Eighty years ago on the Cricket Field
Posted on 3rd Aug 2026 by David Taylor
The Pompey History Society archive contains many thousands of items relating to Pompey Football Club. The vast majority are football related but a few are relating to other sports and social events.
We go back exactly eighty years for this cricket item that our Archivist, Chris Gibbs stumbled across recently. The date is Saturday 3rd August 1946 and the restart of football after the war is just four short weeks away. Fans have waited seven long years since the 1939/40 season was bought to an end by the outbreak of war.
That Saturday fans headed to a different sporting location in the City, Burnaby Road Cricket Ground where a cricket match had been arranged between United Services and Portsmouth FC. Not quite the 9,000 heading for West Ham on Saturday but over 4,000 headed for the beer tents on what was once the home ground of the Royal Engineers.
The Pompey side was captained by Cliff Parker and included well known faces such as Eddie Lever, Jimmy Easson, Fred Evans, Jack Froggatt, Guy Wharton, Harry Walker (who kept wicket) and Reg Flewin. There were three unfamiliar names included, J Duffield, the reserves full back who was on the books of Sussex CCC, Jack Foxton a defender who played one game in 11947 and G Rogan who all we know is was a centre half who played twice for the stiffs in the London Combination – the club record just states Rogan, a newcomer had a favourable trial. As he only scored 13 runs that day it was presumably unlucky! At least we can now put an initial to our records.
On the day sadly Pompey were no match for their hosts. After winning the toss and asking the Services to bat they were unable to make inroads into the top order with Captain Reginald Hammond who would go on to play professional cricket making 118 and taking the score to 129 before the second wicket fell. Although Duffield then took four wickets for 55 and with wickets falling at regular intervals the Services set a target of 231.
Pompey’s batting sadly was brittle and although Duffield make a breezy 36 with five fours and a six they could only muster 114 leaving them defeated by 117 runs.
The history books show that Pompey regularly turned out a cricket team during the summer months and perhaps with the number of Aussies players signing recently it is something that may even happen again. Those books also show that Pompey have had a number of professional cricketers on their books including Ron Tindall, Mike Barnard, Jim Standen, CB Fry, AE Knight, and Fred Wheldon.
Richard Owen in his centenary series back in 1998 included an item on the cricket team of 1934 which had both Cliff Parker and Jimmy Easson as members.
I also include a team picture from 1974 with Ron Tindall on Umpiring duties and many other familiar faces.
