10 best players of all time from Hampshire

Hampshire is the most important county in England due to its historic connection with the birth of the game, and has always held a special place in the English game. The county cricket team traces its origins to the historic Hambledon Club.

The team was founded in 1863 and over the course of its history, with the exception of a few bumps, it has been one of the important teams in the English County Championships.

Throughout the course of their history some of English first-class cricket's leading cricketers have played for them, but more importantly, Hampshire has been the home of some of the greatest overseas cricketers to have ever played in the country championships. Here is a look at 10 of the finest players to have ever played for Hampshire.

10 Shaun Udal

All-rounder Shaun Udal is one of a rare breed of Hampshire cricketers who was actually born in the county, and in a career in which he played for around 18 years for the county (1989 to 2007), he emerged as one of its very best.

Udal played in more than 250 first-class games for the county during the course of his career and was a star all-rounder for Hampshire.

He was a crafty right arm off-spinner and in 250 first-class games for the county, he picked up 708 wickets at an average of 32.12. He didn't do too badly as a batsman either, and scored 6496 first-class runs at an average of 22.95.

That batting average is perhaps not as great as he would have liked.

9 Peter Sainsbury

Peter Sainsbury was one of Hampshire's greatest ever cricketers and although he never played for England, he will always be remembered for having featured in the County Championship triumphs for the county back in 1961 and 1973.

Sainsbury played for Hampshire for 22 years between 1954 and 1976 and rose to become one of the best left-arm orthodox spinners in the county circuit. His batting was nothing to be sniffed at either and as his career progresses, he became a dependable batsman lower down the order.

In 593 games for Hampshire, Sainsbury picked up 1245 wickets at an average of 24.14, while as a batsman he scored 19576 runs at an average of 27.03. He also scored 7 centuries and 97 half-centuries during the course of his first-class career.

8 Roy Marshall

Barbadian cricketer Roy Marshall, who played only 4 Test matches for the West Indies, could not quite do justice to his talents as a batsman in the international level but he remains one of the giants of Hampshire's cricket history.

He is the second highest first-class run scorer in the history of the county. Marshall was an opening batsman of rare quality and unlike many of the opening batsmen of the time, he revelled in attacking the bowlers right from the start.

Medium fast bowlers were almost always at the receiving end of his blazing blade during the 19 years that he played for the county between 1953 and 1972. In 504 games, Marshall plundered 30,303 runs at an average of 36.03 and 68 hundreds in first-class cricket.

7 Derek Shackleton

Derek Shackleton

Right-arm medium pace bowler Derek Shackleton played for Hampshire for 21 years between 1948 and 1969 and during the course of his glittering first-class career, he became one of the county's greatest ever bowlers.

Shackleton remains the highest ever wicket-taker in the history of Hampshire's history with a remarkable tally of 2669 wickets over the course of 583 games and in addition to that, he recorded an outstanding average of 18.23.

Maintaining such an average over the course of such a long career is truly a stupendous achievement. It is hence, not a surprise that he had also been part of the County Championship winning team of 1963.

6 Robin Smith

Robin Smith

He was perhaps among England's best players of fast bowling in the 1980s and some of the epic battles Robin Smith had with the West Indian fast bowlers of the time exemplified his gifts as a batsman of rare gifts.

In domestic cricket, he was one of Hampshire's most important players and will go down in history as one of their greatest, for a glittering career spanning 21 years (1982 to 2003).

In 307 first-class games that he played for the county, Smith made 18,984 runs at an excellent average of 42.09. He scored 57 centuries in first-class cricket in his career and remains one of the genuine stars of English cricket to have represented the historic county.

5 Barry Richards

Barry Richards

South Africa's suspension from international cricket proved to be a boon for Hampshire as they got to employ the services of arguably the greatest opening batsman of that era in the form of Barry Richards.

He signed up for the county in 1968 and for the next decade emerged as one of the best batsmen in the County Championships as he plundered runs against all teams. In total, Richards appeared in 204 games for Hampshire during his decade-long stint at the county.

However, it is his outstanding run-scoring abilities that stand out. He scored 15607 runs, and at an average of 50.50. No other batsman in Hampshire's history has a higher average.

4 Shane Warne

Shane Warne in action for Hampshire

There are very few counties in English cricket who can boast of such an array of superb overseas talents to have graced its team and Australian great Shane Warne was another global star who turned out for them for a long time.

Warne, who is arguably the best spin bowler to have ever played international cricket, turned out for Hampshire between 2000 and 2007 and soon became one of the best performers for the county.

Due to his international commitments, Warne could only play in a handful of games each season in first-class cricket but when he did, he proved to be a handful. In 66 games, he picked up 276 wickets at an average of 25.58 and remained the best spin bowler in the county circuit during those seven years.

3 Malcolm Marshall

Malcolm Marshall

Among the many international stars who have played for Hampshire over the course of the past decades, no other player was probably greater than West Indian fast bowling star Malcolm Marshall.

Marshall was arguably the greatest fast bowler that the West Indies ever produced and he played for Hampshire for 14 years (1979 to 1993). The Barbadian rose to become one of the biggest stars of the county circuit during those years and it is not surprising considering what he was doing in international cricket at the time.

He played in 210 first-class games for Hampshire and picked up an incredible 826 wickets at an average of only 18.64. There should be no doubt that he is perhaps the greatest bowler to have ever represented the county.

2 Gordon Greenidge

Gordon Greenidge

West Indian batting great may have been born in St. Peter, Barbados but his cricketing education took place at Hampshire after his parents moved to England. He played for the county for 17 years between 1970 and 1987 and formed one of the most fearsome opening partnerships in county cricket with Barry Richards.

During that time, Greenidge himself was among the world's top openers and his career runs for Hampshire is the 7th highest in the history of the county.

He scored 19,840 runs at an average of 45.40 in 275 games and emerged as the county's top batsman in several seasons. A tally of 92 first-class class centuries is a clear indication of the sort of gifts he had as a batsman and why he is one of the greatest players to have ever played for Hampshire.

1 Phil Mead

Phil Mead, who played for Hampshire between the years 1905 and 1936 is the highest run scorer in the history of the county, making him the county's greatest ever player. He played 17 times for England as well.

The left-handed batsman was best known for his quick footwork and the ability to be equally at ease against both spin and pace. In addition to that, he was a notoriously difficult batsman to dismiss and even on the most difficult of pitches, he had the ability to negate whatever the bowlers threw at him.

Mead played in a total of 700 games during his 31-year career at the county and scored a jaw-dropping 48,892 runs at an outstanding average of 48.84. In total, Mead scored 153 centuries and 258 half-centuries in first-class cricket.