HAMPSHIRE County cricket Club have announced plans to raise £4 million through a private placing of shares.

The club is currently a registered Friendly Society, but the consent of members was gained at the club's Annual General Meeting on Monday to convert to a private company.

The money raised, together with a further £1 million from other sources, will be used to complete the Cricket Academy, health and fitness suite and atrium at The Hampshire Rose Bowl in time for the forthcoming season.

The placing will be fully underwritten by chairman Rod Bransgrove, thus guaranteeing the funds.

He said: "The new corporate structure will bring the club into the 21st century in respect of its commercial management, just as the Hampshire Rose Bowl will do for cricket."

Hampshire CCC reported an operating loss of £193,075 for the year ending October 31, 2000 at their AGM.

The figure, which is the club's first operating loss since 1986, does not include the cost of moving to The Hampshire Rose Bowl.

Last year the club announced that they were cancelling their annual fixture at Basingstoke's May's Bounty - a decision that angered supporters in the north of the county.

Chairman of Basingstoke Cricket Club Steve Rayner said: "I'm not surprised the decision to become a private company has been taken, because they need the money to finish the new ground.

"In the short term it's a good move, but in the long term we will have to see how the company's run and who the shareholders are."

He added: "I think people in north Hampshire would be much more willing to put their money into the club if they hadn't pulled out of Basingstoke, so they haven't helped themselves."

Richard Whitehead, who campaigned unsuccessfully to keep county cricket at May's Bounty, said: "I don't pretend to understand the finances of the club, but I can't understand how they have got themselves into this mess.

"I think part of the problem is that Hampshire are trying to move ground at the same time as Southampton FC and both clubs have found themselves chasing the same sponsorship.

"If the chairman feels this is the best way out of it he knows better than me, but it comes just a few weeks after a report stated that the game at May's Bounty was Hampshire's best attended fixture last season.

"I won't be renewing my membership and I'm sure I'm not the only one from this part of the world.

"Turning their back on the public is not going to get Hampshire out of this mess."