Visit Winchester promotes first Rose Bowl Test and County’s Cricket Heritage

Visit Winchester promotes first Rose Bowl Test and County’s Cricket Heritage

17th May 2011.    The first of this season’s seven test matches against Sri Lanka and India starts in Cardiff on 26th May, but the one that which will be making history is the third match at Hampshire’s county ground, the Rose Bowl, on June 16-20. 

The Rose Bowl’s elevation to test match status is historic for two reasons. It is not just as the first fixture in the newly revamped ground, but it marks the “return” to the cradle of cricket. The modern rules of the game were created in Hambledon, Hampshire in the famous Bat & Ball pub back in the 1750s and there are great echoes of cricket’s past strewn across the county.

For those looking to combine sporting prowess with cricket nostalgia, Visit Winchester has created a pilgrimage to Cricket with its Cricket guide - a tour of the landmarks of the sport’s evolution in Hampshire, and there cannot be any more evocative time to explore it than during 16th-20th June test.  

The guide, Cricket: its evolution in Winchester and Hampshire’s countryside, takes visitors on a self-guided tour around the “cradle of cricket”. Usefully for those on a weekend break, cricket’s evolution seems to be strongly interwoven with inns and pubs. The guide can be downloaded from www.visitwinchester.co.uk, ordered by calling 01962 840 500 or accessed online at www.cricketingwinchester.co.uk.

The tour includes six key locations:

Winchester College:  
Visit the college to find out more about where Douglas Jardine, the
famous Ashton brothers and Hubert Doggart himself all learned to play cricket - and see for yourself the immaculately kept grounds overlooking the water meadows where they played.

St Catherine’s Hill:
A Latin poem refers to a match played on this unspoilt beauty spot overlooking Winchester in 1647. The view of the city has changed over the centuries, but remains breathtaking.

Hambledon:
Visit the Bat & Ball Inn whose famous landlords have include Robert Nyren who ran Hambledon Cricket Club, and Andrew Freemantle, a player who Nyren himself admired.  The Hambledon Era, 1750 – 1800, is when the modern rules of the game were written.

Alresford:
In the 18th century the noted cricketer Thomas Taylor was the landlord of The Globe on the Lake in Alresford. More recently The Old Sun on East Street was home to legendary commentator John Arlott.

West Meon:
Thomas Lord, founder of Lord’s Cricket Ground, retired to West Meon.  The Arts and Crafts Cricket Club was renamed ‘The Thomas Lord” in 1955 to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. Today it is an award-winning eatery.  Thomas Lord’s grave can be found in West Meon.

The Rose Bowl We need say no more!

Where to stay

www.visitwinchester.co.uk has plenty of accommodation options and offers for visitors to the region, but some of the best deals include:

• The Winchester Royal Hotel 01962 840 840 www.winchesterroyalhotel.co.uk
Prices start at £60 per person, per night based on two sharing a room, B&B
• The Old Vine, Winchester 01962 854 616 www.oldvinewinchester.com Prices start at £100 per room, per night including breakfast.
• The Running Horse, Littleton, Winchester 01962 880 218 www.runninghorseinn.co.uk Special Sunday rate single £50, double/twin £70

For press information, contact:
Sophy Norris/Lewis Shields
Flagship Consulting
01392 426 287 or 020 7886 8440
Sophy.norris@flagshipconsulting.co.uk or lewis.shields@flagshipconsulting.co.uk

For more information on visting Winchester, or the Cricket guide, the links are:
http://www.cricketingwinchester.co.uk/
http://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/