Born On This Day: 24th October

John Greig was born into the British Empire, in India in 1871. During the first-half of the twentieth century Hampshire often called on church men and service personnel to appear as amateurs, and all-rounder Greig was both, in a rich and varied life which included 125 first-class matches.

In the 1890s, while an army officer, he played a number of first-class matches in India. Fellow officer and Hampshire batsman Major RM Poore, recommended him to Hampshire, and in May 1901 he made his Championship and county debut v Lancashire at Portsmouth.

He recorded his first century for the county (119) against the South Africans at Southampton but struggled in the Championship until a match at Liverpool where, batting at number four, his 47* was one of just two innings to reach double figures in a total of 106. Hampshire batted again 307 behind, and Greig was asked to open scoring 249, and batting for more than five hours.

In that season, he scored 1,277 runs at 41.19 and took 27 wickets including 6-38 v Derbyshire at Southampton, although he bowled relatively little in future years. He went overseas with his regiment again and did not return until 1905; in that year and 1906 he appeared in 27 first-class matches, but his appearances were always intermittent and he exemplified the problems Hampshire faced, assembling sides that relied on amateurs - for them he appeared in 77 first-class matches in a period covering 21 years, scoring 4,375 runs at 34.17 with 10 centuries and taking 64 wickets at 32.03.

In his final playing season of 1922 he took over as Hampshire’s secretary before training as a Roman Catholic priest. He was Hampshire’s President in 1945/6 and died at Milford-on-Sea, in 1958.