“Wow – the Friends Provident Trophy Final will last a long time. I think it was a near perfect display of one day cricket at Lord’s. The previous game (the semi final against Lancashire) was equally brilliant and there were some mind-numbing catches. But, with a cup at the end of it, the Final would probably be the most memorable occasion of the year for me.”

The words are Rod Bransgrove’s, but could equally well be those of any Hampshire fan when asked to name their highlight of 2009. In that way we all share the same passion, but the ultimate responsibility for delivering those dreams begins and ends with Rose Bowl plc’s Executive Chairman.

“It’s an interesting phenomenon that we’re living with at the moment,” Rod continues, “that even though Hampshire won a trophy, and won it very well, there has still been... well, not disappointment... but some of our supporters felt that maybe we could have done even more than that. I think it’s testimony to the fact that we’ve raised the bar and people do now expect us to win things, which is great on the one hand, but it also means there’s a level of expectation around us creating greater pressure for next season.”

Next season will look rather different competition-wise, with the four competitions cut down to three; the LV County Championship, the ECB 40-over league and the Friends Provident T20. Is Rod happy with the changes? Not entirely. “Like the other County Chairmen, I did vote for reducing the domestic season marginally and removing a competition, but the outcome is that we have just one day less cricket next year.  That’s rather disappointing, particularly as the programme has to be completed earlier in order to accommodate the Champions League Twenty20. That in itself has caused some fixture headaches and I was, therefore, quite surprised to see three new teams emerge in the 40-over competition.”

With Twenty20 Finals day at The Rose Bowl there are a huge number of fingers being crossed that the Hawks will reach that stage of the competition for the first time. “We really must get into it this year” Rod tells me. “Had we played Northants in the quarter final any other week last season, I’m sure we would have been in the final. But the fact is that after such a fantastic win at Lord’s, Northants just got us at a weak moment. Next year we’ve got to put that right, particularly with the final at home – it would be a dream come true for us to be featuring in that and, hopefully, qualifying for the big one.”

Some exciting signings of both new and home grown talent mean that Hampshire look as though they have the on-pitch resources to deliver. “Simon [Jones] is working hard in rehab and is very excited about the prospect of coming back. Obviously, we’ll wait and see how circumstances evolve regarding whether Kabir Ali joins us for the forthcoming summer or the summer afterwards, but we will have a strong battery of seamers to be able to call on. We won’t be regarding Simon as front line for the first half of the season – it’s quite a long term investment in Simon’s health – but we’re pretty confident he’ll be back at some stage this year.”

In the meantime there are our own emerging cricketers coming through to complete the attack. “David Griffiths showed some tremendous promise last season, as indeed did a number of our younger players. We have a dual strategy here; of course we want to develop our own players, but we’re absolutely adamant that the best way to do that is with the help of experienced high quality professionals, hence the likes of Dominic Cork, and previously John Crawley. Young players coming into a good side are likely to do much better than young players coming into a struggling side. We’ve seen the emergence of a lot of talent over the last couple of years with Liam Dawson, Hamza Riazuddin, James Vince and Danny Briggs so there’s lots of promise in the Hampshire cupboard, including some very good players yet to make their First Team debuts. There’s plenty to celebrate here at Hampshire in the youth category.”

Which will also help the club financially, given that from next season the Counties will be awarded extra money for fielding young England qualified players. “As long as they’re available to us!” Rod laughs. “The ECB have a habit of taking these players away these days, so I have actually asked for clarification about what will happen if we’re penalised by not having our young players available whilst they’re on England duty. From my point of view, in the case of the players I’ve just mentioned, this is the most important part of their career when they need to be doing some hard yards on the County circuit, gaining First Class experience and learning how to cope with the ups and downs of cricket.”

Once the 2009 season ended the bulldozers moved into The Rose Bowl to start the redevelopment but to an untutored eye like mine, work seems to be progressing slowly – and with a great deal of mud. The big question is – will it be ready for the start of next season? “The beginning of the home season for us is May so, whilst it may not look like it, we’re still broadly on schedule. The weather isn’t helping us very much, but what all this rain is doing is validating the new pitch drainage system! The downside is that it’s hard work at the moment to get on with the stands. One major benefit of the new stands is that they will not only give extra seating but will cover a lot of seats besides those actually in the stands. There will also be a lot of new corporate opportunities and other spectator amenities, although the likelihood is that only one of the stands will be fully fitted out for next season. A by-product of these new stands will be that the entirety of the pavilion will now become a members’ only environment.”

The redevelopment has not been without controversy, particularly with regard to the hotel planned for the northern end of the ground, as a group of local hoteliers have sought a judicial review of Eastleigh Borough Council’s involvement. Rod doesn’t believe that this challenge is sustainable. “The project is very robust. It’s been extremely well researched and considered by Eastleigh Borough Council and it’s a very good commercial arrangement. We’re confident it will go ahead, but whether or not the judicial review delays us, we’ll find out pretty soon.”

So, what exactly is the nature of the financial deal between the Council and The Rose Bowl? “We approached Eastleigh Borough Council for what is called prudential funding, which is funding from central government sources which is administered through local councils. As the name suggests, it’s funding that will have a prudential benefit to the area itself by providing employment options and local amenities. Nonetheless it still has to be arranged on a commercial basis and the payments we will be making to EBC will be beneficial to the local residents and will compare with any similar commercial arrangement.

“We will be paying a fixed rate of interest in the form of a rent, because the hotel itself will belong to Eastleigh Borough Council and be sublet to The Rose Bowl Group. It is a complex structure, incorporating a fixed-cost rental together with a share of profits. There are also provisions for us to buy back the hotel when the company’s in a position to do so, so it should be a win-win situation and we believe that it will be.”

Winning on and off the pitch is what Hampshire Cricket’s all about, but what is at the top of Rod’s Christmas wish list? “Having a spectacular Twenty20 Finals Day with Hampshire taking the trophy for the first time in front of a huge Rose Bowl crowd. But other than that, winning any competition is fun! We’re hungry – we want to win things – and I think we’ve got the players to do it.”

Jane Cable

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