Medstead Cup

Grayshott Cricket Club - the home of I’Anson Cricket

The Medstead Knockout is the second-longest established cricket competition in the area. Although it is over 50 years younger than the I'Anson League, its 1957 start predates the Hampshire Cricket League by 16 years.

Its inauguration seems to have happened almost by chance! The tale is told that the landlord of Medstead's pub, The Castle of Comfort, was clearing out a cupboard in a back room when he came across two silver cups. They were obviously cricket trophies so he gave them to John Holloway, who was secretary of Medstead Cricket Club at the time.

Investigation showed that the smaller one was the original Ropley and District League Cup, which had been competed for by local villages in the 1920s. Having won this for three years it became Medstead's outright in 1927.

A local gentleman, Mr A George Smith, who is thought to have been the President of the Medstead Club at the time, donated the larger cup as a replacement for the competition.

Medstead won this again in 1928. whether the other villages lost heart because Medstead were so strong, or whether it was for some other reason, but the cup was not competed for again and the Ropley League was wound up.

So, with the cups re-discovered, Medstead Cricket Club decided to organise a limited -over knockout competition to be played in the evenings. It was hoped that this would add some interest to the game, which at that time was being played entirely on the basis of friendly matches in this area.

In the first final in 1957, Bentworth beat Anstey in a match which was unusual for two reasons. It was not played on Medstead Green and it was not played in the evening! The original evening arranged at Medstead was a washout, and as the two teams involved were playing each other in a friendly match at Anstey Park on the following Sunday it seemed a good idea that this should be combined with the Knockout Final.

After this slightly confused start the competition fell into the familiar pattern of the Finals being played on Medstead Green towards the end of July. In the early years some 18 to 20 teams entered the Knock out , and the final was enthusiastically supported with 200 or more spectators lining the boundary.

It became the tradition to take a collection box round to help swell the fund of whichever Hampshire County player had been awarded a benefit season.

Chawton had their name on the Cup three times in the first six years of the competition, Hyde Ramblers from Winchester were the front -runners in the 1960s, courages(Alton) were three time winners in 1970, 1971 and 1972, and Alton repeated this feat in 1976, 1977 and 1978.

Oakhanger became well-known as the "champion runners-up of the 1970s and 1980s, reaching the final and losing on six occasions before fortune smiled on them in 1987.

For its first eleven years the Knockout was organised by John Holloway, Medstead's secretary who first came up with the idea for the Competition. In 1968 the organisation was taken over by Ken Kercher, who has kept the Knockout running up to the present time.

Grayshott first entered the competition in 1980, and reached the final for the first time in 1982, when they beat Oakhanger by the decisive margin of 46 runs. They retained the Cup in 1983 and have gone on to win the Cup on twelve occasions making them the most successful club in the competition.

Local newspapers have always given valuable support to the Competition. In the early years this was the Hampshire Herald, which later changed its name to The Alton Gazette. Since 1996, the Herald Newspapers have provided much appreciated sponsorship, and the medals presented to the winners and the runners up at the Cup Finals are due to their generosity.