Jim Smallbone, a Petersfield Cricket Club stalwart of almost 50 years and more recently, Hampshire and England Seniors, has died after a short illness, aged 71.
Many will remember him as a man who achieved much but seldom talked about it.
One powerful touring side from Essex proclaimed they had a strategy for dealing with Jim that year – he then took all 10 of their wickets!
But like most bowlers, he always felt that his batting prowess was underrated by his teammates.
This may have been because his bat was held together by two large nails.
His main scoring shot used to be a large heave to mid-wicket, but over the years he became a more than useful lower order batsman.
Jim did far more for Petersfield than just play for the club.
He was 1st X1 captain, the groundsman, maintenance man, served behind the bar, often making the teas, and was available for every match whatever day it was on.
He was also selected for Hampshire Seniors, where he was an ever-present member of the over 50s, 60s and finally 70s, playing his last match in 2019.
Jim was the all-time leading wicket taker for Hampshire vets, and is prominent in the national top ten in 60s and 70s age group cricket teams with a total of 171 wickets.
His success led to an international call-up in 2009, where he bowled in England’s two Sixties ‘Ashes’ victories against the touring Australians, and in a preceding nine-wicket win over Wales.
Two winters later in the return series in Australia he twice ripped through their middle-orders with important three-wicket spells.
He also played for the XL Club, captained the Hants and Sussex Borderers on their West Country tours, and managed the successful Hampshire Cricket Association and Cricket Board representative side for ten years or more.
Under Jim, the Hampshire association team twice reached the inter-county final, first losing to Scotland, then winning it the following summer.
To do so, they beat a powerful Staffordshire team by seven wickets in the 1991 final at Wolverhampton.
In 1999 (as the Hampshire Cricket Board) they also progressed to the third round of the NatWest Trophy before narrowly losing to Glamorgan at Northlands Road.
Jim was born in Petersfield, one of seven children, and went to The Petersfield School, then known as Petersfield Comprehensive School.
On leaving school, he worked with his father, an electrical contractor, but Jim could turn his hand to most practical tasks.
At 19 he took over the business when his father died.
He then worked at the Petersfield Meat Company abattoir, where Tesco now is, until it closed.
He later became a specialist contractor, installing and repairing electrical systems at abattoirs all over the UK.
He also set up a delivery service, driving his van tens of thousands of miles annually.
His stamina was legendary.
He often played cricket having just driven back overnight from Aberdeen, Sunderland or most memorably, the south of France.
On that occasion, he travelled back through the night, arriving in Petersfield on Saturday morning.
On getting back, he went straight to the Heath to finish preparing the wicket, only popping home to collect his kit so he could return to play that afternoon.
Despite his prodigious achievements, Jim’s most enduring legacy is the fact that he was prepared to captain the Petersfield First XI during parlous times when a lot of players had left the club.
On occasions, sometimes nine players took the field each Saturday to get comprehensively beaten.
But by doing this, he undoubtedly helped to save the club from folding and in due course, it grew again.
Jim then played his final years at Havant.
But Jim’s interests were not confined to sport.
He was a railway enthusiast, collecting memorabilia and accompanying his brother Alf on steam engine trips around the UK.
Just days before he was taken ill, he had completed a model railway which he had spent years building.
Another achievement in a remarkable life, though sadly, not one he long enjoyed.
Jim leaves a widow Lynn and son Steve.