Our club treasurer, Dave Allen
Saturday, 12 October
Our President had asked me to interview Chris Wood for our October meeting which I was happy to do, having done the same for the Hampshire members earlier in the season. We have however heard that Chris has been offered a contract for a tournament in October and cannot be with us, so I have offered to step in with something that I hope will be of interest.
In August I organised an exhibition at Portsmouth’s Central Library marking 275 years since the first recorded match in the city, Portsmouth Common v Fareham & Titchfield at Milldam in August 1749. It is an interesting story, not least the location which is in the vicinity of the old United Services ground where Hampshire played. For many years there is also an intriguing mystery about the precise date.
You will be glad to know I don’t propose to cover the whole 275 years, but there are tales also about a long-gone Victorian ground in Southsea which saw two games featuring the first-ever Australian tourists and the only 19th-century appearance in Hampshire by W.G. Grace.
I will make sure there is also an opportunity to share with you a new document, to which I have access, about Hampshire (town, club and county) cricket in the 18th century including, of course, Hambledon. I am working through a version of this and hope to publish it soon.
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