John Hampshire (cricketer, born 1941)

John Harry Hampshire (born 10 February 1941, Thurnscoe (near Barnsley, Yorkshire)^[1] better known as Jack Hampshire, is a former English cricketer, who played eight Tests and three ODIs for England between 1969 and 1975. He played first-class cricket for Yorkshire from 1961 to 1981, and for Derbyshire from 1982 to 1984. Overseas, he was a successful captain of Tasmania in the period before the state was included in the Sheffield Shield.

Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, remarked, "Hampshire thrilled English cricket supporters when he scored a century at Lord's on his Test debut – a unique achievement for an England player. An attractive middle-order stroke-player, Hampshire looked one for the future but he was dropped after one more match".^[1]

Playing career

Hampshire made his debut for his native Yorkshire in 1961, where he had a twenty-year career with the club.

Hampshire was a surprise choice for the 1969 Test side having made only fourteen centuries in eight seasons.^[2] On his debut against the West Indies at Lord's, he made a dashing 107 and he appeared set for a glittering Test career. He was the first Englishman to score a Test hundred on debut at Lord's.^[1] Strangely, he was dropped after the next match, and faded away from the Test arena, making just half-a-dozen more Test appearances for England.

After the ousting of Geoff Boycott from the Yorkshire captaincy, Hampshire captained the club for two seasons from 1979 to 1980.^[1] At one point he staged a 'go-slow' at Northampton – which cost Yorkshire a bonus point – as a protest against slow batting by his longtime rival. He left Yorkshire in 1981 during one of the county's then almost perennial bouts of civil war, and during the winter played for a Leicestershire team as a guest in Zimbabwe. In 1982 he joined Derbyshire where he stayed for three years.^[1]

Hampshire was a powerful stroke maker in the middle order, especially strong off the front foot. He scored 28,059 runs in 577 first-class matches at 34.55 with a highest score of 183 not out. He added another 7,314 runs in 280 one day matches with a best of 119 at 31.12. He was a brave close fielder who took 444 catches in his first-class career. He was seen as potentially useful leg spinner, taking 7 for 52 against Glamorgan in 1963.^[3]

Umpiring career

After retiring from the playing arena, Hampshire became a county umpire in 1985. He was then appointed to the Test list in 1989,^[1] and later in 1999 he was added to the ICC panel of umpires. He remained a highly respected umpire on the first-class circuit until his retirement in 2005. He umpired the final of the last Benson and Hedges Cup competition in 2002 with Barry Dudleston, thirty years after having played against Dudleston in the first final of that competition held in 1972.

See also

• List of Test cricket umpires
• List of One Day International cricket umpires
• List of Tasmanian representative cricketers

References

External links

• Player profile: John Hampshire from ESPNcricinfo

Tasmania squad – 1978/79 Gillette Cup Winners (1st title)
1 RL Knight 2 GW Goodman 3 SJ Howard 4 JH Hampshire 5 J Simmons* 6 GJ Cowmeadow 7 RD Woolley † 8 AJ Benneworth 9 DC Boon 10 MB Scholes 11 GR Whitney 12 TW Docking