John Harry Hampshire (10 February 1941 – 1 March 2017), also known as Jack Hampshire, was an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

, who played eight

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and three

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s (ODIs) for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 1969 and 1975. He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

from 1961 to 1981, and for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

from 1982 to 1984. Overseas, he was a successful captain of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in the period before the state was included in the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

. He was also appointed President of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2016, serving until his death. Cricket writer Colin Bateman remarked, "Hampshire thrilled English cricket supporters when he scored a century at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

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".

Early life

Born on 10 February 1941 in

Thurnscoe Thurnscoe is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Dearne North ward of the Barnsley MBC. Historic counties of England, Historically within ...

, Hampshire came from a cricketing family. His father,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

, played for

in 1937. His younger brother,

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

, also played for Yorkshire in 1975.

Playing career

Hampshire made his debut for his native Yorkshire at the age of 20 in 1961, where he had a twenty-year career with the club. Between 1969 and 1975 he played 8 Tests for England, scoring 403 runs. On his debut against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, 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. 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 Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

from the Yorkshire

captaincy A captaincy ( es, capitanía , pt, capitania , hr, kapetanija) is a historical administrative division of the former Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires. It was instituted as a method of organization, directly associated with the home-rule ...

, Hampshire captained the club for two seasons from 1979 to 1980. The two had previously clashed, and in the last season of Boycott's captaincy, Hampshire had staged a 'go-slow' at Northampton – which cost Yorkshire a bonus point – as a protest against slow batting by his long-time 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 Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

team as a guest in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. In 1982 he joined Derbyshire where he stayed for three years. Hampshire played for Tasmania for five years under the captaincy of Jack Simmons. He made his

debut with Tasmania in their first season in 1977–78. He was a member of Tasmania's 1978–79 Gillette Cup-winning squad. 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, including 43 centuries, 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 446 catches in his first-class career. He was seen as potentially useful

leg spinner Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

, taking 7 for 52 against

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

in 1963.John Hampshire at Cricket Archive
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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, and later in 1999 he was added to the ICC panel of umpires. Hampshire stood in his first Test match as an umpire at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

during the 1989 Ashes. He remained a highly respected umpire on the first-class circuit until his retirement in 2005. He stood in 21 Tests and 20 One-day Internationals. He umpired the final of the last

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

competition in 2002 with

Barry Dudleston Barry Dudleston (born 16 July 1945) is a former first-class cricketer and umpire. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional wicketkeeper who played cricket for Rhodesia, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire. By the end of his career of 295 firs ...

, thirty years after having played against Dudleston in the first final of that competition held in 1972.

Death

Hampshire died at the age of 76 on 1 March 2017, after a long illness.

References

External links