INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Bransgrove on 23 years at Hampshire

INSIDE COUNTY CRICKET: Rod Bransgrove reflects on his decision to retire after 23 years as Hampshire chairman and drawing inspiration from Shane Warne in terms of never giving up

• Rod Bransgrove admits that he only intended to stay in cricket for a short while 
• Bransgrove is delighted Hampshire will get to hosts an Ashes Test in 2027

Rod Bransgrove looks back on 23 years as one of the most influential and modern thinking administrators in English cricket and admits he only intended a short stay in the game.

‘When I came in Hampshire had basically run out of money and had nowhere else to go,’ says the man who saved his adopted club from extinction and became a thorn in the side of the ECB by demanding more international cricket for the ground he then built.

‘There were many times when I asked myself what was I doing. I envisaged spending two or three years sorting it out and then moving on to something else and it was a big wake up call for me when I realised I was in very deep.

‘It took pretty much all my resources and there were definitely times when the club was threatened or I was running out of gas.

‘We had significant opposition from the governing body which was really difficult to live with. At times I even wondered if they wanted us to perish. But we came through it. So this is a good time to start stepping away.’

Rod Bransgrove has admitted that he initially only intended to stay in cricket for a short time

Bransgrove announced he will retire as chairman of Hampshire, who he rescued in 2000

That process has begun with Bransgrove, 72, retiring as Hampshire chairman after a reign which started with him rescuing the club in 2000 before completing the move from the rickety old Northlands Road ground to the new stadium on the outskirts of Southampton that has become the modern Ageas Bowl.

‘When I took the job I promised the members three things,’ Bransgrove tells Mail Sport. ‘The first was to save Hampshire from insolvency which obviously we’ve done. Secondly we said we would build a club capable of competing with the best in the country and even though it’s been difficult I think we’ve done that.

‘And thirdly I said we’d build a business around what was then the Rose Bowl utilising the whole site so that Hampshire cricket will never again be under threat and I think we’re pretty close to that as well. So I just felt this was a good time to bring in a new face (new chair Nick Pike) for a new relationship with the ECB. And I can put my feet up.’

Not that a man who made his fortune as a pharmaceuticals entrepreneur before throwing himself into cricket is fully putting his feet up just yet. Bransgrove will remain in charge of the business side of Hampshire for at least four more years for one very good reason.

All the hard work and battles with the establishment for more recognition for Hampshire’s purpose-built stadium came to fruition earlier this summer with the culmination of Bransgrove’s work at Hampshire – the award of an Ashes Test for 2027.

‘It is such an amazingly overwhelming result for us because we were starting to regard it as impossible,’ said Bransgrove. ‘But we never gave up. That was one of Shane Warne’s favourite phrases. Never ever give up and I subscribe to that.

‘When it finally happened and we knew we would be staging an Ashes Test we were just over the moon. David Mann (the Hampshire chief executive) and I were at Taunton for the first Blast match of this summer when we got the news and nobody in the pavilion could understand how we could be having so much fun when we were getting smashed by Somerset! But we couldn’t tell anybody.’

That news is not without controversy. So bitter and protracted did Bransgrove’s clashes with the ECB and his bete noire in former chairman Giles Clarke become that, it is revealed in a brilliant new book on his time at Hampshire ‘Back from the Brink’ by the journalist Ivo Tennant, he took legal action against them.

Bransgrove stated that he draws inspiration from Shane Warne in terms of never giving up

Bransgrove bristles at the suggestion Hampshire should always miss out when there are Tests at Lord’s and the Oval and improvements are set to take place ahead of The Ashes in 2027

Then, when a change of regime at the ECB and the arrival of Richard Thompson and Richard Gould finally brought Bransgrove the Test he has sought more than any other, the news was greeted with dismay by those who cannot believe there will be no Tests in the north of England in the next home Ashes.

Brangrove bristles at the suggestion Hampshire should always miss out when there are Tests at Lord’s and the Oval. ‘There are people who live north of London who think Southampton is just London Beach but there’s an awful lot of England below the capital and the people who live there don’t necessarily want to go to London for their entertainment,’ he insisted.

‘The criticism levelled about the lack of Tests in the north was unfair because in 2027 there will be two in the midlands, two in London and only one in the south.

‘I thought Andy Burnham (Manchester mayor) had a little too much to say about this, especially when it was peeing with rain at Old Trafford and that denied us the Ashes. I wasn’t particularly impressed with that.

‘It certainly took a change of administration at the ECB for this to happen for us. I can’t really comment on how they got to decisions in the past but it didn’t seem fair to me.

‘We’ve spent more than a hundred million pounds to make this one of the best grounds in the country and the result of that is that the established grounds raised their game too and that’s all been to the benefit of spectators.

‘But it’s seemed at times we’ve been punished for doing that and I don’t think we’ve really been credited for the good we have done English cricket.’

Now a man who has spent £15million of his own money on the Hampshire project is already planning on making his Ashes Test the best it possibly can be.

One regret Bransgrove has is Hampshire’s failure to add to their County Championship titles

‘We have plans to make the place even better for 2027,’ said Bransgrove of the ground that will have a new name next year following the end of the Ageas partnership.

‘We need to identify the amount of spectators we will have but it will be somewhere between 20 and 24 thousand.

‘And we’re on top of the access issue. There has been some legacy from antagonists who still like to mention it but our access times these days are pretty good.

‘The Ashes do seem a long way away and I’m not necessarily wishing my life away these days. There’s plenty to do before then and we are going to be busy.

‘But I will be demanding that when the time comes I will sit there in the pavilion, not do any work and soak it all up. It’s our next Test. People have seen what we can do and it will be even better then. It’s going to be a great occasion and I can’t wait.’

Bransgrove and Hampshire deserve to soak up their moment of Ashes triumph.

*Hampshire have won seven white-ball trophies during Rod Bransgrove’s time as chairman and will have the chance to add an eighth following their demolition of Warwickshire in the Metro Bank 50-over Cup semi-final this week. They will now meet Leicestershire, in their first 50-over final in 22 years, at Trent Bridge on September 16.

But the one regret Bransgrove has from his 23 years in the chair has been the failure of Hampshire to add to their two County Championship titles despite several near misses.

‘I do regret we haven’t won a Championship but it’s a very difficult competition to win,’ said Bransgrove. ‘A lot has to go your way but we have been within touching distance once or twice. We’ve won it twice in 150 years of existence which is on average once every 75 years and I’m not going to give myself another 50 years to try and win it now!’

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