On This Day: One Day Match Goes To Three Days

Hampshire Cricket's historian Dave Allen takes a look back on timely memorable moments in his ‘On This Day’ series.

Gloucestershire v Hampshire, Benson & Hedges Cup, 9th May 1972

Hampshire beat Gloucestershire by 99 runs in the first match in the new Benson-and-Hedges competition at Moreton-in-Marsh - the first competitive county match on the ground since the First World War.

This was an intriguing fixture because it had been scheduled to be played on the Saturday, but with the ground unfit, the players probably watched Leeds United beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup Final.

They tried again on the Monday when Hampshire reached 77-1 (Richards 43) before wickets fell regularly not least to some smart catches, although Roy Marshall (34) and Bob Stephenson (23*) took the score to 169 from 47.3 overs.

The weather still interfered and this first ‘one-day’ match went into the third day when Gloucestershire got nowhere close to Hampshire’s total, thanks to fine bowling from Bob Herman 4-20 and Peter Sainsbury 4-17.

Mike Procter with 15 was the top-scorer and Gloucestershire, 70 all out, lost by 99 runs.