Born On This Day: 18th November

Today we celebrate the birthday of current young all-rounder, Tom Scriven, and one of Hampshire's greatest ever wicket-keepers, Nic Pothas.

A graduate of the Hampshire academy, Tom Scriven celebrates his 22nd birthday. Born in Oxford in 1998, Scriven joined Hampshire's youth system from an early age, impressing through each age-group side and the Club's Academy, before earning a call-up to England's Under 19’s World Cup squad in 2017, a party which also featured Hampshire teammate Felix Organ.

His consistent form across the years earned him his first taste of first team action the following year, playing in a Vitality Blast South Group fixture against Gloucestershire in 2018.

Scriven then made his first-class debut during this year's Bob Willis Trophy against Surrey at Arundel, and throughout the competition he seemed comfortable contributing with both bat and ball, finishing with three wickets with a high score of 68 to conclude a promising campaign.

Nic Pothas, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1973 and was very much a batsman/wicketkeeper in the modern fashion. He played in South African domestic cricket in the 1990s, and for his country in three ODIs in 2000.

He joined Hampshire in 2002 and played in the first team immediately, in that first season scoring 597 runs at 23.88 with a best of 99. In the following season, one of Hampshire’s poorest, he increased the total to 809, the average to 44.94 and scored his first two centuries. Between then and 2009, he was a remarkably consistent batsman for the county, scoring 7,549 runs at an average of 43.88, statistically the best performance by a Hampshire wicketkeeper, and in addition, usually batting at number six, he frequently rescued difficult situations.

His 17 centuries for Hampshire equals Neil McCorkell, with only occasional ‘keeper’ George Brown exceeding that number. In his 132 matches for Hampshire, he held 375 catches and added 23 stumpings; a total of 398 dismissals at an average a fraction over three per match – the first Hampshire wicketkeeper to reach that figure,

In limited-overs cricket 20% of Pothas’s dismissals were stumped, and he was an equally effective player in that format, scoring 2,770 runs at 35.97 with two centuries, sometimes opening the batting, notably in the 2005 C&G Trophy-winning side, when he scored a century v Glamorgan, 73* v Yorkshire in the semi-final and 68 v Warwickshire in the Final.

In 2009, he scored 35* as Hampshire won at Lord’s again, v Sussex. Pothas also deputised as captain on occasions and on retirement held or equalled a number of club records: including seven dismissals in an innings; ten victims in a match; five dismissals in a limited-overs innings, and with Andy Bichel, he added 257, a record for Hampshire’s eighth wicket in first-class cricket v Gloucestershire at Cheltenham in 2005.

Since leaving Hampshire, he has pursued a career in coaching with county and international sides.