Cricket Match, Hampshire
- Artist: Chris Steele-Perkins
- Date: 1980–9
- Medium: Photograph, dye destruction on paper
- Dimensions: image: 303 x 405 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Cricket Match, Hampshire” by Chris Steele‑Perkins. The image captures a sunny afternoon on the county grounds in Hampshire – a crisp field, bright sky and a crowd of adults in summer kits. It’s one of forty‑four colour photographs from his 1980–9 series “The Pleasure Principle,” where he photographed leisure scenes across Britain.
The shot uses dye‑destruction printing on paper, giving it a vivid, almost painterly quality while still retaining the crisp detail of a photo. You can see the players’ jerseys and the ball in motion; the background shows clouds drifting over a green field – all elements that evoke both sport and cultural identity.
Steele‑Perkins aimed to show public rituals of happiness: people signaling who they are through clothing, signals of identity, and how leisure cuts across class. This particular match offers a snapshot of that ritual – the cheers, the spectators’ faces, the sunlight framing the play.
In short, it’s a playful yet thoughtful record of 1980s Britain at play – the everyday joy found in sport and togetherness on an English summer afternoon.
See it in person
Cricket Match, Hampshire is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
