The Burnaby Road Ground in Portsmouth hosted first class cricket from 1882 to 2000 and in its early days some intriguing fixtures took place including Cambridge University Past and Present v Australia, GH Wyatt's XI v Australia and East v West. Championship cricket made its debut in 1895 when Leicestershire were the visitors and were beaten by three wickets in a low scoring match. 105 years later Kent were Hampshire's opponents and were victors by six wickets and Dravid and Nixon were at the crease when the curtain came down. During this long history I made just three visits the first being in 1993 to see Hants v Worcestershire.
The ground, alongside which runs the railway line to Portsmouth Harbour, still hosts cricket today with United Services Portsmouth CC playing their home matches there in the Hampshire Cricket League Division 3 South. The match I saw against Worcestershire was severely affected by rain but the third day,a Saturday, when I attended was to quote Wisden 'mercifully sunny'. In the morning session Udal and Aymes completed a stand of 114 for the eighth wicket before Mark Nicholas declared at 334 for 9. By the close Worcestershire had reached 206 for 5, runs for Hick and Damien D'Oliveria and three wickets for Malcolm Marshall. And that was it, for the fourth day was washed out completely.
I returned to Portsmouth the following year when Durham, still finding their feet in championship cricket, were the visitors. I was there on the first day of four, a day dominated by a century from Paul Terry and at stumps Hampshire were 326 for 4 with Terry on 122 not out. Hampshire went on to be all out for 512. Durham responded with a first innings century from John Morris and in their second knock a marathon 159 not out from Jimmy Daley, his maiden first class century and one which gave Durham a glimpse of victory. In the end the match was drawn and was perhaps most notable for the number of players for whom this was their last championship appearance, for Hampshire Martin Jean-Jacques and Norman Cowans and for Durham, David Graveney. I spent some time talking to Durham twelfth man Alan Walker who felt that his days with the club were numbered. 26 years later he is still on the staff as bowling coach.
My last appearance at USP was in August 1998 for a four day match when Essex provided the opposition. I was present on the second day, a Saturday, when with Essex having been bowled out cheaply Robin Smith made 138 and with support from a wagging tail Hants led by 349 on first innings. The match ended shortly after lunch on the third day, Essex's seventh defeat of the season. They went on to rack up four more and finished bottom of the championship table for only the second time in their history. Not for the first time there were complaints about the Portsmouth wicket, this time from Essex coach Keith Fletcher who complained it was unfit for four day cricket. Whatever the truth of this no championship cricket was played at the ground the following season and as I have described 2000 saw the last such match.
Twenty two years on my clearest memory of that Saturday in 1998 sadly does not relate to the cricket for as I left the ground shortly before five o'clock I switched on my car radio expecting to hear the football results on Sports Report only to hear news of the tragic events that had occurred two hours earlier in Omagh when a car bomb had been responsible for the deaths of 29 people. A day of entertaining cricket seemed irrelevant as I made the two hour journey home to East Sussex.
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