Born On This Day: 2nd October

Jon Hardy

Left-handed batsman Jon Hardy was born in Kenya on this day in 1960.

He made his 2nd XI debut age 19 in 1980 but his period on the staff coincided with a time when Hampshire’s batting line-up was probably the strongest in its history – he was competing for one of five or six places with Gordon Greenidge, Chris & Robin Smith, Paul Terry, Trevor Jesty, David Turner, Tony Middleton and captain Mark Nicholas.

He nonetheless played quite regularly in 1984 & 1985 and overall his 29 first-class matches for Hampshire brought 1,255 runs at a good average of 35.85, including seven half-centuries and a best of 107* in an innings victory v Essex at Southampton in 1985. In his 21 limited-overs matches, Hardy averaged 17.45, with one half century in a victory v Northamptonshire in 1984.

In 1986, he joined Somerset and played in 87 first-class matches, followed by 10 for Gloucestershire in 1991, and he played also for Western Province from 1987-1991. Overall, Hardy scored 6,120 first-class runs at just under 30, plus 2,798 limited-overs runs at 24.76.

After leaving the first-class game, he played in the Minor Counties Championship through the 1990s for Dorset - sometimes as captain - and he also ran a bat manufacturing business.