Hampshire become first County Club plc.

Hampshire County Cricket Club's membership have voted comprehensively in favour of the motion to create county cricket's first-ever public limited company, at their Annual General Meeting in Southampton on Monday evening.

In a landmark decision, 340 of the members present voted for the motions and just two against, which now sees the clubs future assured.

The three and a half hour long meeting in front of the packed auditorium at Southampton's Novotel closed with the club entering a new era as a plc at the Hampshire Rose Bowl.

The club's honorary solicitor Malcolm LeBas, standing in for chairman Rod Bransgrove who stood down as he has a vested interest in the motion, outlined the most controversial proposals since the club undertook the purchase of the old Northlands Road ground in 1884.

After the club announced an end-of-year financial deficit of over £190,000, LeBas set about enticing the membership to vote for the proposals, which they did with some conviction after an hour of cross-examination from the members.

They were reassured of their rights and privileges of club membership by Bransgrove and LeBas, with both fielding the questions expertly.

As the Chairman instigated on underwriting the £4million stake, he said "I am not gaining anything personally from this".

In a relatively quiet meeting, the ground-breaking decision was comprehensively given the green light, after the fears of those present had been allayed, once the alternative of having no cricket in Hampshire this season was voiced by LeBas.

It will now see the membership relinquishing their voting rights to elect the hierarchy of the club and approving the club's accounts, which will now be done by the directors, which will include Bransgrove, Chief Executive Tony Baker and former Hampshire captain Mark Nicholas.