A POPULAR Hampshire club cricketer died after crashing his car while double the drink-drive limit following a night out with friends.

Matthew Hole crashed when his Rover 216 struck the kerb on the A31 east of Winchester and flipped over, an inquest was told.

The hearing into the death of the 25-year-old, who played cricket for Tichborne Park, was told that Mr Hole was travelling home in the early hours of Saturday, January 25 when the crash happened.

A post-mortem found that he died of severe head and liver injuries and tests found that he was 2.3 times the drink-drive limit.

Deputy central Hampshire coroner Simon Burge voiced concerns about the safety of kerbing on a stretch of the A31.

Mr Burge said he was planning to write to the local authority about the safety of the kerbs along the bend where the accident happened.

The police also expressed concern. PC Anthony Johnson, crash investigator, said: "I believe the officers in Winchester are aware of this bend and I get the impression that they are very wary of it."

Mr Hole, of Bridge Road, Alresford, was a popular sportsman who was well known in local football and cricket circles. He had been celebrating a friend's birthday.

A friend, Rebecca English, told the inquest that she had met him by chance during the evening of Friday, January 24.

She said the group split and later met again in The Guildhall Tavern about 11.20pm. Miss English said she and her housemate Paul Shepherd, Mr Hole's best friend, had asked him to stay that night at their house in Winchester.

However, on leaving the pub at 1.20am he had gone so they assumed he had found another way home.

First on the crash scene was Sally Williams, of Four Marks, near Alton.

In a statement, she said she was driving home from visiting friends about 1.05am when she came across the crashed car on a left hand bend of the A31 about 1.5 miles east of the Percy Hobbs roundabout. She alerted the emergency services, flagged another car down and tried to warn other motorists.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Burge said: "Sally Williams is to be commended for the actions she took and the compassion she has shown through her statement. The exact circumstances of this accident will never be entirely revealed because of the lack of witnesses, but PC Johnson and I have particular reservations about the kerbs on that bend and I have decided for reasons of public safety to write to the local authority expressing my concerns."