Hampshire Cricket History

Hampshire have been operating with a small squad this season but Mascarenhas is back now and Griffiths is fit again so there may be some pressure on places. I imagine Wednesday evening will stay the same but I wonder about the Championship. Will ‘Dimi’ or David play? What about the batters? Roberts made a good start at Bristol and despite Dawson’s ‘pair’ he’s generally batting well but Bailey is struggling. He started with a very impressive 93 v Leics but his other Championship scores have been 11, 15, 31, 13 and 16 while in the 40-over League he’s scored 24, 9 and 13 – the 13 was yesterday when he couldn’t help Carberry at all – he couldn’t really get going. With one exception he gets to double figures but doesn’t keep going.

The Durham players congratulate Liam Dawson who has just scored Hampshire’s winning run.

He batted very coolly at the end under some pressure – and there was a wicket too (below)

(NB: Stokes wore red boots. When Durham fielded, Borthwick wore them)

Lancashire’s win over Surrey means Hampshire lead the table

Hampshire needed one to win and Carberry needed four for his century

so he had a go but unfortunately top-edged it to the ‘keeper

For Season no 18 with Hampshire and here, his first ball and first wicket

I saw a forecast yesterday morning suggesting we’d have a grey but probably dry day and one last night which said wet. Who knows?*

If the rain is anywhere it looks like central southern coast which means the Test should be OK today but maybe not tomorrow. It could be all over today. Quite a few people with a slight interest in cricket but knowing my fondness have taken time in the past couple of days to observe about the dullness, especially on day one – and dull it certainly was. But now of course it’s boiling up into something rather exciting. It’s the wonder of the longer game. 40 overs can give a different kind of excitement (e.g.last year’s finals) but the twists and turns in 4/5 day cricket are fine by me – as long as the weather behaves.

*PS: Just checked again. There is a big lump of rain over the Channel and the question is will it move inland and hit us? This morning it looks less likely again, so maybe we’ll get some cricket.

It seems extraordinary but Worcestershire look to be heading for their first victory as Kent capitulate. I thought Kent might be a decent Div 2 side this year but they’re not – yet at least – whereas Worcs who looked very poor at the Ageas Bowl have improved. I have a feeling Northants and Leics is heading for a draw which makes this week’s Hampshire match v Lancashire take on greater significance. I imagine Carberry will replace Roberts but will the bowling be the same or will they consider Mascarenhas (I think Griffiths is not yet fit)

Back to today, I wonder whether Essex will chase down the runs against Glamorgan? They need 160 more in I guess between 30/40 overs and with all 10 wickets in hand. They seem an odd side – inconsistent but potentially pretty good.

As for the weather, it seems to be improving at least briefly given that some of these matches started on Wednesday when parts of England were covered in snow! Meanwhile in Div One, Derbyshire seem to be sinking rapidly and Surrey are still a mess. Both have lost today and Notts victory helped them pull away near the foot of the table. Given Surrey’s extravagant purchasing of old cricketers from other counties it’s hard to have much sympathy.

PS: Essex won and are second so Hampshire down to fifth but with a game in hand over the top two. However, Kent did get stuffed and are away to Essex this week.

Peter was asking and it may be common knowledge by now but if not, ‘Dimi’ is back from the IPL and in the squad for Sunday. I guess there’s a good chance of seeing as many runs and wickets that afternoon as there have been in two days at the Test match.