Hampshire County Cricket Club begun on Hampshire's long-awaited new ground. The realisation of this move almost led the club to financial ruin, as encouragement from financial partners Sport England and the hiring of architect Sir Michael Hopkins had led the then part-time voluntary committee running the club to lose control of the budget. In 2000 Australian great Shane Warne was signed as the club's overseas player. The 2000 County Championship was to be the last season that Hampshire would play at the County Ground Southampton before they moved in 2001 to the new Rose Bowl ground just outside Southampton. 2001 also saw current club
2000 English cricket season 2000 English cricket season The 2000 cricket season was the 101st in which the County Championship has been an official competition. Surrey in first-class cricket and Gloucestershire in limited overs cricket were the dominant teams. The West Indies toured England to compete in a test series which England won 3-1. Zimbabwe also played their first test series on English soil losing 1-0. England played five Test matches against West Indies following two against Zimbabwe. Michael Bevan topped the averages with 1124 runs @ 74.93 The top runscorer was Darren Lehmann with 1477 @ 67.13 Courtney Walsh topped the averages with