Cricket

The Hampshire Hogs - Men's XI

Declaration cricket. Founded 1887. Fifty fixtures, one ground, all summer long.

The Hogs play declaration cricket — the oldest, most complete and most demanding form of the club game. No overs limits, no shortcuts. A captain must read a match and make decisions. Batsmen must build an innings. Bowlers must take twenty wickets to win. It is the game as it was meant to be played, and we have been playing it this way since 1887.

How We Play

The Hogs do not field a fixed XI. Around 150 different members play in any given season, selected by the Match Manager for each fixture from the full pool of available players. This is deliberate. It means the side reflects the breadth of the membership — students alongside retired players, old hands alongside newcomers — and that no single cricketer considers himself more important than the match itself.

Almost all of our fixtures are played at Warnford, our own ground in the heart of the Meon Valley, though we also play a handful of away fixtures each season against clubs who reciprocate our hospitality. Qualifiers and guests are welcome at the Match Manager’s discretion, and are encouraged to join the club.

50+

fixtures per season

~150

different players each year

139

years of Hogs cricket

Our Opposition

The Hogs' fixture list is one of the finest of any wandering club in England. We play the MCC, I Zingari, Free Foresters and the Band of Brothers — the great names of the wandering game — alongside county wandering sides including the Sussex Martlets, Wiltshire Queries, Somerset Stragglers and Devon Dumplings. We also welcome touring sides from overseas, military XIs, school and university sides, and a number of distinguished invitation elevens.

We play to win, and expect our opponents to do the same. A good declaration match is one of the finest spectacles in cricket — and on the right day at Warnford, with the light just so and a game in the balance, there is nowhere better to be.

"Come and try and beat us, playing competitive cricket, and help preserve a key part of cricketing history. We bet you will have a fabulous and unique day."

2026 Season — Highlights

The 2026 season promises to be one of the most memorable in recent years. It opened with the club’s first continental tour in a generation — to Rome, where the Hogs played at Capannelle and against the St Peter’s XI — and builds through a fixture list that includes some outstanding occasions.

Fri 5 Jun

★Lashings World XI

T20, 4pm — major event

Sun 7 Jun

High Commissioners Singapore XI

New fixture for 2026

Sun 21 Jun

Sussex Martlets

Mon–Fri 3–7 Aug

★Hog Week

MCC · Hampshire Seniors · Free Foresters · I Zingari · President's XI

Thu 6 Aug

I Zingari — Wilson Cup

Hog Week

Fri 7 Aug

★President's Day

President's Lunch, 12:30pm — major event

Sun 6 Sep

Band of Brothers

End-of-season fixture

President’s Day on 7 August is always one of the highlights of the Hogs’ year — a President’s XI match followed by the President’s Lunch, one of the great occasions in the Hampshire cricket calendar. Details of this year’s guests will be announced in due course. Watch this space.

Play for the Hogs

New players are always welcome. The first step is to play as a qualifier — speak to any current member or contact the Honorary Secretary to arrange an introduction. If you play and enjoy it, and the club enjoys you, membership follows naturally. We are not looking for a particular standard of cricketer so much as the right kind of one: someone who competes hard, respects the game, and is good company at lunch.

Contact the Honorary Secretary

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