The Hampshire Cricket League is bracing itself for the wettest season in its 34-year history.

Last Saturday's total fixture wash-out means that more than a quarter of the scheduled games in the county and regional divisions this season have been lost to the weather.

"1994 is the worst I can recall in recent times," reflected Fareham & Crofton groundsman Tony Brown, who sits on the league's management committee.

"The majority of teams played less than a dozen league games that year - and some of them could be struggling to reach that figure this time around."

Last Saturday had been earmarked as the ninth round of matches in what is believed to be the numerically the largest league in the country.

But County Division 1 clubs Compton & Chandler's Ford and Flamingo had managed only five games each - and hardly any since early June.

It is even worse in CD2, where promotion chasing Ryde, Langley Manor and basement boys Petersfield have played only four times!

And Old Hambledonians 2nd XI, in Regional 4 South East, have taken the field just THREE times this season.

"For a club like Fareham & Crofton, which puts out four regular Saturday league teams, I reckon it's costing us £500 a week in lost revenue.

"There are no match fees coming in and the bar isn't getting used - and that's the lifeblood of any club."

But that doesn't stop the bills coming in.

"Ground rent, insurance and equipment maintenance doesn't just go away when you don't play," Brown pointed out.

Flamingo, who run two Saturday sides in CD1 and Regional South Division, have lost nine of their scheduled 18 league fixtures.

"That's an estimated loss of £550 in match fees alone - and that's irrecoverable," said treasurer Dick Batchelor, who helps to prepare the pitches at the club's picturesque ground near Corhampton.

"Like many clubs, we're self-sufficient and, in many ways, live from hand to mouth. We need to play cricket to survive."

For full story see today's Daily Echo.