Brambles Bank Cricket Match

Where: The Solent on Brambles Sandbank, halfway between Southampton and Cowes
When: Late August / September
Time: Dependent on the tide

 

This is one of  only two cricket matches to appear on this list (the other is the Horn Fair at Ebernoe). Only once each year, Brambles Bank emerges from the briny for around half an hour when the tide drops to its lowest point – it’s about 200 metres long so is just about big enough for the game. Local yacht clubs from either side of the Solent use this opportunity to stage their cricket match, arriving in a flotilla, sometimes before dawn; the winner is decided beforehand which must make this one of the oddest competitions in the calendar, and in a gentlemanly fashion the teams take wins in turn. It all started in the 1950s but will have to cease if the bank, which slowly moves westward, disappears forever.

Helpful Hints

In 2026 it should be on Saturday 15th August- check with Royal Southern for times as they’re the host Club this year.

The participating teams are from the Royal Southern Yacht Club, Hamble and Island Sailing Club, Cowes who take turns to organise it.. The date varies -occasionally it’s much easier in the season (in 2017 it was on Sunday June 25th at 5.30 pm, while in 2018 it was on July 15th) but it’s more often in August or September.

Spectators can watch from boats!

Click here for the sailing club websites : https://www.royal-southern.co.uk and https://www.islandsc.org.uk

and here for the Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/islandsc

and https://www.facebook.com/RoyalSouthernYC

Photo by Laurence Dillamore.

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