Meeting date: 7 October 2006
Guest Speaker: Rod Bransgrove
Chairman of HCCC at the Rosebowl
Grace
Grace was delivered by the Rev. David Brown
The Menu
Smoked duck & orange and balsamic vinegar
A trio of smoked fish
Guinea Fowl and nest of roasted vegetables
Cheese and Biscuits
Coffee
(prepared by Dick Orders)
The Meeting
The President welcomed everyone, including a number of new members, especially Rod Bransgrove and Dick and Lesley Orders (former managers at the Bat & Ball Inn). He went on to explain, for the benefit of the new members, that the Hambledon Club had been revived in 1998, 202 years since the last meeting in September 1796, where the Minutes recorded “there were no gentlemen present.”
The club meets twice a year, at the beginning and end of the cricket season to celebrate the legendary exploits of the great club of the late 18th Century, which beat All-England 29 times in 51 matches; and the membership subscription has been maintained at 3 guineas, since 1796, a fact which qualifies us for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
The Bat and Ball
The President then brought the membership up to date with the recent change of ownership of the Bat and Ball, Fullers having bought out Gales. This had been a surprise and a shock to all concerned and subsequent discussions between the President and the Committee prompted him to decide to take quick action.
He proposes that the Bat & Ball be preserved for all time and be owned by the Hambledon Club, suggesting the formation of two entities, one to manage the pub and the other a Trust. We would need to raise a sum of money to buy the Bat & Ball outright and provide an amount of working capital. An initial bid had been put in, to buy the pub, but this has been turned down by Fullers.
Ashley has written to the Chairman of Fullers, with Dick Orders’ support, to ask that none of the memorabilia be moved without our express permission. A letter has been received from Fullers in agreement. A record has been raised of everything in the Bat and Ball as to what is owned by whom. A further bid, which will expire on 31 March 2007, was submitted in September. This has also been rejected.
Fullers have appointed new landlords for the Bat and Ball – Tony and Jayne Drinkwater – who are aware of our motives.
A similar flurry of activity had been caused, 12 years ago, when Gales wanted to rename the pub ‘Natterjacks’.
The President felt it was important to take the pub and the ground across the road into the ownership of the Hambledon Club. The initial response to his appeal had been amazing, with offers from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, offering to take out shares in the Hambledon Club Limited, which would then turn into a Trust. He also had offers of help from various members. He did not see any problem in achieving our aim sooner rather than later and was adamant it will happen. Members wishing to hear more were invited to adjourn to Dick and Lesley Orders’ new pub.
A question was raised about the sources of finance. The President responded we would need to raise around £4 million in cash, which he did not think would be a problem, and a mortgage for the remainder. There was a further question about whether or not audited accounts were available from Fullers. This would be checked.
The Speaker
The President welcomed our speaker, Rod Bransgrove, the Chairman of Hampshire Cricket, saying what a great pleasure it was to introduce a man who could be described as “Mr. Hampshire Cricket”.
Rod thanked the President for inviting him and for an excellent lunch.
“There have been huge changes in the last 250 years: bats, balls, stumps, bails, spotlights, overs, 20-20, two divisions, one division, white clothes, coloured clothes, etc. But nothing prepared us for the shock, in April 2006, when an Ashes game was awarded to Wales and Sofia Gardens. Who put Wales in the ECB?!
Plans at Hampshire Cricket have come a long way since 2000 when HCCC embarked on very ambitious plans to build a new ground. In February 2001, when the group running the project started running out of money, they invited me to become Chairman.
I agreed, making three promises:
• to preserve the interests of Hampshire Cricket and the limited company;
• to keep Hampshire cricket alive;
• to try, within 3 to 5 years, to create a viable business and produce a team that will compare with the best in the country.
Work began in April 2001, with everyone housed in temporary buildings on the site, which fostered a great team spirit between the players, et al. Everyone that works at the Rose Bowl shares in the mission – to make sure that the Rose Bowl gets to the forefront of cricket.
The Team – with Udal, Smith, and Adi Aymes, the team won some games and lost others. We need to educate them to stop expecting defeat. Hampshire has a long history of developing young players and them failing to go on to greater things. We have signed players to build on, for example, John Crawley, who was unhappy at Lancashire, even though he knew how this put international aspirations at risk.
The new Square: It is very difficult for batsmen. For the first 3 or 4 years, Hampshire Cricket and the Rose Bowl had very poor grades because the square was not very good. Now, at the end of the 8th year, we are beginning to see the fruits of some of the wisdom and improvements will continue until the square has been there for 10 years. There have been some dramatic improvements in the last 15 months.
The Players: John Crawley is now looking at the batsmen, Giles White, Derek Kenway, Laurence Prittipaul and Jason Laney, etc. Also the bowlers, James Bruce, James Adams, Chris Benham, the returning Billy Taylor, and Michael Carberry. Chris Tremlett is a product of our development and as long as he can keep on top of his fitness, will go on to be an England player. James Bruce looks to be a promising youngster for the seam attack, providing we can resolve a shoulder injury. The difference with James is he believes he can take a wicket with every ball. He will go all the way. Paul Terry has great faith in James Adams, who did well with a century and double century. Chris Benham produced a spectacular 150 in the play-off against Glamorgan.
We have at least a couple with future captaincy potential; something we need to develop. Shane Warne has taken Hampshire in an amazing direction, is totally committed, has a rare command and understanding, and is easy to manage. He is not, contrary to public opinion, overpaid and is tremendously committed to Hampshire Cricket.
The Results: We are doing OK; had an adequate season this year and really enjoyed beating Glamorgan. Since the disappointment of Sofia Gardens in April, I have been attending coaching with Tim Bell, have withdrawn from the ECB, and am being nice to people! The Chairman of Glamorgan has nominated me to sit on the Board; We spent the day together and it was a huge pleasure to win the game.
Where do we go from here – Hampshire is now regarded as a club that can compete with the best in the country. We came 3rd in the 1st Division County Championships. Our 1-day form was inconsistent and we need to look at the side, particularly for the 20:20 format, and consider more experienced players. I believe 20:20 will be an important competition.
We are likely to make one or two more signings. From 2008 we will only be allowed one overseas player, so we need to develop more batsmen. I am not particularly keen on this reduction and believe it may be dumbing the game down. I believe the emergence of new players appearing, as the difference between 1st Class and Test Match is reduced if you take out 50% of overseas players as well. Everyone likes to see stars and celebrities and there is no other sport that would hold back the game for the least successful side. We must face the possibility that one day we will lose Shane Warne – a hugely inspirational captain, who is capable of turning a losing game into a win. We are looking for a replacement.
Some protagonists are talking about returning to 1 division instead of 2 but I believe this would be a travesty if this is allowed to happen. The decision is foisted on teams by 1-day cricket. We continue to try to get it right and maintain a reasonable gate on the basis of it. We are very happy with Paul Terry’s performance and the combination of Paul and Shane Warne is a good dynamic and works well. We would like to retain that for some time to come!
Accreditation: We rely on the Accreditation Committee for our Test Match ground status. We have demonstrated what we have done and what we are doing. We applied for Category A (Test Match) status and it was not awarded to the Rose Bowl. This damaged what we were doing with some new shareholders. Cannot understand how they have accredited Riverside and Oval grounds as floodlit grounds, as they have none! The 20:20 match – v – Sri Lanka had gone well, with a football match to warm up before the main event. The only issue was egress from the ground.
Visitor Plan: Involves a 70-page report – a contract between all services. Replacing the metal barriers in Botley Road with plastic cones did not work and deserved the bad press. We are using a management consultancy, WSM, to look at moving traffic and people to find the best plan for getting people in and out, using a model with a dot for each person on the ground and the modes of transport. We set up the model for the England – v – Pakistan game and egress took 75 minutes. 75% were out in 26 minutes. On the night, the model worked well. The 36% left were in hospitality. As long as everyone involved does what they are contracted to do, it will work well. We will pass this information on to the Accreditation Committee.
Wickets: Last season, we finished 18th out of 18. This year, we have risen to 9th – above two test match grounds, 0.02 points behind another and 0.25 off two more. We are well on the way to producing a Test Match wicket for 2010.
On the strength of that, we can expect big sponsorship, which we need for additional work which will include other access to and from the ground. We cannot spend any more money on the ground if we don’t get Test Matches. The Rose Bowl will be the finest Test Match ground, bar none and there is no reason why we should not be the best in the UK or the World.
Hampshire Cricket can never be disenfranchised because shares are held by Trustees.
We will hold more conferences and more concerts.
Staging Agreements: Once we get accreditation, then we need to go for allocation – the process for which is still shrouded in mystery! So it’s inappropriate to make any changes to our staging agreements at this time. However, I am tenacious and won’t give up or go away!
We have a 3-year Staging Agreement at Category B and will stage a 1-day International in 2007 and a Cup Final in 2008.
Sad losses in the year have been: Bernie Harrison, from Basingstoke; Peter Osgood, from Southampton and Colin Ingleby-McKenzie from the MCC.”
President’s Closing Remarks
The President thanked Rod very much indeed for his remarkable and very interesting summary of where we are and where Hampshire Cricket is going.
He reminded the meeting of the role of the late Lord Alexander and said what a pleasure it was to see his son, David, at the lunch, welcoming him as a new member.
Prize Draw
The traditional donations and draw for payment of the winner’s lunch were part of making these events useful for Youth Cricket at Hambledon CC in support of their Colts. The draw raised £332.
Next Meeting
The next lunch will be on Saturday, 14 April 2007.