Hampshire Cricket History

And so it was same again – well batted Nick Gubbins

The 27th time a Hampshire batter has made two centuries in a match, and the sixth this century with the last four by left-handers – Michael Carberry twice and most recently Sean Ervine (2016).

Two men, Phil Mead and Gordon Greenidge did it three times.

It’s time to talk SUBSTITUTE again

I have previously observed that it makes no sense to me that football and rugby teams can make half-a-dozen tactical substitutions in the last five minutes of an 90/80 minute match while four and five day cricket only allows full playing subs for a crack on the head.

I have also suggested previously that one solution might be to permit a substitute for any reason at the half-way point. This has been a very interesting two days but with almost constant fast-medium bowling leading to over rate issues (another point disappearing Hampshire?).

But imagine if, at the start of our second innings yesterday, both sides could have made one substitution. I suspect Lancashire would have brought on Parkinson – they might really miss him today – and we might still have our leggie as an option, instead of sending him east. With such a rule, Mason would surely have played much more cricket over the past 6/7 years.

It’s not difficult to observe that today’s cricket pretty much replicated yesterday’s but this match is also rather similar to Liverpool last year:

First innings: Hampshire 143; Lancashire recovered from 47-7 to 141

Then in a ‘one innings’ match: Hampshire 193 lost to Lancashire 198-9

PS Saturday – more of the same please

I’m always pleased when we publish a new Handbook as not every club does these days and I’m always happy to be involved in helping to produce it. Our new one came out today but there are some errors in the statistical section, which is getting bigger every year with the inclusion of all the men’s and women’s games in the Hundred, Charlotte Edwards Cup etc.

We have included the 2nd XI Championship scores but not their white ball games and there are some errors. While the scores are there, the averages on page 79 are not for their Championship – they might be for the Trophy, I’m not sure. On the previous page the table suggests we finished second whereas we were Champions. Also thanks to Don who has spotted that the results of the later stages of the RL Cup listed on page 62 are actually for the T20.

I need to keep making this information available as widely as possible, so I’ll be grateful to know if anyone spots other errors.

(You know that’s Fontella Bass don’t you?)

Nick Gubbins and James Fuller

A couple of shots (that’s photographic shots not batters’!) from this morning

is indeed at the Ageas Bowl today – but he’s not playing! Neither is our best leg-spinner (of course). The pitch is way over to the west and we’re batting.

In the Atrium and the walk to the Hotel this morning all the chat was about Crane – and indeed when I met up with Kevan and Scott. I had an idea:

Given the number of teams cricketers now play for through Franchises (etc) might Mason Crane become the first English county cricketer to hold contracts simultaneously with two counties – red-ball with Sussex (or whoever) and white ball with Hampshire?

will be at the Ageas Bowl tomorrow, playing for Lancashire, while Mason Crane has done what I suggested he might do last year and moved counties. It’s only for a month and I suspect he will continue to feature for us as a white ball player but when you consider how he bowled against tomorrow’s opponents just two games ago … Still he’s going home. He leaves on 99 Inter-county (Championship & BW Trophy) wickets for the county

The team tomorrow will see either Wheal or Fuller replace him.

There are a few looming targets for individual players in matches for Hampshire:

James Vince needs 199 runs to complete 10,000 in all first-class

Kyle Abbott is level with Shane Warne’s 276 first-class wickets for Hampshire – only Malcolm Marshall of overseas bowlers is ahead of them (826)

Joe Weatherley has 1915 first-class runs

Ian Holland has 1865 first-class and 1864 inter-county runs

Brad Wheal has 95 first-class wickets

Incidentally, Keith Barker passed 100 first-class wickets and Mo Abbas 50 first-class wickets for Hampshire at Canterbury

PS Hampshire’s 12-man squad tomorrow will contain one Hampshire-born player, Joe Weatherley, plus Felix Organ from Dorset via Australia, the only two to have come through our junior/2nd XI sides in the past 12 years. Apart from Dawson (debut 2007) and Vince (debut 2009) we have four who joined from overseas and four signed from other counties. Meanwhile around the counties a number of our home-grown players are elsewhere: Alsop (Sussex); Came (Derbys); Crane (Sussex); Dale (Glos); McManus (Northants); Scriven (Leics). If the policy now is to buy success so be it, but only if we do succeed.

There is a very interesting piece in today’s Daily Telegraph (online) by Scyld Berry about spin bowling which – with tomorrow’s match in mind – includes this: “the only spinners in the Division One who have taken more than six wickets are Lancashire’s leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, who has taken 11; Zafar Gohar, Gloucestershire’s left-arm spinner and overseas player from Pakistan with ten; and Danny Briggs, Warwickshire’s left-armer, who has eight”. He adds that like Mason Crane, England’s current spinner Jack Leach is yet to take one (Liam and Felix each have three).

This table is interesting, showing Johnny Wardle (who once nearly joined Hampshire) out in front on average and strike rate and level with fellow Yorkshireman Verity on economy, but Leach, while expensive, is second best on the strike rate (one every 11 overs). Who would have thought it?

ENGLAND’S LEADING LEFT-ARM SPINNERS SINCE WW1:

Today’s title is from a track by a relatively obscure American psychedelic band, HP Lovecraft. I’ve been neglecting music references a bit.

Surely?

Hampshire 2nd XI are 418-4 in the 76th over v Cardiff University and one of our not out batsmen (an amateur cannot be a ‘batter’ can he?) is called W La Fontaine Jackson (16*).

The four? Middleton 157; Prest 181 (from 151 balls); Albert 5; Donald 22