THE north Hampshire cricket community is in mourning following the death of popular stalwart Cyril Thompson, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 83.

Cyril was born in Basingstoke in 1930 and his long association with Basingstoke and North Hants Cricket Club began when he took over as second team scorer at the age of 15.

When club secretary Guy Jewell launched the Basingstoke and North Hants Knock-Out Cup in 1952, Cyril was the competition scorer.

He then took over as organiser of the competition, now re-named the Guy Jewell Cup, in 1972, alongside his wife, Rita.

The pair ran the competition together until Rita’s death in 2006, but Cyril continued to organise the Guy Jewell Cup, being involved with the competition in some way for an amazing 62 years.

Cyril’s work in organising the Guy Jewell Cup resulted in him winning the Service to Sport award at the 2007 Basingstoke and Deane Sports Awards.

This year, his service to cricket was further recognised as he won the Hampshire Outstanding Services to Cricket Award.

In addition to running the Guy Jewell Cup, Cyril was a keen supporter of Basingstoke and North Hants, attending every home game, and Basingstoke Town FC, where he was a life member.

Andy Giles, chairman of Basingstoke and North Hants CC, said: “Cyril will be remembered for his ever-presence at home games and support for the club generally.

“He was held in great affection by many people in the club and we will miss him hugely.”

William Blake, who helped Cyril to run the Guy Jewell Cup following Rita’s death, added: “The Guy Jewell Cup is an important competition for local clubs and Cyril running it gave it more status, because people knew that it would be well run.

“Everything was always down properly and that was his mark. He never did anything in a half-hearted way.”