BREAMORE’S successful season in Regional Division 1 West of the Hampshire League was due in no small part to the efforts of the Marlow brothers, Shaun and Steve.

The pair shared in eight substantial opening partnerships with two large centuries, four half-centuries and two in the forties.

The biggest opening stand was 193 that was followed the next week with a stand of 175 in which Steve made his first century for 15 years.

Steve also made one half-century but he was outdone by Shaun, who hit two centuries and four fifties. Shaun scored 709 runs in 14 innings with four not-outs to finish with an average of 70.9 whilst Steve made 402 runs with an average of 33.5.

It is not surprising that the brothers have such cricketing prowess as their father, Percy, was Breamore’s skipper for more than 30 years from the 1950s through to the late 1980s when Shaun took over and Percy became the side’s umpire and still looked after the ground at The Marsh.

There has been a Marlow connection with cricket in Breamore for more than century as Edgar Percy Marlow was licensee of the appropriately named Bat and Ball public house in the village in 1911 and he might have been playing in the early part of the 20th century.

The tradition is set to continue for a long time as Shaun’s son, Tom, is a regular member of the side and, although primarily a bowler, improvements to his batting techniques are making him into a promising all-rounder.