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Trevor JESTY

Trevor Jesty was just past his 18th birthday when he made his debut, opening the bowling at Portsmouth, a boat trip from his native Gosport. The match ended in an exciting draw but Trevor had to wait two more years for another chance. By then, Barry Richards had arrived at Hampshire and over the next ten years it seemed that Trevor learned a great deal from that master, as his style and increasingly his performances came to resemble the South African’s.

Nonetheless, his development as a batsman was a slow process. For some years he averaged in the low twenties while surprisingly in the title-winning season of 1973 he managed just one Championship half century. In the winter of 1974/5 he played in domestic South African cricket scoring his maiden first-class century, while his first for Hampshire came in 1976. But having waited 10 years to reach three figures, he did so 11 times in three seasons.

During those early years he had been a very effective all-rounder and often contributed to limited-overs successes. In first-class cricket he generally averaged under 30 with the ball and in 1975 took 50 wickets at 19.20. In 1981 his figures were slightly better than that, after which he became rather more a batsman who bowled. His limited-overs career record for Hampshire was outstanding, with 6,859 runs in 310 matches including a brilliant 166* v Surrey at Portsmouth when he outscored Gordon Greenidge. He also took 334 wickets at 24.01 and was a member of the two Hampshire sides that won the Sunday League in 1975 and 1978.

In 1982/3 he was a late replacement in England’s limited-overs tour of Australia and  New Zealand, playing in ten matches with one half century but his bowling was ineffective and that was his only international recognition. This was surprising for in the longer form he was in the finest form of his career. In 1982 he scored 1,625 runs at 58.75 with eight centuries – for Hampshire a record only ever exceeded by Mead - and he scored twelve more first-class centuries in the next four seasons.

Sadly by then he had left his native county. During Nick Pocock’s captaincy (1980-1984) he was vice-captain and sometimes led the side but when Pocock indicated his intention to retire, Jesty was overlooked in favour of Mark Nicholas and the Hampshire-born man who had given so much pleasure to his supporters departed in unhappy circumstances. He played subsequently for Surrey and Lancashire before retiring and is still a first-class umpire, having spent nearly 50 years in English cricket.