Hampshire Stalwart Downs his Pen - As ex-Skipper Helps Cricket Society Raise its Bat

Forty-four years ago, a pint of milk cost 20p, Kevin Keegan would set you back £100,000, and Hampshire amassed points for fun.

In the year in question, they scored 48 of them in a County Championship campaign that saw them finish third, behind Leicestershire and champions Middlesex.

Heady days.

There has, though, been one constant in Hampshire cricket - namely Alan Edwards being the editor of the Hampshire Cricket Society newsletter.

Today, with former Hampshire skipper Mark Nicholas in attendance, his final newsletter will run off the presses.

He has been at the helm since edition number 54; he'll bow out on number 445.

By anyone’s estimation, that’s quite some stint.

He’ll down his pen for the final time just nine short of 400 - a figure which doesn't come along too often in domestic cricket.

There won’t be a fanfare, with a presentation having already taken place back in March when Ricky Ellcock - everyone’s favourite fast-bowling pilot - flew in for an entertaining afternoon at the Romsey Golf Club.

But there will be an acknowledgement of an editorial stint as extraordinary as any in cricket.

It comes not just for the man himself, but for his wife, Jennie, who has (variously but fastidiously) proofread, stapled, spell-checked (pre-internet), and given the thumbs up to every single one.

Originally founded in 1975, the Hampshire Cricket Society held its inaugural meeting in January 1976.

Since then, there have been over 400 meetings held at 16 different venues across the county.

The newsletter has formed a key part of the Society’s offering, covering the extraordinary changes witnessed by both the sport and Hampshire cricket itself over the past five decades.

"It's a record that won't be surpassed," says Garry Lane, the chairman of the Hampshire Cricket Society. "And you mustn't underestimate the role played by Jennie too - particularly in the era before technology and the internet took over.

"Membership is going up year-on-year in recent times. We're up to more than 190 members and this year, we've been getting record attendances month-on-month.

"Going back in time, when I joined myself something like 40 years ago, we had 350 members, those numbers dwindled but they've really risen hugely over the past few years.

"We meet in the winter months - it keeps the world of cricket alive for cricket lovers. And I think that's the thing, we love hearing the stories from ex-players, getting people's views on cricket - it's a really broad church."

The newsletter has run like a theme throughout this time.

If anyone had said in the early 1980s that cricketers could earn more playing in a Twenty20 tournament in the United Arab Emirates than they could from playing for their county (or even their country), you would have received more than your fair share of strange looks.

If someone had added that Hampshire would also find themselves owned lock, stock, and barrel by Indian owners by the middle of the 2020s, the reaction would have been similar, or maybe even more extreme.

All these changes - the evolution of the sport and the complete transformation in the way cricket is played - have been chronicled by a newsletter which now forms a priceless archive of Hampshire’s sporting history.

It will continue in his absence. But it won’t be the same.

Hats off.