever happens in the final two matches over the next two weeks, 2022 has been a marvellous season for everyone connected with Hampshire Cricket and one that will be looked back on in years to come with cause to smile.

In respect of the County Championship, we have all been here before, just twelve months ago, and while in the future that table will show Hampshire in fourth place for the first time, we know that Hampshire were within one ball of being Champions for the third time.

What was the run-in like for Hampshire in our two title-winning years?

County cricket was very different back then, with more (three-day) matches and different points available but we can say that in 1961 they won 19 of their 32 matches (60%) while in 1973 they won ten (50%) and by drawing the other ten remained unbeaten. In 2022 they have already won nine matches and if they win no more that will nonetheless represent a 64% success rate. If they win the two matches remaining, 11 victories will exceed the record of any previous champions in a 14-match season.

In 1961, four sides Worcestershire, Middlesex, Yorkshire and Hampshire made the running all season but after Essex won their home game with Hampshire in early August we shared top spot with Yorkshire on 202 points with 14 wins each and six to play. At this point we embarked on a run comparable to this season, beating in five successive matches Derbyshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and then Derbyshire again in the key game at Bournemouth. Over the same period, Yorkshire beat Worcestershire by an innings, ending their challenge, then beat Essex at Southend, before losing successive matches to Kent in Dover and Middlesex at Lord’s. With two matches each to play, Hampshire were now 22 points ahead of Yorkshire who travelled to Edgbaston where they were frustrated by the home side on the final day in a manner similar to Surrey’s recent match with Northants. Their draw was sufficient to confirm Hampshire as Champions but on the same day Derek Shackleton’s 6-39 took us to victory and celebrations on the south coast.

In 1973, Hampshire had a lead of 16 points over Essex after just six matches and ten matches later, having beaten Derbyshire by 10 wickets at Portsmouth they were still top, 35 points ahead of Northants whose game in hand brought the gap down to 14. With four matches left, Northants then came to Southampton on Saturday 18 August in front of a huge Northlands Road crowd for a match which would go a long way to determining the Champions. Northants won the toss, batted, collapsed to 56-8 and scrambled to 108 all out by 3 o’clock. Hampshire’s great openers Richards and Greenidge then both reached 45 and at 76-0 we were well on top until after tea Bishen Bedi spun one to have Richards stumped and Hampshire closed on a disappointing 152-8. On the Monday they added just 15 runs before Northants struggled again; five men reached 19 or more but Geoff Cook’s 30* was top score, leaving Hampshire to score 90 to win. Bedi and the former Hampshire seamer Bob Cottam struck early but Richards batted through and Hampshire won by seven wickets – with three matches left Hampshire now led Northants by 25 points, after which successive wins against Notts and Gloucestershire clinched the title. In the event, Surrey pipped Northants for second place – I’m sure we’d like to wish them second place in 2022!