Christopher Bazalgette, a true Hampshire cricketing legend with the Hogs and Hambledon, notwithstanding 30 or more years with the XL Club, has bowled his final ball.

He died, aged 84, after bravely battling a long illness, which left him bedridden for the closing year or so of his hugely active life.

He had been advertisement manager for The Cricketer, a founder of the European Cricketer Cup, a Life Member of Hambledon, and a life member of the Hogs CC.

In a long and distinguished amateur career, he took over 2,500 wickets including those of Mark Nicholas (three times), Ravi Shastri, Jeff Crowe and Doug Walters. 1,405 of these wickets were taken for Hampshire Hogs, for whom he made over 800 appearances, the last in 2017. He took five or more wickets for the Hogs on 49 occasions.

Christopher, who lived near Fareham, joined XL Club in 1977 and over the years was a match manager, chairman of the Cricket Committee, South District Chairman, and a member of the Executive Committee.

In some 138 matches for XL between 1978 and 2009 he took 205 wickets with best figures of 7-50. He achieved a five-wicket haul nine times.
In a throwback to cricketing yesteryear, he often played with a Hogs tie holding up his whites and, bowling to his infamous 7-2 field, was so meticulous with his bowling gameplan that he would mark where his fielders should stand. 

A larger than life character and hugely respected in club cricket circles, he appeared on tour for many amateur teams around the world and even taught Channel 4 comedian Ali G to play the game.

As a writer he penned over 800,000 words, mainly for 'The Cricketer International'. He has starred in a number of American, Australian and British television programmes on the game and wrote a book entitled Think Cricket.

His funeral is at 1pm on January 20 at St James Church, Southwick, Fareham PO17 6EA, followed by a reception nearby.