Hampshire Cricket History

Lancashire, top of the table have three of the Top 20 wicket takers in Div 2

Northants, second, have four of the Top 20

Essex, third have three of the Top 20

Three sides have only one bowler in the Top 20: Hampshire, Leicestershire and Kent

They are the bottom three sides in the table

It strikes me as interesting also, that of the Top 20 bowlers, five are 35 years old or more and eleven are over 30 – including Tomlinson of Hampshire (31)

Brad Taylor finally got to score a run today and actually scored 20 from 27 balls. In 1907, Kennedy on debut registered 0 & 0*, so Taylor is now the youngest man ever to score a Championship run for Hampshire. In addition, Wheater and Coles added a record 8th wicket partnership for Hampshire v Lancashire and Hampshire’s fourth innings was their highest ever against Lancashire (beating 1962).

Shame about days two and three.

… England, having been smashed on Thursday have still not bothered to pick Michael Carberry (they are unchanged). Even less do I see the point – he may as well have played at Southport, since had there been an injury on Thursday he could have driven up in no time.

How odd – I have returned from a delightful walk around sunny Southsea to discover that Lancashire have managed one run out all morning, while Wheater has his first Championship century for Hampshire (110*) and Matt Coles has scored 50* on his first-class debut.

Six men have scored a century on first-class debut for Hampshire and Coles is some way off the best which is John Crawley with 272 at Canterbury in 2002 – like Coles, they had all played first-class cricket previously.

Nonetheless, it’s a very good effort by these two and restores some pride after some poor performances on days two and three.

Now we’re out of the League we can concentrate on the Cup

Northants are stuffing Glamorgan even more quickly than we are subsiding at Southport

Leicestershire are struggling so we should not finish last (only once in well over 100 years and never since 1980)

Brad Taylor took four wickets in the innings

I like to be cheerful whenever possible, but that may be it folks

England celebrate after their super win at the Ageas Bowl yesterday, which clinched the Ashes.

The blokes? Did they play too? I must have missed that.

Is that the team that picked that 32-year-old on his home ground, just to carry the drinks?

Prior to the current matches, Just under 75% of the Division Two matches have been completed

To date there have been 27 draws which is just over 50%

Last year (VERY wet) 54% were drawn

In 2011 (Division Two) 32% were drawn

In 2010 – the lowest recent figure, 28% were drawn

See Below

I have identified 28 players who have currently taken 20+ wickets in Div 2

Seven men have taken more than 40 wickets – none from Hampshire for whom Tomlinson (36 @ 23.13) and Briggs (25 @ 33.48) have taken most. No other Hampshire players (including Coles) have yet reached 20. Balcombe is on 19 wickets, but not being selected.

The seven are: Hogan (Glams) 55, Richardson (Worcs) 50, Hogg (Lancs) 49, Chapple (Lancs) 49, Kerrigan (Lancs) 48, Willey (Northants) 43 and Copeland (Northants) 40

So, five of the seven are from the top two sides while Crook (Northants) has 38 and Hall (Northants) has 26. It’s perhaps not difficult to see the significance of wicket-takers in pursuing success in the Championship (I know, hardly a revelation!)

Napier of Essex is the best all-rounder with 642 runs @ 58.36 and 38 wickets @ 29.02.

The other striking thing is the number of older players performing well – as with Tomlinson at Hampshire (31). Another is David Masters at Essex with 36 wickets @ 25.36.

Hampshire have generally disappointed in the Championship this season and there may be a number of reasons. I’ve been looking at the Div 2 batting averages and identified to date, 21 players who have scored 600 or more runs.

Three of them are from Hampshire, Carberry, Dawson and Vince, but their totals are not huge – Dawson is top scorer with 700 runs at 46.66. There are, on the other hand four men who passed 1,000 runs, Ali (Worcs), Eckersley (Leics), Goodwin (Glams) and Katich (Lancs). Gidman and Klinger of Gloucs have passed 900 and five more have passed 800 – that’s 11 batsmen from nine teams all well ahead of anyone from Hampshire. Dawson is 15th in the list of top scorers in Division 2

On the other hand, with a game in hand on most other teams, Hampshire’s batting bonus points are close to most other teams except Northants

I’m not sure how much this reveals but I’ll have a look at the bowling next.

Charles Young (pre-Championship days) remains the youngest man ever to play First-Class for Hampshire