Hampshire Cricket History

After today (day one v Worcs) in the Championship, Hampshire have lost 173 overs or just under 11 hours so far in 2015.

Liam Dawson is having a frustrating season (HS 40) but he is still averaging 26.3. Dawson and Adams have shared seven opening partnerships so far (one undefeated) and they are averaging 55.83.

Nightwatchman James Tomlinson facing Jack Shantry with a leg slip, leg gully, forward short leg and short mid wicket. Intriguingly the leg side field (in total) would have been ‘illegal’ in a local league match; here it was simply fascinating, although James was actually dismissed at the other end.

The last bit of today was hugely disappointing but congratulations to Will Smith who was awarded a well-deserved county cap at 3pm. Let’s hope he can show why tomorrow morning …

Looks like a good chance of rain tomorrow, Monday …

Edwards is rested, Adams (A) is back in the squad

News added here on this post on Sunday as I’m travelling light

9.30 am: been here for an hour, it’s damp, grey and miserable but it’s not actually raining right now. Lots of covers still on

10.10: the crowd poured in and now the rain is pouring down.

3pm: play starts and Will Smith has been capped. We’re batting

The BBC Sport site this morning has a “Hampshire” link followed by this

“England’s T20 Blast competition can emulate the success of Australia’s Big Bash by reducing the number of teams involved, says Hampshire and Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat … All 18 county sides play in the T20 Blast, while just eight teams take part in Australia’s 20-over version. “I think the Big Bash is exceptional. They’ve fewer teams but televise every game,” Arafat told BBC Radio Solent.

Michael Carberry said much the same earlier in the season

It’s clear that this Franchise plan accompanied by the reduction in Championship games is gaining momentum and it seems to me that ‘Hampshire’ is very keen to be associated with the drive

Just not this bit of Hampshire

However, as long as I am the historian (Archivist) I’ll do my best to record what happens, while occasionally expressing views that may be contrary. In that case they are simply my views as a long-time fan and punter

Cardiff tonight is free from rain on the forecast but Sunday and Tuesday look dodgy

However, Pompey was due for plenty of rain this morning, clearing early afternoon. In fact (12.30pm) we’ve not had a drop

So I’m quietly confident of a heatwave starting Sunday morning …

Hants v Glams in T20:

A few years ago, Hampshire played a thrilling game v Notts at the (then) Rose Bowl) after which Tony Pigot and a couple of henchmen fined Hampshire points for a pitch with excessive turn. No one was hurt and Hampshire did not win.

This week Sussex beat Warwicks over three days at Hove. Two 2nd XI matches on that ground have already been abandoned this year. The scores this week were 180 & 200 lost to 191 & 190-9. Obviously a thrilling finish with a home win.

The Guardian carried a report which included this:

“This match had been dominated by the pitch; the variable bounce made it nigh on impossible for batsmen to get settled – three players sustained some sort of injury because of it. It remains to be seen whether Sussex will be docked points, the umpires and captains spent a considerable time talking to the cricket liaison officer Tony Pigot at the end of play and he will file his report accordingly … one spectator noted ‘this is the worst pitch I’ve seen here at Hove, it’s embarrassing’.”

So, it remains to be seen indeed – I wonder what Tony Pigot (ex Sussex pace bowler) will say and what ECB will do … No news yet.

Cardiff last September was of course a ‘must win’ game. Now that this round of championship matches is over, Durham having played six and won three, are out on top and with everyone else having played five matches the bottom four is:

Somerset 52

Worcester 45

Notts 40

Hants 39

It’s difficult to believe that Notts will be relegated – Lumb and Hales are due back, maybe Broad will sneak a key game for them – so it’s perhaps no surprise that the other three sides are there. Will they still be there in 11 matches time? Probably, I suspect.

It makes next week’s meeting with Worcs very important but while I don’t yet believe it’s a ‘must win’, I suspect it might be a ‘must not lose’. Also next week, Warwicks v Middx and Notts v Sussex may prove to be irrelevant come September, so defeat next week would leave Hampshire worryingly adrift.

You may note that I’ve added a question mark to the previous title – it strikes me I was over-pessimistic at this stage. Thank you very much for so many thoughtful comments about this issue. It won’t go away of course and I shall be very pleased if others wish to add a view – whichever way you incline.

There could hardly be a better moment to applaud the magic of the longer forms of cricket – or indeed its broad appeal – yet on page 2 of this weekend’s Cricket Paper is a leading article about a further reduction in the County Championship which is looking highly probably from 2017.

The headline and first point is about Scotland being added (presumably alongside two other teams) to make three divisions and twelve matches, as I reported last week. But the article is accompanied by a picture of Rod Bransgrove (with the byline “Advocating change”) who is quoted extensively in the second part. He says:

“You can hold on to tradition of course but the world changes around it and then that becomes as I call it, gratuitous tradition and that’s pointless and belongs to nobody, it belongs in a museum”.

“We have to have a game that is contributing to the whole and produces England cricketers in a vibrant and successful county game”

“The debate should be how do we take this game and continue to use it as a springboard for developing international cricketers in both one-day and international cricket”

“There are a few of us who believe that playing 16 four-day games each summer is too many”

“Let’s face it, they’re (Championship matches) not commercial jackpots, they’re difficult and expensive to stage and you don’t get a massive return in terms of domestic income. We need to play that against the need to develop England sides and I’m sure there’s a better way”.

Those of you that go to Championship matches will know that i always write a piece for each Round Up and my next is a response to this idea. If you don’t or can’t go, you can be sure that my views on this topic will emerge over the next few (many?) months. For now, I’m content simply to record the proposals and quote in full the views attributed to Hampshire’s Chairman in that article.