Hants End Season on a High With Convincing Victory

Sep 26 2013

Coles finished with match figures of 10-154

Hampshire v Essex
LV= County Championship
Tues 24 – Friday 27 Sept (10:30 start)
The Ageas Bowl

Summary: Hampshire beat Essex by an innings and 31 runs
Hampshire: 456 all out
Essex: 207 all out & 218 all out
Scorecard
Final Table

Hampshire:
Carberry, Adams, Dawson, Vince, Wheater, Ervine, Bates, Coles, Briggs, Brathwaite, Tomlinson
Essex:
Mickleburgh, Gambhir, Westley, Smith, Foster, Foakes, Velani, Napier, Mahmood, Panesar, Mills

Hampshire secured their second consecutive LV= County Championship victory thanks to a brilliant bowling performance on day three to see off Essex by an innings and 31 runs at The Ageas Bowl.

Seamers James Tomlinson (4-63) and Matt Coles (4-83) tore through the Essex batting line-up to bowl Essex out for just 218 in the afternoon session. 

The convincing victory moves Hampshire, if only temporarily, into fourth in the league. 

Essex openers Jaik Mickleburgh (22) and Gautam Gambhir (26) quickly undone their patient start in the evening session yesterday as they both fell inside the first three overs of the day. The latter of which was Tomlinson’s 50^th LV=CC wicket of the season.

And in an almost mirror image of their first innings, the visitors struggled to form any worthwhile partnerships as wickets tumbled at regular intervals. Coles and Tomlinson in particular impressed alongside Sean Ervine (1-11) who picked up the key wicket of visiting captain James Foster (8)  to leave Essex 132-6 at lunch.

And it didn’t take long in the afternoon session for Hampshire to drive home their dominance, as Michael Bates took two impressive catches to see off talented youngster Ben Foakes (27) and Sajid Mahmood (6) to leave Essex 177-8 still 72 runs behind. It did look like Graham Napier’s (53) counter-attacking strokeplay was just delaying the inevitable, but the 33-year old was doing It with great success as he reached his half-century in 57 balls (7 fours, 2 sixes).

But once Napier fell to Tomlinson, it soon became a race between the left-armer and on-loan Coles for the last wicket with both players eying up a personal milestone. And it was Coles who won the race, clean bowling Monty Panesar (16) to finish with career best match figures of 10-154 and dismiss Essex for 218.

Words: Jamie Hopkins
Images: NJM Photography

DAY TWO

Summary: Essex trail Hampshire by 205 runs with
ten wickets remaining in their second innings
Hampshire: 456 all out
Essex: 207 all out & 44-0 (following-on)
Scorecard

Brilliant individual performances from Matt Coles (6-71) and Adam Wheater (122) meant Hampshire ended day two in a commanding position in their LV= County Championship match against Essex at The Ageas Bowl.

Wheater added a quickfire 40 to his overnight score to reach his second LV=CC century of the season and lead Hampshire to 456 all out in their first innings.

On-loan Coles then picked up six wickets in an innings for only the second time in his career as the visitors were dismissed for 207 all out in reply with Hampshire enforcing the follow-on.

Bad light then stopped play late in the day to leave Essex 44-0, trailing by 205 runs.  

If Adam Wheater was nervous about being just 18 runs off a century against his former county overnight, he hid it very well. The wicketkeeper-batsman took just twenty minutes to reach his second LV=CC ton for Hampshire as a 61-run partnership between him and Ruel Brathwaite (17) led the home side to a healthy 456 all out in their first innings.

It was spinner Greg Smith (5-58) who ended Wheater’s fluent knock to grab his third five-wicket haul for Essex.

Any faint hopes of Essex piping Northants to the promotion post relied on them getting a victory in this match. But those hopes were quickly fading when Coles dismissed both Essex openers, the latter being Gautam Gambhir (3) for the same score he hit at The Ageas Bowl for India against England in an ODI in 2007.

Despite Tom Westley (40) and Greg Smith (37) providing brief resistance with a stand of 65 for the third wicket, wickets continued to fall for the visitors as Brathwaite and James Tomlinson picked up their first dismissals of the match to leave Essex 93-4.

And it was a theme that ran through the whole Essex innings as Coles in particular tore through the middle-order with an excellent spell of pace bowling to see the visitors go from 138-5 to 195-8 inside 13 overs. And fittingly, it was Coles who finished off the innings with the wicket of Monty Panesar (3) to dismiss Essex for 207, trailing by 249 runs and subsequently enforce the follow-on. 

However, bad light stopped play late in the day with Essex on 44-0 in their second innings, trailing by 205 runs. 

Words: Jamie Hopkins

DAY ONE

Summary: Hampshire lead Essex by 398 runs
with two wickets remaining in their first innings
Hampshire: 398-8
Scorecard

Hampshire:
Carberry, Adams, Dawson, Vince, Wheater, Ervine, Bates, Coles, Briggs, Brathwaite, Tomlinson
Essex:
Mickleburgh, Gambhir, Westley, Smith, Foster, Foakes, Velani, Napier, Mahmood, Panesar, Mills

Half-centuries from Michael Carberry (85), James Vince (82) and Adam Wheater (82*) helped Hampshire into an excellent position on day one of their LV= County Championship match against Essex at The Ageas Bowl.

Eye-catching knocks from Carberry and Vince had led the home side to a strong position at 266-3 before a four wicket fightback from spinner Greg Smith (4-47) sparked a mid-order collapse.

However, an excellent unbeaten half-century from Wheater which was well-supported by Danny Briggs (20) led Hampshire to 392-8 at stumps.  

Hampshire opener Carberry unsurprisingly began the day in a buoyant mood after call-up to the England Ashes squad. And despite Sajid Mahmood picking up his first wicket of the match to dismiss Jimmy Adams (20), Carberry and the in-form Liam Dawson (40) looked untroubled throughout the morning session as Hants went into lunch on 115-1.

Essex’s second breakthrough shortly after lunch only brought another in-form batsman to the crease – Vince. And it was Carberry and Vince, who received a call-up to the England performance squad yesterday, who were central to Hampshire’s strongest period of the match.

The pair batted fluently to put on 100 for the third wicket before Carberry missed out on his second LV=CC century of the year thanks to a smart diving by Tymal Mills in the covers. Despite Carberry missing out on the ton, it looked as if Vince was in a good position on 71 not out at tea with Hants 266-3.

However, Vince was the second batsman to miss out on his century as he fell to Graham Napier (1-74) early on in the evening session. And the 22-year old’s dismissal sparked a mini collapse from the Hampshire middle order with Smith striking twice to leave the home side 304-7.

Despite being late in the evening session, you could argue what came next was the most impressive of the day. Wheater brought up his half-century in just 52 balls (5 fours, 1 six) as he led Hampshire to their fourth batting point. And he was brilliantly supported by Briggs as the pair put on 88 for the eighth wicket to leave the home side 398-8 at stumps. 

Words: Jamie Hopkins
Images: LMI Photography