Hampshire Cricket History

Things will change from here – watch out Surrey!

I’ll confess I didn’t think we’d do it today but Middleton was terrific and while Fuller drives me nuts at times when he’s going well he’s worth watching.

LOVELY!!

I keep banging on about his remarkable strike rate while anticipating that as his career progresses it will get stretched – but not so far and certainly not this afternoon when it’s improved.

A very good effort today on the whole, let’s hope they can get those runs.

Fractured shoulder – out for six weeks, won’t bat (Good start though)

Interesting that Chelsea Women (FC) won their League yesterday while using five substitutes

But Hampshire have to bat twice over four days with only ten batters.

… of summarising Day One at Trent Bridge: five catches held in the first 25 overs; one in the next 70, plus four(?) dropped?

Or: Down at the bottom, three points each for Lancs & Hants while Worcs seem to be tumbling to a three points defeat against the Champions and Kent smashed somewhat by Somerset.

BBC: “Afghanistan international Naveen-ul-Haq will no longer join Hampshire Hawks for their T20 Blast campaign”.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cv272d743ezo

in today’s Times tries to unravel the latest difficulties with the Hundred. I think it’s quite informative if you’re interested but I’m not much these days.

I kept track yesterday of Liam Dawson as he moved up Hampshire’s list of most overs bowled in an innings, finishing I thought in third place behind Stuart Boyes and Harry Baldwin against Warwickshire in 1897. Look up the scorecard for the latter and you find

So, clearly Liam with ‘only’ 66 remained in third place. But then I got a message from media man Alex Smith who works regularly at the Bowl and writes up Hampshire for Wisden. Initially he agreed with me but then spotted that Cricket Archive had elevated Liam to second place above Harry on (not overs, but) balls bowled because in 1897, overs lasted only five balls each – well spotted Alex!

There was more from him too:

Liam’s was 2nd most balls bowled in an innings in Hampshire’s history
3rd most in 21st century in County Championship (first Englishman, other two were Claude Henderson and Danish Kaneria)
42nd most in County Championship history
First time someone has bowled that many County Championship overs in an innings since 2009

Last person to bowl that many was Claude Henderson, who bowled 67 overs for Leics for Glamorgan in 2009 (July 5-8)…incredibly it came days after he had bowled 64 overs against Surrey (July 31-Aug 3)!

(Thanks)

That died of boredom …

There are 16 stories on the BBC’s cricket site today before you get to Hampshire v Durham which astonishingly they suggest might end as a draw. Before that come stories about most other Championship games (Divs 1 & 2). Anderson, the IPL, women’s games etc.

I think that’s quite generous; there are some statistical events in this match but beyond that it’s hardly worth reporting a game that’s seen just 18 wickets (including two run outs) in three full days – and yesterday just 264 runs all day. Cricket matches of the kind we are seeing at the Bowl this year are doing more to bring on the demise of Championship cricket than the ECB, the Hundred, franchises, central contracts etc. Maybe the change of ground name came with a curse – utilitarians hardly set the pulse racing.

PS Do you have one of those delightful pink earpiece sets? Me too. By accident I left it on so the battery was flat yesterday.The shop were very helpful – they provided free a new battery and when I had problems putting back the cover they did it for me. It was awkward but eventually they managed it and I to listen to the commentary on another enthralling day. But late in the day I discovered the cover had fallen off somewhere in the ground/commentary area – so watch out.

PPS Pompey at just after 9am and rain in the air.

Discuss

Liam Dawson is on the five-for honours board again and this is now his second longest bowling spell in an innings, beating 53-8-180-0 v Surrey here in 2019.
In the same year, his longest was 60-4-184-3 v Yorkshire also at home
That one is the sixth most for Hampshire – the longest was 80 overs by fellow SLA Stuart Boyes in 1934

PS So Liam beat his own record and now stands 4th= in the Hampshire list on 62 – but just one over fewer than Peter Sainsbury in Glamorgan in 1974 – an innings tht arguably cost Hampshire their third Championship title.

In addition, Felix Organ with 40 overs has broken his own record – he’d never bowled 30 in an innings before. I wonder whether either will bowl again tomorrow morning?