Hampshire Through The Decades: 1980s

Hampshire Cricket's historian, Dave Allen, is back with a brand new series - Hampshire Through The Decades - as he looks at some of the best moments from Hampshire's history from each decade following the conclusion of the World War II. 

This week's next instalment sees him take a journey back to the 1980s.

The excitements and achievements of Hampshire’s mid-1970s side evaporated as the decade ended and with the side in transition, Bob Stephenson spent one year in charge before NEJ (Nick) Pocock was surprisingly appointed captain in 1980 after just 27 first-class games in four seasons. Sadly, with Marshall and Greenidge touring with the West Indies, Hampshire finished bottom of the table for the first (and last) time since 1905.

From there of course the only way was up and Pocock took them to 7^th the following year, and then 3^rd in both 1982 & 1983 as well as four quarter-finals and a semi-final at Canterbury that they should have won. When he handed over control to Mark Nicholas late in the 1984 season the new generation of Hampshire players, despite the unhappy departure of Trevor Jesty, boasted perhaps the strongest batting line-up in its history, including the Smith Brothers Chris and Robin plus Paul Terry winning Test caps alongside Greenidge, the new captain himself, veteran David Turner and youngsters Tony Middleton and Jon Hardy.

Bobby Parks kept wicket through the decade while the bowling was led by Marshall, well supported by the fine county bowler Tim Tremlett; Cardigan Connor was recruited from London club cricket and Middlesex provided Hampshire with two very good young cricketers, all-rounder Kevan James and slow-left-armer Raj Maru who shared spinning duties with the experienced Nigel Cowley.

Mark Nicholas’s first full season in charge in 1985 brought great excitement in the Championship although it ended with Hampshire runners-up for the third time. The young side seemed capable of building on that but in fact over the next seven seasons they would sometimes disappoint frustrate in the longer form while embarking on a run of successes and near-misses in the limited-overs competitions.

That started in 1986 when they clinched the Sunday League for the third time, winning a low-scoring match at the Oval, then in 1988 and with South African paceman Steve Jefferies replacing the touring Marshall, they reached a Lord’s Final after 25 years of trying – the last county to do that. When they got there, they met Derbyshire in the B&H Final, bowled them out for 117 with Jefferies taking 5-13 and won it by 7 wickets with almost 25 overs to spare.

Robin Smith’s dynamic 38 from 27 balls was followed by the start of his Test Match career. That Hampshire side included two promising young men whose careers for different reasons would not progress. Pace bowler Stephen Andrew soon moved to Essex while Jon Ayling – the only Hampshire-born player – saw his career wrecked by a chance injury.

A few weeks later they won a NatWest quarter-final at Derby but stumbled at Worcester on the verge of a second Final in the same season. In 1989 they beat Surrey in another NatWest quarter-final but lost a heart-breaking semi-final against Middlesex at Southampton after Chris Smith, with his 114 leading the chase to score 268 was badly hurt by a full ball from Fraser; Hampshire closed on 264-7. Despite these disappointments, the next decade would bring more Lord’s joy.