It was with great sadness that we learned that long time Forty Club and Willows member Christopher Bazalgette passed away in January 2023 after a long battle with ill health. The “Gette” was a larger than life character, and it is believed he had taken more wickets than any other player in local club Cricket history, playing for the Hampshire Hogs, Hambledon CC, Broadhalfpenny Brigands, Bat & Ball CC as well as XL. In the foreword to one of Christopher’s books Think Cricket, it states: “In a long and distinguished amateur career, Christopher has taken over 2,500 wickets including those of Mark Nicholas (3 times), Ravi Shastri, Jeff Crowe, Kirti Azad and Doug Walters”.
Chris worked for The Cricketer magazine for over 35 years and was a very well known and respected member of the UK cricket community, with several books to his name on the sport. He has also starred in a number of American, Australian and British television programmes on cricket. Requiescat in Pace.
– News release from Forty Club (abridged)