Ordained Hampshire Cricketers

Martin Chandler | 9:20am GMT 03 March 2024

Published: 2024
Pages: 44
Author: Saunders, Stephen
Publisher: Hampshire Cricket Heritage
Rating: 3 stars

The title of the latest booklet from Hampshire Cricket Heritage is self-explanatory. Anyone with a feel for the history of cricket in England will not be surprised that sufficient clergyman to justify a booklet played for a single county. On the other hand those whose interest in the game is limited to the period that post dates the abolition of the distinction between amateurs and professionals in English cricket in 1963 will doubtless be amazed to learn that there are 29 such men who have represented Hampshire.

Of the 29 as many as 16 played for the county on three or fewer occasions, and just half a dozen made it into double figures. None are famous cricketers, although John Glennie ‘Jungly’ Greig, the most prolific of all with 77 appearances, has a record that suggests he would be remembered as a top class player had he been able to devote his energies solely to cricket.

Only one of the 29, and clearly one of the better cricketers, John Bridger, played after World War Two. In 38 appearances during the summer holidays of the first eight post war summers Bridger scored 1,725 runs at 37.82, and occasionally led the county when regular captain,Desmond Eagar was unavailable.

The individual entries give details of the cricketing and ordination journeys of the men involved. All are of interest and those of them (19) whose appearances in the county’s colours came in the nineteenth century are a curious bunch. Sir John Barker-Mill for example is described as having no record of any cricketing ability, and in in his one First Class appearance in 1842 he was ‘absent hurt’ in both innings, despite Hampshire having batted first.

It is an interesting fact, and a reflection of the range of subjects that cricket historians and writers have tackled, that despite their limited playing success as many of the three of the 29 have been the subject of biographies. They are Lord Beauclerk, George Raikes, and the man with the famous name, Gilbert Laird Osborne Jessop, the son of the legendary Gloucestershire all-rounder.

Overall the booklet is a well produced one, although I always prefer to see text justified, and some of the images (and there are a good selection) could certainly have been a little larger. But for £10 including UK postage Ordained Hampshire Cricketers is reasonably priced, and a booklet that any self-respecting cricket tragic should pick up a copy of.