"David Gower" Photo Stamp Publicity (Worthing)

To anyone reading this publication I am sure that tradition does not need much explanation, though it will naturally enough mean different things to different people. Amongst many other ingredients there was the spirit of Ingleby-MacKenzie, a sort of "Play hard and play hard" approach, if you understand what I mean. It's is what nowadays the city types refer to as 24/7, no time to spare. In Ingleby's case it meant a lot of fun and a Championship Trophy.

That fun and other trophies stayed with the club thanks to Pocock and Nicholas and the players under their respective commands. When I arrived, and you must forgive me if you have heard this before, it was very good news to be on the same side for once as Malcolm Marshall and Robin Smith, amongst others.

There were new faces to get to know too, the likes of the irrepressible Adi Aymes (look it up, Adi, it's somewhere between "h" and "j", and please don't hit me - I know you're stronger and fitter than me and I'm only joking. Honest.)

There was also a tall, lanky thing called Udal. It was the first Udal I'd met and sounded like the sort of thing that Dr Doolittle might know about. At least it only had one head, which nonetheless talked quite a lot, and, as I remember it, one of the first things it said to me was "I used to watch you play when I was eight". I've never held that against him - somehow I think I knew already that I would not be playing for that much longer.

Shaun was able to establish himself very quickly due to the usual ingredients of talent and determination. He is a naturally nice guy - it's that Hampshire tradition - but there is a feistiness and a will to win and a temper that is all part of it, all of which add up to a fine competitor.

It was fun to watch him develop, to notice that he had that little something extra that makes a finger spinner able to compete in the first class game. The most noticeable something extra was the Udal quicker ball. We all knew about it but scores of county batsman around the country never saw it, certainly not the first time!

It was fun to be able to offer the odd piece of advice. We played Middlesex at Bournemouth one year and for some extraordinary reason Mark Nicholas had me out at deep midwicket, probably to keep out of his hair. I managed to get a message back to the middle via pigeon that maybe Shaun should try bowling a little wider of off stump to Desmond Haynes to get him stretching at the ball. I thought he bowled him soon after, which would have made a better story, but Wisden shows me Haynes c Aymes b Udal, which will do just as well. Maybe I just didn't quite see what was going on as I was fielding in a different post code at the time.

Time, of course, moves on. Shaun is now a senior and much respected player. Hampshire have wonderful new and soon to be finished premises. I am now stuck, happily I might add, in Sky commentary boxes and at the desk at home, from where I am delighted to pay tribute to Shaun's efforts for Hampshire and to wish him extremely well in this, his Benefit season.

David Gower