Brigands 1988-2026 Thirty-nine summers, 946 fixtures, 891 of them finished and the rest abandoned due to rain. We have combined the archives of Lovett-Turner, Peach and Henderson with results from 1988 to the end 2026. The record - 316 won, 292 drawn, 279 lost, four tied. - The all-time win rate is 35.5% of matches played. - Best season on the books: 2022. Seventeen wins from twenty-eight. - Worst: 1990. Two wins from twenty-five. - Most defeats in a summer: 1989, fourteen fr

In the Summer of 1976 it did not rain. The Oval was baked white, and Viv Richards made 829 runs in four Tests. Some summers the weather and one cricketer's form are memorable. 2026 as the hottest summer on record at Broadhalfpenny Down and Jake Peach broke records. He played 15 games, made 579 runs at 96.50 and took 33 wickets at 11.09, conceding 3.93 an over. Peach took the season's only hat-trick and was the first player to achieve Bernard Marshall's double of 300 runs and

Sportsmanship is a mysterious business. Hard to define, yet everyone knows it the instant they see it. This weekend, we observed it at the World Cup when Jude Bellingham picked up the ball for a late penalty glanced across at Bukayo Saka on a hat-trick, and simply handed it over. "Go and get it," he said. Saka scored. Cricket had offered its own version a year earlier, when South Africa's Wiaan Mulder, unbeaten on 367 and 33 short of Brian Lara's world Test record, declared r

On match days in the 18th century, cricket at Hambledon was as much about money as runs. For a typical fixture, about 20,000 people would descend on Broadhalfpenny Down, two miles outside the village, arriving with horses from as far away as Reading, Tonbridge Wells and London. The crowd needed feeding and watering, and an entire pop-up economy obliged: tents and banners selling food and drink, punch and pies, and stalls offering bats alongside bookmakers’ ledgers. Tradesmen

The new pavilion was opened on 22 June 1999, after years of planning, fundraising, and construction. The old "hutt" had been outgrown, and facilities no longer met Hampshire League standards, so a new pavilion was commissioned. Initial plans met with objections from some, including former journalist Ashley Mote. Almost two years later, friends, donors, and supporters gathered on a Tuesday midsummer evening for champagne and speeches.

A Spring game against The Saints in 2008, Matt Sturman and Glen Duggan walking towards the pavilion, and Mike Beardall and Graham Peach batting with slip fielders waiting. Nina is scoring, with Harry by her side, of course. Picture credit Alamy

Pathe News was on hand to capture the famous match between The Eskimos and The Invalids in 1929 ... the match was interrupted by horses...

Bryan Burns profiles the legendary Bernard Marshall, the Brigands great all-rounder At the end of the season, with the ground put to bed, and cricketers are getting ready to hibernate. At the end-of-season dinner at the Bat and Ball, the statisticians having completed their analysis, club trophies are presented; best bowler, best batter, yes, but no one has matched the all-round performance of Bernard Marshall in 1977 when he took 30 wickets and scored 300 runs in a season.

The season closed in style at the Bat & Ball in Hambledon, where a good-humoured crowd gathered for the end-of-season awards dinner....