Hants Fight Back as the Wickets Fall at Edgbaston

Match Report from day one of Hampshire's LV= County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

Warwickshire v Hampshire
LV= County Championship
Day One: Thursday 18 August 2011
Edgbaston

Summary: Warwickshire trail Hampshire by 45 runs
with six wickets remaining in the first innings
Hampshire: 141ao
Warwickshire: 96-4
Click here for a full live scorecard

Hampshire Team
Adams*, Dawson, Carberry, McKenzie, Vince, Ervine, Mascarenhas, Wood, Bates⁺, Tomlinson, Tahir

Warwickshire Team
Chopra, Westwood, Porterfield, Chanderpaul, Troughton*, Ambrose⁺, Clarke, Woakes, Barker, Metters, Rankin

On a day in which 14 wickets fell at Edgbaston, Hampshire fought back strongly having posted a score of 141 all out to leave Warwickshire 96-4 - and still 45 runs behind in the first innings - by stumps.

That they were on the back foot from the off was mainly due to an extraordinary spell of bowling from England youngster Chris Woakes who registered career-best figures – indeed, the best Championship figures by any bowler all season – to finish with 7-20.

Both sides produced just one example of inspired batting each; Sean Ervine and Dimitri Mascarenhas’ seventh wicket partnership of 64 measured against Varun Chopra’s individual knock of 55 in reply.

Late on, Hampshire’s left-arm seamer, James Tomlinson announced his return to the side with some tight bowling, removing both openers as the home side struggled to take advantage of the situation.

AUDIO: Manager, Giles White's reaction to the day's play

Warwickshire won the toss and, unsurprisingly, elected to bowl first in the very seam-friendly conditions of a green-tinged wicket with overcast skies. But they didn’t have it all their own way immediately as Hampshire moved to the brink of the 50 in relative comfort – albeit losing Jimmy Adams (17), who chipped a slower ball from Keith Barker to gully, in the process.

But then, with the score on 48-1 in the 11th over, there was a sign of the gathering storm as Liam Dawson survived a loud lbw shout. That would be the last let-off Hampshire would get. Two wickets in four balls from Woakes saw off recent record-breaking duo, Michael Carberry (4) and Neil McKenzie (0). And in the four overs that followed, two more wickets would fall, also without score; Dawson (25) and James Vince (0) departing to leave Hampshire 48-5!

A cut boundary from Ervine relieved the pressure briefly, taking Hampshire through the landmark that had proved so unbelievably evasive. But it wasn’t until Michael Bates (1) chipped another shot to gully – this time off the England Lions’ newest debutant Boyd Rankin – that the duo of Ervine and Mascarenhas would combine to establish some sort of order.

Batting remarkably well considering the circumstances, the pair saw Hampshire through to lunch on 77-6. And things were even looking up when, shortly after the restart, Mascarenhas flashed Barker for four through gully to bring up the Hampshire 100, then nicked a single to bring up the 50 partnership (off 88 balls); Hampshire 107-6.

But when Ervine (36) played onto his stumps and Mascarenhas (33) edged to second slip to give home-grown seamer Woakes his five-fer, a second collapse of the innings was on. A decent knock from Chris Wood (18) helped see Hampshire to an all-out total of 141 but it looked like a disappointing score on the whole.

Not so, soon after the restart as the similarities between the two innings were astounding. Like Hampshire, Warwickshire were struggling when they went in at the tea break on 48-2; Tomlinson – in for the injured Kabir Ali - involved in both wickets.  First, the left-armer nipped one back to trap Ian Westwood (8) lbw, then he caught Will Porterfield (14) in the deep off Ervine’s first over with the ball.

And when Mascarenhas also took a wicket within his first six deliveries – danger-man Shivnarine Chanderpaul (1) edging low to Liam Dawson in the slips – the visitors felt they were swinging the game back into the balance, now 48-3.

The one man they really needed to get out was Varun Chopra, though. The opener has terrorised attacks all season and he brought up his 1,000th Championship run of the summer with two shots to the boundary, celebrating by bludgeoning another to the ropes through mid-wicket. Not long afterwards the sixth four of his 94-ball innings so far brought up his half-century and, together with captain, Jim Troughton the pair were well on their way to replicating Mascarenhas and Ervine’s 50 partnership. Importantly, they would fall short by four runs.

With their side still yet to go through the 100 barrier, Tomlinson returned to the attack from the Birmingham end and promptly rapped Chopra on the pads for 55. That would prove to be the last substantial action of the day as the players were brought off for bad light with 12 overs left to go. The teams resume in the morning with Hampshire enjoying fresh impetus, knowing that early wickets could, even still, see the match tipping in their favour. 

Words: Simon Vincent
Images: LMI Photography 

Catch Up:

You can keep up to date with live text commentary on all Hampshire's matches from the Hampshire CCC Facebook and @HantsCricket Twitter pages. BBC West Midlands is also broadcasting live ball-by-ball coverage of this match online.

Preview:

Hants Remain Unchanged for Edgbaston

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