Hampshire County Chess Season 1972 / 73

In 1972 Hampshire left the Southern Chess Counties Union (SCCU) and joined the West of England Chess Union (WECU). I thought I would look at our first season in the WECU, for a number of the counties it was a long time since Hampshire had played them, and for Cornwall this would be the first time the two counties had met.

Hampshire’s match captain for this season was Harold Leslie Parsons. He did play in three matches, but I think he likely only played when needed due to late withdrawals? Additional details on Mr Parsons is included in the 1969/70 season article. As well as a Match Captain Hampshire also had a Match Secretary who was AC Barton. He played regularly for Hampshire from 1958 to 1976, and then once more in 1989.

I have managed to use the Westward Ho! magazines for some extra information on the matches, a number of these are from the opposition match captain’s viewpoint and it always entertaining to see what they thought of the match.

Hampshire – Somerset – 11 Nov 1972
Hampshire – Cornwall – 25 Nov 1972
Hampshire – Gloucestershire – 20 Jan 1973
Hampshire – Dorset – 10 Feb 1973
Hampshire – Devon 3 – March 1973
Hampshire – Wiltshire – 31 March 1973
Junior Jamboree – 10 March 1973

Games
Hampshire Player Performance
Summary
Match Results – Westward Ho!
Acknowledgements and Sources

For the record of Hampshire County matches and links to any articles I have written the table on the Hampshire County Chess Matches page will detail these. The Hampshire County Chess History page summaries the leagues Hampshire have played in and the successes Hampshire have achieved. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.

Hampshire – Somerset – 11 November 1972 – Corsley

Hampshire’s first match of the season against Somerset was not until 11th November (we did not enter the Jamboree, which was won by Gloucestershire) and was played at Corsley which is a hamlet in west Wiltshire.

The following report was in the December 1972 Westward Ho! magazine. This first part looks to be from the Somerset Match Captain and the second from Hampshire’s.

Looking at this result any way, Somerset’s Championship side were out graded by an average of 12 points (I make it 14 points – ed) and thus the score must be a really good effort – Special mention must be made of Bath’s RW Gregory and Wells CS’s AJ Powell, the latter beating one of Hampshire’s steadiest players in County Championship Play. Further, the Somerset side actually drew the last 14 boards part of the match, although the total out-grading was not so marked.
Somerset Match Captain 1972/73

Hampshire were minus their top boards, mainly away at the clashing British Lightning Championships, of Cubitt, Bennett, Orchard and Weeramantry, all graded 200 plus and thus were pleased to win with such a weak side out from their viewpoint.
HL Parsons – Hampshire Match Captain 1972/73

A few points on these reports, firstly the RW Gregory win was against David Bower who was graded 21 points higher, which was a great result for the Somerset player. Secondly AJ Powell’s win was against Southampton Chess Club’s Len Walters who played approximately 200 county games for Hampshire from the 1950’s to the early 2000’s with a plus score. Thirdly, I am not sure about the comment of drawing the last 14 boards of the match, unless this is referring to the last games to finish, as this does not tally with the result?

With regards to the HL Parson’s comment, he was correct that Hampshire were missing a number of their strong players. Of the four mentioned only Gerald Bennett and Sunil Weeramantry played for Hampshire this year though. If you did not know Sunil Weeramantry was a student at Southampton University in the early 1970’s, but is better known as the chess trainer and stepfather of Hikaru Nakamura.

In the A team match Hampshire beat Somerset 9½ – 6½. It was noticeable that a number of the top players playing this season were not in the 1983/84 one which I wrote on recently. There were a number of older stronger players in 1972/73 who stopped playing for the county in the 1970’s, for example Marshall Thompson, Cdr AJ Peters and WJE Yeeles who were among the Hampshire winners in the match.

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Somerset A	Somerset A Grade	Somerset A Result
1	Marshall WJ Thompson	196	1	JK Whittcutt	196	0
2	Arthur F Brameld	198	½	R Northage	188	½
3	PM Collins	196	½	D Bonner	177	½
4	John H Jones	184	½	C Parsons	172	½
5	David W Bell	180	½	R Hardy	174	½
6	Cdr AJ Peters	184	1	G Krimer	181	0
7	David E Bower	175	0	RW Gregory	154	1
8	PL Mitchell	174	½	A Ash		½
9	WJE Yeeles	174	1	J Borkowski		0
10	TI Cowling	161	½	C Lasper	150	½
11	Iain A Stenhouse	172	1	H Holmes	144	0
12	DK Bevis	171	1	D Stockford		0
13	Len C Walters	171	0	A Powell	150	1
14	RM Ellison	165	½	M Patterson	150	½
15	Default		0	RJ Gregory	137	1
16	Peter L Marshall	161	1	B Crouter	153	0
		178	9½		164	6½

The B team match came down to the two defaults, as otherwise the score was level. With Hampshire having the much stronger team this was a good result for Somerset. Hampshire’s board 5 was the talented junior GEJ Lambert who was soon promoted to the A team. Lambert won his game as did the other junior PJ Lee. The other Hampshire winners were JA Bassett and AB Perkis.

Board	Hampshire B	Hants B Grade	Hants B Result	Somerset B	Somerset B Grade	Somerset B Result
1	EW Chandler	153	½	RM Morgan	150	½
2	DC Goddard	160	0	PD Jenner	144	1
3	JA Bassett	160	1	CAB Lake	140	0
4	AJ Sobey		½	DG Woodruff	141	½
5	GEJ Lambert	159	1	RG Gray	136	0
6	David Drew	158	0	B King	144	1
7	R Willey	158	0	I Furber	144	1
8	PJ Lee	150	1	JA Dixon	147	0
9	MW Stone	151	½	HG Thomas	144	½
10	AB Perkis	151	1	DS Hutchfield	140	0
11	HL Parsons	151	½	DT Bryon		½
12	RF Gallop	139	½	K Hillier	135	½
13	S Goodman	145	0	M Sellers	134	1
14	RC Clark	148	½	P Hunt	124	½
15	Default					1
16	Default					1
		153	7		140	9

Hampshire – Cornwall – 25 November 1972 – Yeovil

Hampshire A met Cornwall A at Yeovil in their first over the board chess match. According to the records there was a 30 board Correspondence Chess Match in 1905/06 which was swiftly! repeated in 1921/22 but with one more board. Hampshire won these 21 – 9 and 24 – 7 respectively. A third match Correspondence match was played in 1936/37 which Hampshire also won. It seems that the 1905/06 match was actually Hampshire’s first official Correspondence match. The results can be found in the F Taylor Hampshire Chess History booklet. The 1936 match also has the individual results.

I digress, let’s get back to the first Over the Board Chess match, which was 67 years later. There was no Match Captain report from this match, but the Hampshire team were far too strong for Cornwall and came away 13½ – 2½ winners. Hampshire Match Captain HL Parsons won his game by default, which helps with my theory as to him being a non playing Captain in the main. It is worth remembering that Hampshire is the 5th largest county by population where as Cornwall is the 40th (of 47). Note 1 Cornwall have had their successes against Hampshire and also in the WECU, despite being the smallest county.

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Cornwall A	Cornwall A Grade	Cornwall A Result
1	S Weeramantry	200	1	DL O’Byrne	151	0
2	Marshall WJ Thompson	196	½	R Perrin	152	½
3	Arthur F Brameld	198	1	AJ Gunn	145	0
4	John H Jones	184	1	A Wright	144	0
5	David W Bell	180	1	W Provis	142	0
6	BAM Piggott	174	1	M Beech	127	0
7	Iain A Stenhouse	172	1	LG Shroll	120	0
8	David E Bower	175	1	E Clarke	130	0
9	Len C Walters	171	1	W Peel	119	0
10	AC Barton	168	1	N Patterson	109	0
11	Peter L Marshall	161	1	A Horn		0
12	Stuart Dean	161	1	T Curnow		0
13	DC Goddard	160	0	Dr Tyler	130	1
14	RC Clark	148	0	W Moore		1
15	D Hawkes	144	1	H Spencer Smith		0
16	HL Parsons	151	1	Default		0
		171	13½		132	2½

Hampshire – Gloucestershire – 20 January 1973 – Frome

Along with Devon, Gloucestershire are the other power house in the WECU and both the A and B team matches were probably expected to be close. The A team lost by the smallest of margins and this was not helped by the top board being defaulted. As can be seen from the report in Westward Ho! this was not the first time Hampshire had defaulted and seemed an ongoing issue.

Played at Frome under very cold conditions, a noisy flood chesswise, and lighting, which could have been better. Hampshire again defaults for the 3rd time in succession.
Westward Ho! April 1973

Looking at future reports the players often travelled by coach and in some cases players missed this coach and I can only imagine the stress for the Match Captain with the ongoing issues of defaults. Obviously there are always issues with illness and emergencies, but Hampshire certainly struggled with defaults this season.

Hampshire winners were nine times Hampshire Individual Championship Marshall Thompson, David Bell, BAM Piggott, Glenn Lambert, Iain Stenhouse and JG Shepherd. As previously mentioned the potential of Glenn Lambert was obviously realised, and with grades only changing annually, playing him higher than his grade to reflect his real strength was an excellent Match Captain decision. I wonder if this should also have been done for the other junior PJ Lee sooner than the Wiltshire match?

Also of note was the previous WECU Fixture Secretary Philip J Meade playing the first of his approx. 30 games against Hampshire.

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Glos A	Glos A Grade	Glos A Result
1	Default		0	S Hutchings	210	1
2	S Weeramantry	200	0	JM Aitken	193	1
3	Marshall WJ Thompson	196	1	ME Binks	192	0
4	Arthur F Brameld	198	½	Philip J Meade	200	½
5	PM Collins	196	0	ME Brigden	197	1
6	John H Jones	184	0	RO Powis	182	1
7	David W Bell	180	1	S Berry	195	0
8	BAM Piggott	174	1	J Boyce	182	0
9	GEJ Lambert	159	1	M McLeod		0
10	Iain A Stenhouse	172	1	A Masters	185	0
11	DK Bevis	171	½	M Davis	176	½
12	PL Mitchell	174	0	ME Poolake	174	1
13	JG Shepherd	174	1	J Fawcett	173	0
14	David E Bower	175	0	E Freeman	178	1
15	AC Barton	168	0	P Booth		1
16	Len C Walters	171	½	B Little	169	½
		180	7½		186	8½

Even without the two defaults Hampshire B lost heavily to Gloucestershire despite the teams only having an average grading difference of 5 points. R Wiley, MW Stone and J Calleja were the Hampshire winners.

Among the Gloucestershire players I noticed RJ Dixon, who I lost to in a County match 30 years later. Gosport’s chess player RC Clark did better than me drawing against him in their game.

Board	Hampshire B	Hants B Grade	Hants B Result	Glos B	Glos B Grade	Glos B Result
1	Peter L Marshall	161	0	IR Pickup	162	1
2	Cdr AJ Peters	184	0	IP Legg	163	1
3	RM Ellison	165	0	D Osborne		1
4	Stuart Dean	161	½	C Sullivan	171	½
5	JA Bassett	160	½	S Tovey	165	½
6	RV Willey	158	1	R Kendall	169	0
7	EW Chandler	153	0	HJ Draisey	154	1
8	AB Perkis	151	0	T Sinkinson	164	1
9	PJ Lee	150	1	M Passmore	162	0
10	MW Stone	151	1	EM White	166	0
11	P Fletcher	151	0	EW Joce	154	1
12	J Calleja	148	1	JCB Date	151	0
13	R Gallop	139	0	D Huome		1
14	RC Clark	148	½	RJ Dixon	151	½
15	Default		0	Default		1
16	Default		0	Default		1
		156	5½		161	10½

Hampshire – Dorset – 10 Feb 1973 – Kinson

The Dorset match was played in Kinson in Dorset and Hampshire A outgraded Dorset A by 14 points. A close match prevailed and this time it seems there were no defaults! As per the Somerset match Hampshire won 9½ – 6½. Hampshire winners were Sunil Weeramantry, PM Collings, Iain Stenhouse, Glenn Lambert, DK Bevis, PJ Lee, Bob Cullinane and David Bower.

Looking at the Dorset team Frank Kingdon who was a long time official in both Dorset and the WECU had a fine result, beating Arthur Brameld. Frank was another player like Hampshire’s Peter Marshall who was very strong but continued to play even when age started to creep in. When I played him in 2002 he was graded in the 140’s and his last grade was 108 in 2015. His obituary from the Dorset Echo is available from the ECF Forum and is well worth a read.

The Match Captain’s report shows the influence of Fisher and his match against Spassky, with regards to the lighting!

Played at Kinson Community Centre under ideal conditions, each player having a, large separate table, and Fisher-like lighting.
Westward Ho! April 1973

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Dorset A	Dorset A Grade	Dorset A Result
1	Gerald H Bennett	205	½	I Roebuck	189	½
2	Marshall WJ Thompson	196	0	RHK Mann	191	1
3	S Weeramantry	200	1	J Anderson	182	0
4	Arthur F Brameld	198	0	FC Kingdon	179	1
5	PM Collins	196	1	HD Needham	173	0
6	John H Jones	184	0	MJ Roth	170	1
7	Iain A Stenhouse	172	1	R Holland	166	0
8	GEJ Lambert	159	1	JE Crewe	162	0
9	DK Bevis	171	1	R Shaw	164	0
10	WJE Yeeles	174	0	R Valentine	165	1
11	PJ Lee	150	1	R Williams	155	0
12	JG Shepherd	174	0	R Murphy	143	1
13	AR Cullinane	173	1	D Hyde		0
14	David E Bower	175	1	R Burton	151	0
15	Cdr AJ Peters	184	½	PC Dearlove	142	½
16	PL Mitchell	174	½	J Soesan	160	½
		180	9½		166	6½

The B team was played just over 8 boards and this was not close, with just two draws dropped by Hampshire to win 7 – 1. Although Hampshire had a strong team the Dorset team were by no means weak and this was a great win by the team.

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Dorset A	Dorset A Grade	Dorset A Result
1	Len C Walters	171	1	C Richards	148	0
2	AC Barton	168	1	EJ Clark	147	0
3	Peter L Marshall	162	½	HE Barnett	146	½
4	RM Ellison	165	1	K Spackman	138	0
5	JA Bassett	160	1	HEJ Stay	144	0
6	TI Cowling	161	1	JS Bunter	143	0
7	EW Chandler	153	1	Cannon TH Milford	134	0
8	HN Dulson	144	½	SJ Shutler	132	½
		161	7		142	1

Hampshire – Devon – 3 March 1973 – Illminster

Hampshire A went into this match with a team of similar strength to Devon A, but it could have (and needed to be) stronger. As can be seen from the Hampshire’s Match Captain’s report our Board 1 missed the coach as did the reserve. In total 4 boards were defaulted, which with players moving up affected the B team strength and numbers. But the A team were not as strong as hoped and as per the report “Devonshire truly hammered Hampshire!”

Played at Ilminster, a pleasant venue, Devonshire truly hammered Hampshire, with Hants for the 4th time defaulting on boards – however 3 top boards called off sick on the morning of the match and Board 1 missed the Coach with the reserve! Excuses, or not, well done Devonshire without PH Clarke. Best. win to MJ Gillespy of Exeter.
HL Parsons – Hampshire Match Captain 1972/73 – Westward Ho! April 1973

David Bell was Hampshire’s sole winner, beating George Wheeler on board 4. With four of the top players not being able to play at short notice, this can have a big affect on a team’s performance, and this certainly seemed to be the case in this match.

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Devon A	Devon A Grade	Devon A Result
1	Gerald H Bennett	204	½	ARB Thomas	203	½
2	Marshall WJ Thompson	196	0	P Waters	215	1
3	PM Collins	196	0	S Mann	185	1
4	David W Bell	180	1	GW Wheeler		0
5	M Brown	177	0	JL Foster	180	1
6	Iain A Stenhouse	172	0	DJ Sewell	175	1
7	GEJ Lambert	159	0	RM Bruce	177	1
8	DK Bevis	171	½	K Schofield	171	½
9	PJ Lee	150	½	R Delnon	189	½
10	JG Shepherd	174	½	CAS Damant	173	½
11	DE Bower	173	½	MJ Gillespy	165	½
12	Len C Walters	171	0	BW Clapp	172	1
13	AC Barton	168	½	JK Gross	169	½
14	Cdr AJ Peters	184	0	R Heasman	173	1
15	RM Ellison	165	½	MA Cartwright	172	½
16	Peter L Marshall	162	½	RHT Newman	152	½
		175	5		178	11

With the B team already being 4 games down before a pawn was moved against a similar strength team you would have expected a comfortable win by Devon. But this was not the case as Hampshire clawed back all 4 points to tie the match 8 apiece. Stuart Dean, JA Bassett, EW Chandler, R Gallop, David Drew and Dr RH Morton all won for Hampshire.

A fine performance by the B team.

Board	Hampshire B	Hants B Grade	Hants B Result	Devon B	Devon B Grade	Devon B Result
1	TI Cowling	161	½	Mrs MEE Clarke		½
2	Stuart Dean	161	1	MW Wood	171	0
3	JA Bassett	160	1	JJ Griffiths	159	0
4	RV Willey	158	0	HR Pearce	145	1
5	EW Chandler	153	1	KJ Bloodworth	158	0
6	MW Stone	151	½	G Hodgkins	157	½
7	J Calleja	148	½	HG Ditmas	150	½
8	RF Gallop	139	1	WA Frost	142	0
9	David Drew	158	1	EG Sparke	146	0
10	Dr RH Morton		1	RH Jones	135	0
11	HL Parsons	151	½	R Liggitt	145	½
12	RC Clark	148	0	SR Boniface	161	1
13	Default		0	S Ash	113	1
14	Default		0	Revd KS Proctor	139	1
15	Default		0	MA Cartwright	172	1
16	Default		0	RHT Newman	152	1
		154	8		150	8

Hampshire – Wiltshire – 31 March 1973 – Andover

The final match was against Wiltshire and was just the A teams. By this stage you can hear the frustration in the Hampshire’s Match Captains report as he had top boards not arriving. It seems he had enough reserves that in this case Hampshire did not default boards. As GL Pritchard was playing board 1, 29 points lower graded than Marshall Thompson it looks as if he was a late replacement?

Despite these issues Hampshire heavily outgraded Wiltshire and won 10½ – 5½. This time the winners were Marshall Thompson, David Bell, Iain Stenhouse, PJ Lee, JG Shepherd, AC Barton, Len Walters, Stuart Dean and RV Willey.

Played at Andover, a nice effort by Wiltshire but once again, as in almost every match this season, Hampshire have been let down at the last minute by the non-arrival-of one or more top boards – a Captain’s Nightmare.
HL Parsons – Hampshire Match Captain 1972/73 – Westward Ho! April 1973

Board	Hampshire A	Hants A Grade	Hants A Result	Wilts A	Wilts A Grade	Wilts A Result
1	GL Pritchard	167	0	C Cooley	187	1
2	Marshall WJ Thompson	196	1	A Kendry	174	0
3	Arthur F Brameld	198	0	J Hutcheson	186	1
4	David W Bell	180	1	R Bradley	165	0
5	John H Jones	184	0	PR Watson	152	1
6	BAM Piggott	174	0	F Haynes		1
7	GEJ Lambert	159	½	SM Taulbut	152	½
8	Iain A Stenhouse	172	1	D Hale	137	0
9	PJ Lee	150	1	MA Spindler	142	0
10	DK Bevis	171	½	EC Baker	158	½
11	JG Shepherd	174	1	WE Bruges	155	0
12	AC Barton	174	1	P Manning	138	0
13	Len C Walters	171	1	J Ball	133	0
14	Stuart Dean	161	1	L White	112	0
15	RM Ellison	165	½	V Austin	146	½
16	RV Willey	158	1	B Walker		0
		172	10½		153	5½

Junior Jamboree

Hampshire did not enter the main WECU Jamboree which normally is played at the start of the season. But in March 1973 a Junior Jamboree and separate Girls Jamboree was held. There has been a lot of discussion recently on if there should be separate girls events and even though I am not best suited to make a decision on this, my view is that if competitive chess opportunity is granted to girls this is a good thing.

A better situation would be that this was a combined event, but with Dorset not entering a girls team this was not possible and therefore the separate event allowed an opportunity to both boys and girls.

Hampshire juniors finished 3rd behind Somerset and Wiltshire. A number of players went on to become (or were already) very strong player. For Hampshire this includes Glenn Lambert, PJ Lee and Keith Gregory (still very active) who all broke ECF 200. For the opposition I noticed Somerset’s M Truran who has also been graded in excess of 200 and is the current Chief Executive of the ECF. Others names may be familiar to others, but all in all the Jamboree was full of potential.

Hampshire winners were F Davies, Keith Gregory, A Barry and D Noble.

Board	Hampshire Juniors	Hants Grade	Hants Result	Opponents	County	Opp Grade	Opp Result
1	GEJ Lambert	159	½	C Gilbey	Devon	130	½
2	PJ Lee	150	½	M Truran	Somerset	149	½
3	P Davies	148	1	G Button	Dorset	121	0
4	Keith DF Gregory	127	1	M Spencer-Smith	Cornwall		0
5	C Taylor	159	½	A Dean	Glos	145	½
6	P Hackman		0	J Ball	Wilts		1
7	S Goodman	145	0	A Furber	Somerset	144	1
8	B Andrews		0	R Fletcher	Devon		1
9	A Barry		1	A Giddy	Cornwall		0
10	T Love		0	G Mestmaott	Dorset		1
11	L Godwin	150	0	P Cooley	Wilts		0
12	D Noble	139	1	M Powis	Glos	110	0
		147	5½			133	5½

The girls event had four players per County and Hampshire scored 2½ points. Jane Seymour and Sarah Hopkins won for Hampshire who finished in second place a full point behind Devon who only dropped the ½ point to Hampshire on the board one game.

Board	Hampshire Girls	Hants Grade	Hants Result	Opponents	County	Opp Result
1	A Gammon	132	½	Phillippa Miles	Devon	½
2	Jane Horsfield		0	Vivienne Pentecost	Cornwall	1
3	J Seymour	129	1	Susan Turner	Someret	0
4	Sarah Hopkins		1	S Kervin	Wilts	0
			2½			1½

The full results are below, which are from the April 1973 Westward Ho! Click on the picture to open.

WECU Junior Jamboree 1972 1973 Table — WECU Junior Jamboree 1972 1973

Games

Currently I have no games from this season but I will add any if supplied.

Hampshire Player Performance

A number of players stood out performance wise. Iain Stenhouse was in fighting mode, with fives wins and one loss in his six games. Iain would go on to run the County team and also write an article in the Southern Echo. It is a shame the years he wrote these are not yet in the British Newspaper Archives, but along with the Portsmouth News once these are added these will be great sources for the Hampshire Chess Archives.

Junior PJ Lee (probably should have been promoted earlier, as per Glenn Lambert?) and David Bell both only dropped one draw from their five games with David beating two very strong players in S Berry and George Wheeler. Stuart Dean and JA Bassett also only dropped the one draw, but from four games rather than five.

As mentioned Glenn Lambert was swiftly promoted, playing above higher graded colleagues and only lost once, with three wins and one draw. Glenn would go on to score 6½ at the 1976 British Chess Championship in 1976 (Peter Lee also played).

Sunil Weeramantry only played three games, but won two of these games, whist losing to Gloucestershire JM Aitken in the other. These were all played on the top three boards.

Finally the Southampton trio of Marshall Thompson, Len Walters and the previously mentioned Iain Stenhouse played in all six matches, all with a positive score. These six obviously had better time keeping than the players who missed the coach now and again!

The performance table excludes the junior jamboree.

Hants Player	Win Percentage	Points Scored	Games Played
Iain A Stenhouse	83.3%	5	6
PJ Lee	90.0%	4.5	5
David W Bell	90.0%	4.5	5
Stuart Dean	87.5%	3.5	4
JA Bassett	87.5%	3.5	4
GEJ Lambert	70.0%	3.5	5
DK Bevis	70.0%	3.5	5
AC Barton	70.0%	3.5	5
Len C Walters	58.3%	3.5	6
Marshall WJ Thompson	58.3%	3.5	6
Peter L Marshall	60.0%	3	5
JG Shepherd	62.5%	2.5	4
EW Chandler	62.5%	2.5	4
RM Ellison	50.0%	2.5	5
BAM Piggott	66.7%	2	3
HL Parsons	66.7%	2	3
S Weeramantry	66.7%	2	3
TI Cowling	66.7%	2	3
MW Stone	66.7%	2	3
David E Bower	50.0%	2	4
RV Willey	50.0%	2	4
Arthur F Brameld	40.0%	2	5
RF Gallop	75.0%	1.5	2
J Calleja	75.0%	1.5	2
PM Collins	37.5%	1.5	4
Cdr AJ Peters	37.5%	1.5	4
John H Jones	30.0%	1.5	5
D Hawkes	100.0%	1	1
AR Cullinane	100.0%	1	1
Dr RH Morton	100.0%	1	1
AB Perkis	50.0%	1	2
David Drew	50.0%	1	2
Gerald H Bennett	50.0%	1	2
WJE Yeeles	50.0%	1	2
PL Mitchell	33.3%	1	3
RC Clark	25.0%	1	4
AJ Sobey	50.0%	0.5	1
HN Dulson	50.0%	0.5	1
DE Bower	50.0%	0.5	1
M Brown	0.0%	0	1
S Goodman	0.0%	0	1
P Fletcher	0.0%	0	1
GL Pritchard	0.0%	0	1
R Gallop	0.0%	0	1
DC Goddard	0.0%	0	2

Summary

An interesting first season in the WECU and one thing which is striking was the defaults issues. The Match Captain and Match Secretary decided not to seek re-election for the 1973/74 season and my assumption was that these defaults were probably a key part of this decision although I cannot know this for sure? But with no-one coming forward to replace either it seems they were persuaded to continue. Although I think HL Parsons last county game was the one from this season against Devon. Iain Stenhouse would take over the Match Captain’s duties in 1974/75 and Peter Marshall took on the Match Secretary role.

There are two trophies in the WECU, the Harold Meek and the Wayling Cup. This season it seems it was decided that the Harold Meek would be awarded to the County winning the WECU section of the Counties Championship and the Wayling Cup would go to the winner of the Minor Counties. I see this as the Howard Meek was the A team and the Wayling Cup was the B team. Both of these were won by Devon and details of how they did in the BCF stages is included in Westward Ho!

I wonder if Hampshire thought the matches would be easier in the WECU compared to the SCCU, but if this was the case I don’t think it was long before they knew this was not the case. Both Devon and Gloucestershire were very strong and Somerset showed their strength in depth with their B team beating Hampshire (not helped by defaults).