Under Fire Hants Hold on For the Draw

Hampshire draw with Somerset in their LV=County Championship match at Taunton.

Hampshire v Somerset
LV= County Championship Division 1
Monday 9th – Thursday 12th August 2010
Taunton

Match Drawn
Hampshire: 284 & 224-4 (67.0 ov)
Somerset: 412
Click here to see a full scorecard
Somerset 11pts - Hampshire 8pts

Hampshire have given their hopes of staying in Division One a boost after securing a draw in their County Championship match with title-chasing Somerset.
 
After being bowled out for 412, Hampshire were up against it at 55 for 2, but James Vince (43) and Neil McKenzie (60*) steadied the ship.
 
The draw means Hants leapfrog Essex and Kent in Division One ahead of Twenty20 finals day on Saturday, where they could meet Somerset once again, who jump to second.

 

Click on the image above to see highlights of Thursday's play

It took Hampshire just 25 minutes to bowl Somerset out in the morning session as the hosts surpassed 400 and claimed their fifth batting point. James Tomlinson (7 for 85) picked up his sixth and seventh scalps of the innings, finding James Hildreth’s edge (130) then Murali Kartik’s (2) with Vince and Jimmy Adams the successful catchers. Dan Christian then comprehensively bowled Charl Willoughby (5).
 
That quick collapse left Somerset 128 runs ahead of Hampshire, and slowly but surely Hants openers Adams and Michael Carberry went about eroding that lead, but shortly before tea both men were out.
 
Adams (19), who had kept Kartik at bay for most of the morning session, top edged the spinner up in air for Zander de Bruyn to take a straightforward catch. Carberry (22) then saw his off stump fly out the ground as Willoughby flew in from the River End. At the break it left Hampshire still needing 68 to make their opponents bat again and thanks to Vince, who survived being dropped by Peter Trego, and McKenzie they eased into the lead during the afternoon.

Neil McKenzie helped Hampshire hold on for the draw with an unbeaten 60

Vince’s resistance was finally broken in the first over of de Bruyn’s opening spell in the second innings as Marcus Trescothick took a catch in the slips as the 19-year old prodded at a wide delivery. McKenzie and new partner Christian battled through the remainder of the session, as they continued to frustrate Somerset’s bowlers.
 
When a De Bruyn’s delivery struck Christian on the head, resulting in a long delay before the Australian was able to continue, Hants captain, Dominic Cork waved a white flag outside the dressing room window; a reference to Christian being the latest in a long line of Hampshire players to be struck down during this match. Despite the blow the all-rounder wasn’t fazed as he started to play decent attacking strokes before the tea interval, which the teams went into with Hampshire leading by 49 runs.
 
McKenzie, consistently the thorn in Somerset’s side on the final day, reached his half century in 110 balls and after his eighth four was pulled away in front of square. Michael Bates even produced a few hefty blows, puncturing the field as Trego toiled during the evening.
 
And just 50 minutes after tea, as Hampshire’s lead approached 100, both teams shook hands and ended the match at 5pm. Hants finished on 224 for 4, with McKenzie unbeaten on 60 and Bates not out on 16. The visitors come away with eight valuable points in their battle to stay in Division One, while Somerset’s 11 points are only good enough for them to overtake Yorkshire in the table, behind leaders Nottinghamshire.

Words: Nick Howson - Images: Phil Mingo

Day Three 

Summary
Somerset lead Hampshire by 108 runs
Hampshire: 284 (Carberry 71, Ervine 48, Lumb 42)
Somerset: 392-7 (Tomlinson 5-78)

James Tomlinson’s 5 for 78 and James Hildreth’s unbeaten 128 were the headlines from day three of Somerset and Hampshire’s County Championship match, after an action packed day at Taunton.

Hildreth and Zander de Bruyn (95) put on 155 for the 5th wicket leaving Somerset on 392 for 7 the close.

With the hosts’ lead of 108, Hampshire can expect an early declaration on day four, but they’ll be concerned about the absence of Dominic Cork and Sean Ervine, both of whom missed the evening session.

After losing 90 overs during the past two days due to adverse weather, both sides were keen to make early inroads. But while Somerset were solid in their approach, Hampshire endured a frustrating first hour. However, as he did during evening session on Tuesday, Tomlinson came up with the breakthrough.

 

Alfonso Thomas (5) wafted at a ball wide of off-stump and edged it straight to Jimmy Adams at third slip. The left-armer repeated the trick with Arul Suppiah (37) who edged to Neil McKenzie.

The visitors nearly completed a perfect morning when Craig Kieswetter (43) was dropped on 0 but soon enough England’s one-day wicket-keeper got into his stride with a number of extravagant straight drives, proving that despite the deluge of water the pitch may have absorbed, there was no substitute for sublime timing.

In the fourth over after lunch the 22-year old’s knock came to an end with Tomlinson yet again the benefactor as Michael Lumb caught his international teammate at cover after a languid drive.

De Bruyn began Somerset’s consolidation during the afternoon session as he reached 50. Hildreth, too, moved to his half century with his ninth boundary of the innings, as conditions became perfect for batting.

 

Hampshire lost Dominic Cork and Sean Ervine during the match

Without Dominic Cork and Sean Ervine for the final session Hampshire were up against it, but the industrious Danny Briggs came up with the goods, bowling de Bruyn, just five short of his 22nd first-class century, after the middle order batsman attempted an audacious reverse sweep.

But his partner Hildreth was to make no mistake. After smashing Briggs over the stand for six earlier in the innings he carved Dan Christian down to third man for his 14th four, to complete his sixth century of the season.

The 25 year-old’s partners struggled to keep with him, though, as Christian, with the new ball, trapped Jos Buttler lbw for 20, but Peter Trego showed far more resistance firing 32 before Tomlinson had him caught by Michael Bates.

Somerset ended the uninterrupted day 108 runs ahead of Hampshire, looking to set up a tense finale on the last day as they continue to chase down their first ever County Championship title. Hampshire, meanwhile, will be keen to gain a psychological edge ahead of Twenty20 finals day, where the two teams could be set to renew their rivalry.

Words: Nick Howson - Images: Phil Mingo

Day Two

Summary
Somerset trail Hampshire by 268 runs
Hampshire: 284 (Carberry 71, Ervine 48, Lumb 42)
Somerset: 16-1

Hampshire and Somerset both have it all to play for in their Division One County Championship match after a short but action-packed final session at Taunton on day two.

After resuming on 217-5, and despite play not starting until 5pm, Somerset knocked over Hampshire for 284 with Charl Willoughby taking for 4-80.

In reply, James Tomlinson claimed the prized wicket of Marcus Trescothick (7) as Somerset ended the day on 16-1.

 

Instead of giving Somerset the impetus to push on in the match, the ball change initially gave the visiting batsmen some extra pace to work with. Ervine started by pulling Alfonso Thomas for boundaries in consecutive balls before Christian drove hard at successive length deliveries from Willoughby.

But the South African was not to be denied for long as, in the 5th over of his spell, he bowled both Christian (28) and Michael Bates (2) and the hosts took control.

Even the resistance of Ervine (48) was broken as his attempted hook off Thomas sailed into the hands of Jos Buttler, and then James Tomlinson (0) was out lbw to the very next ball.

Charl Willoughby ended the innings with figures of 4-80

Dominic Cork (12) struck Willoughby right down the throat of James Hildreth at long-off and Hampshire were all out with time still remaining for the hosts to open their innings.

They had a 30 minute spell at the Somerset openers before the close but they earned a crucial breakthrough.

Tomlinson seduced Trescothick into a laboured stroke which skewed up into the air for the left-arm bowler to take the simplest of catches.

Both Arul Suppiah and Thomas ducked and dived under intense pressure from Cork and Tomlinson but were eventually able to see out the remainder of the day with Somerset 268 runs behind at the close.

Words: Nick Howson - Images: Phil Mingo

Day One

Summary
Hampshire lead Somerset by 217 runs
Hampshire: 217-5 (Carberry 71, Lumb 42)

Michael Carberry (71) helped give Hampshire the edge after a rain-affected first day of their County Championship match against Somerset at Taunton.

The opener produced a performance worthy of an England re-call with some startling stroke-play as Hants ending the day on 217 for 5.

Murali Kartik did take 3-51 to hold up Hampshire’s progress but the spinner’s success will only encourage the visitors, who should bowl last on the already-aging wicket.

 

Click on the image above to see highlights of Monday's play

Knowing a win would catapult Somerset to the top of Division One, and dramatically increase their chances of claiming their first County Championship title, home captain, Marcus Trescothick stuck Hampshire in to bat during an overcast morning.

Jimmy Adams earned early reprieves as he was dropped twice in the opening exchanges. First Peter Trego was unable to grasp a thick-edge towards the slips while Jos Buttler fumbled the opener’s chip to square leg with Charl Willoughby the unfortunate bowler on both occasions.

Both Carberry and Adams settled in well on a green surface with the latter, in particular, not afraid to drive through cover when the opportunity arose. However, just minutes before lunch, the opener, attempting to nudge Trego away for a single, edged the seam bowler to Craig Kieswetter for 34.

Michael Lumb kept the Somerset bowlers at bay for the remainder of the morning session and, with rain threatening to bring an end to play, Carberry started to unleash upon the hosts’ attack, passing 1000 County Championship runs in the process, on his way to a well-worked half century.

Carberry scored his 1000th Championship run this season

But as Hants were building up ahead of steam Kartik – so often the go-to guy for Somerset – found Carberry’s outside edge and Kieswetter duly took the catch behind the stumps.

The Indian succeeded in slowing the scoring rate for the remainder of the afternoon session but he couldn’t budge either Lumb or Neil McKenzie, who had put on Hampshire’s third 50 partnership of the day. Until, that is, Lumb (42) re-bounded a Kartik delivery back to the bowler.

Somerset now possess the momentum and, despite numerous rain delays after tea they forced their way back into the match with a succession of important break-throughs.

James Vince (4) was trapped LBW by Kartik, then McKenzie (23) was shown the door after Willoughby’s pace delivery thundered against his pads.

Dan Christian (11*), making his first class debut, and Sean Ervine (18*) started the re-building job late in the day and both were at ease at the crease when heavy rain finally brought an end to proceedings on day one.

Words: Nick Howson - Images: Phil Mingo

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