Hampshire Seek Revenge Against Northants

Full squad and match preview ahead of Hampshire's LV= County Championship match against Northamptonshire at The Ageas Bowl starting on Wednesday

Hampshire v Northamptonshire
LV= County Championship
Wed 15 – Sat 18 August (11.30 start – day one)
The Ageas Bowl

Hampshire are “out for revenge” as they take on one of only two teams to have beaten them in the LV= County Championship this season – Northamptonshire – in the same competition at The Ageas Bowl, starting on Wednesday.

The midlanders recorded a 117-run victory over Jimmy Adams’ side when the two teams met at Wantage Road back in early May – that, despite a stand-out bowling performance from left-arm seamer, Chris Wood, who took seven wickets in the match.

And Wood is the one addition to the Hampshire squad for Wednesday’s match – an inclusion that also owes, no doubt, to more excellent returns in the Clydesdale Bank 40 (a career-best 5-22 against the Welsh Dragons) and Second XI Championship (an incredible first innings 4-18 against Gloucestershire) in the last week.

However, Wood acknowledges that he’ll have a fight on his hands to get back into the four-day side having not featured in the Championship of late, especially with fellow paceman David Balcombe towards top of the Division Two wicket-taking charts and James Tomlinson enjoying plenty of success of late.

He said; “We knew, coming into this season that we had a very strong bowling unit. We’ve got seven or eight high-class seamers here, of which only three or four can play at one time. I’m happy for all those boys doing well, as long as we’re there-or-there-abouts and winning games, whether I’m in that team or not, I’m happy.

With regards to Northants’ dangermen, Wood thinks conditions could suit the quicker bowlers; “Looking at the wicket for tomorrow, it could be a seamer-friendly one and the likes of Andrew Hall are obviously wiley customers. But if we match up again, one-on-one, we can come out better than them and hopefully win the game and keep pushing for that promotion spot.

“But we’re definitely out for revenge. Always out for revenge once you’ve lost!”

To hear the full interview with Chris Wood, click on the audio file below:

 

Since Hampshire’s nail-biting final afternoon victory against Essex just under a month ago, they’ve struggled to gain real momentum as rain and some good opposition performances have meant they’ve had to settle for draws against Kent and Gloucestershire. And, despite the fact that they currently lie second in the table, because of this they haven’t been able to cement their position there.

Meanwhile, a couple of “winning draws” with plenty of bonus points have seen Northamptonshire sneak under the radar into the fight for promotion. Currently sitting sixth in LV= County Championship Division Two, they are within one win (15 points) of Hampshire and, with third-placed Yorkshire taking on leaders Derbyshire they could very easily jump up a few places with the right set of results.

The full Hampshire squad for Wednesday’s game is as follows:

Full Squad:

(3) Simon Katich	(21) James Tomlinson
(4) Jimmy Adams*	(25) Chris Wood
(7) Sean Ervine	(33) Kabir Ali
(8) Liam Dawson	(44) Neil McKenzie
(16) Michael Bates†	(46) Bilal Shafayat
(17) Dimitri Mascarenhas	(84) David Balcombe
(19) Danny Briggs

Coverage:

Live Text Cricket Updates	Get updates sent to your phone by texting "Follow @HantsCricket" to 86444 (see link for more details)
Live Text Weather Updates	Get updates sent to your phone by texting "Follow @TheAgeasBowl" to 86444 (see link for more details)
Match-Day Information Line (for weather updates)	02380 475 662
Online Ball-by-Ball Commentary	Hospital Broadcasting Association

Other:

Please note, day one of this fixture will start at 11.30 owing to the late finish of the Royals’ Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Somerset on Tuesday. All timings (lunch, tea and close), therefore, will be moved back half an hour. Timings will resume to normal on days two, three and four.

Weather Forecast

Tickets

Words: Simon Vincent
Images: LMI Photography

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