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Hampshire Falter As Pink Ball Gets First Four-Day Outing
Hampshire Falter As Pink Ball Gets First Four-Day Outing
Hampshire hosted Somerset for the opening day of Hampshire's day-night four-day fixture at the The Ageas Bowl
Hampshire's Liam Dawson struck a half-century despite his side faltering on the opening day of their day-night Specsavers County Championship clash against Somerset at the The Ageas Bowl.
Dawson (53) looked in good touch at the top of the order as the pink Duke ball made an appearance for the first time, however Somerset bowled with accuracy to reduce Hampshire to 211-9d, before reaching 18-0 at the close.
Lewis Gregory (3-51) along with Craig Overton, Tim Groenewald and Jack Leach, who took two wickets a piece, seemed to enjoy bowling with the pink ball – which was visibly difficult to get away for the batsmen throughout the day.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Hampshire began positively through openers Dawson and Jimmy Adams (47) with the duo looked at ease to reach the interval on 74-0.
Somerset fought back following the restart as Overton broke the 84-run partnership between Adams and Dawson in the fourth over after the resumption, when he had the former caught at first slip by Hildreth.
Overton claimed his second just moments later but Dawson, who returned after his stint in the England team, continued to accumulate nicely as he remained resolute early in the session.
The all-rounder patiently reached a 132-ball half century before Gregory got one to keep low and nip back in to see the right-hander trapped LBW.
The loss of captain George Bailey soon after saw Hampshire fall from 84 without loss to 132-4, before James Vince (47) guided the hosts to the second interval without further loss on 157-4
The visitors again started brightly early on in the session, with three wickets falling, including that of Vince, for the addition of 18 runs.
Gregory then claimed two of this three scalps with the score on 198 and 199 but a flashing cut from Kyle Abbott (13*) secured a batting point before the declaration, allowing a short burst at away-side before the close of play.
Despite testing spells from both Gareth Berg and Abbott, Somerset openers Marcus Trescothick (10*) and Zimbabwean debutant Edward Byrom (1*) saw out the remaining overs under the floodlights without loss.
