Hampshire CCC - A Change in Fortunes

[DjF]

Hampshire CCC – A Change in Fortune

With a surprise reinstatement into Division 1 at the expense of Durham and the signings of a couple of above average South Africans, Hampshire have become quite a talking point in recent months. Of course because of this I couldn’t resist captaining my home county in what could prove to be a rather controversial season.

In the past couple of years Hampshire have struggled somewhat, clinging onto first division cricket by the skin of their teeth and struggling to yield the results we are all used to in the limited overs formats, time to see if I can change their fortunes and put Hampshire back on the map.

My aims for the first season are very clear, with a complete lack of success in the county championship this will be my priority although with the squad we have there is no reason we cannot compete in all three competitions.

County Championship – Challenge for the championship but minimum top 4.
One Day Cup / T20 Blast – Reach knockout stage in both competition

Another important aspect for me is to carry on developing the pool of young upcoming players and ensure that even with the new additions they continue to get regular first team cricket in all 3 formats, this will mean frequent squad rotation but also will put pressure on the senior players to cement their place in the starting eleven.

[Heisenberg]

Bit of an ageing squad, likes of Adams, Carberry, Berg, Ervine, Smith and Fidel Edwards wont be with you for long.

Interested to see how the likes of Alsop, Topley, Crane, McManus and Wheal develop whilst Vince, Dawson, Abbott and Rossouw must play well whilst youngsters are developing.

[Chris Child]

Nice to see some story threads.

[DjF]

Hampshire Squad
2017 Season

Jimmy Adams	Opening Batsmen
Tom Alsop	Opening Batsmen
Michael Carberry	Opening Batsmen
Joe Weatherley	Opening Batsmen
Jake Goodwin	Opening Batsmen
James Vince	Batsmen (Captain for One Day and T20)
George Bailey	Batsmen (County Championship Captain)
Will Smith	Batsmen
Sean Ervine	Batsmen
Rilee Rossouw	Batsmen
Fraser Hay	Batsmen
Lewis McManus	Wicket Keeper
Calvin Dickinson	Wicket Keeper
Liam Dawson	All-Rounder
Ian Holland	All-Rounder
Gareth Berg	All-Rounder
Brad Taylor	All-Rounder
Asher Hart	All-Rounder
Kyle Abbott	Bowler
Fidel Edwards	Bowler
Reece Topley	Bowler
Chris Wood	Bowler
Mason Crane	Bowler
Matt Salisbury	Bowler
Brad Wheal	Bowler
Ryan Stevenson	Bowler
Shahid Afridi	All-Rounder (T20 ONLY)

This year we start with a very strong squad that includes some experienced campaigners and some very promising young talent which I hope will give a good balance of youth and experience, there are several members of the squad who I believe will be crucial to the success of the team this season.

George Bailey – The experienced Aussie will captain the four day side, his experience will be crucial in what has been a fragile batting line-up in recent years

James Vince – Serious runs if he gets into nick, had a below par season last year and will want to impress to get back in the eye of the England selectors.

Lewis McManus – As the only noted keeper in the team he will have a lot of weight on his shoulders, with Wheater moving back to Essex the youngster will have to prove he’s got what it takes to be the main glove man across all 3 formats.

Kyle Abbott – A seriously good bowler, can single handily rip through batting lines up, if this lad takes wickets we will be in a strong position.

Mason Crane – A future England prodigy, not there yet by his own admission although a strong season could see him with an England call up sooner rather than later.

[MateGaming]

Looking forward to hearing more about this!

[DjF]

Hampshire Vs Cardiff MCCU
Match Preview

Cardiff University travel to the Ageas Bowl for a 3 day game against Hampshire which should be a good chance to give the guys some competitive cricket and especially those coming back from injury last season to find some rhythm


Here’s how the two teams line up:-

Hampshire	Cardiff MCCU
Michael Carberry	Henry Aitken
Tom Alsop (c)	Eric Platt
Will Smith	James Dodsworth
Sean Ervine	Peter Ratcliffe
Ian Holland	David Palmer
Lewis McManus (wk)	Kurt Bishop
Brad Taylor	Scott Blakeley
Mason Crane	Peter Bloom
Fidel Edwards	Norman Dearman
Brad Wheal	Mark Hodgson
Reece Topley	Henry Lange

The squad has been selected to give me a look at some players that I haven’t seen much of before as well as some who are returning from long periods of injury. I have a rough starting eleven in mind for our first county championship game but some big performance here could change that.

[DjF]

Hampshire v Cardiff MCCU

Match Report

We made a good start, Reece Topley in particular with 2 early wickets in his first spell, Ian Holland (2-18 ) then joined the party with two quick wickets in what was a very economical spell of bowling. The only saving grace for the University side was Eric Platt, who’s stubborn 93 guided the visitors to 234 before he was dismissed by Fidel (2-40).


When we came out to bat the pitch looked good, both our openers made good starts, Alsop particularly looking in good touch before his fluent innings came to an end as he nicked one to the keeper on 40. Carberry soon followed, same bowler, same outcome which brought together Will Smith and Sean Ervine, with both looking to cement a place in the side both needed runs and they both delivered, in a mammoth partnership of 268, both batsmen pasted the century mark, before Smith fell for 114, Ervine went on to make an impressive 162. At 397-4 things were going well but they got even better when McManus joined Holland at the crease, both continued to pile on the runs at a good pace before the later was out for 62, Brad Taylor went quickly and with all recognised batting gone McManus increased the tempo and soon past the 100 mark, we then decided it was time to declare at 603-7, McManus finishing with 110*.


With only 2 and a half sessions remaining early wickets were key and we had the dream start as Topley removed the dangerous Eric Platt in his first over, wickets then fell regularly as Cardiff struggled, some fantastic bowling from Edwards (4-37) and Topley (3-53) made sure that we were always on top as we bowled them out for 137, winning by an innings and 232 runs.

[DjF]

Match Preview

Yorkshire v Hampshire
County Championship Division 1

For our first county championship game we travel to Headingly in what promises to be a difficult game, with the home side boasting a selection of international stars.

Yorkshire	Hampshire
Adam Lyth	Michael Carberry
Alex Lees	Tom Alsop
Joe Root	Rilee Rossouw
Jonny Bairstow	James Vince
Peter Handscomb	George Bailey (c)
Gary Ballance	Liam Dawson
Tim Bresnan	Lewis McManus (wk)
David Willey	Ian Holland
Liam Plunkett	Gareth Berg
Steven Patterson	Kyle Abbott
Ryan Sidebottom	Fidel Edwards

We make 6 changes to the side that played against Cardiff, Sean Ervine and Will Smith will feel unlucky to of missed out after their impressive centuries but the experienced due of Rilee Rossouw and James Vince come in to replace them.

George Bailey takes charge in his first game of the season taking over from Alsop who captained in the university game.

Liam Dawson the only spinning option as he replaces Brad Taylor, being so early in the season we opted for the one spinner as I cannot foresee the pitch spinning much so Mason also misses out, replaced by Gareth Berg.

Unsurprisingly Kyle Abbott walks straight into the starting XI in place of Reece Topley, Brad Wheal misses out also.

Ian Holland is the surprise selection but after his 62 and a handful of wickets in the university game he keeps his place in the side.

[DjF]

Match Review


Yorkshire v Hampshire
County Championship Division 1

We won the toss and despite the overcast conditions we elected to bat first, after a steady start Alsop was the first to depart, out lbw to Bresnan. Unfortunately soon after Michael Carberry was hit by a bouncer from Plunkett forcing him to leave the field injured, the score 50-1.


Rossouw and Vince played well together and guided us to 96-1 at lunch, the pair continued to complement each other throughout the afternoon session as both passed 50 and batted well into the evening session before Vince (115) was out, shortly after reaching his century. Bailey came and went before Rossouw fell just short of a century on debut for the club as he edged one to the keeper off the bowling of Willey for 99.


Dawson and McManus saw out play for the day as we closed on 290-4. A rain delay stopped play resuming on time in the morning of the second day and McManus fell in the little play that was possible, Holland joined Dawson and the pair looked solid, Dawson passed 50 before Holland was out for 42.


With the 400 passed, Dawson and Berg upped to tempo before the later was caught on the boundary off the bowling of Bresnan.
David Willey ripped through the last couple of wickets as we were all out for 447.


Hampshire 447 all out

Vince (115) Rossouw (99)

Bresnan (118-4) Willey (104-3)


With a fair few runs on the board we set some very aggressive fields looking for wickets, Kyle Abbott immediately showed his class as he removed Alex Lees. Fidel Edwards joined the party with his first of the match dismissing Lyth before England captain Joe Root began to show his talent. The introduction of Liam Dawson was a good one as he dismissed Bairstow (15), Root (66) and Ballance (14) in his short spell before close of play, 162-5.

Handscomb and Bresnan looked to be regaining some control, batting through most of the morning session before Ian Holland took the massive wicket of Handscomb, the re-introduction of Dawson before lunch was also enough to see of Willey (4) and Plunkett (0) as Yorkshire subsided to 305-8.

It didn’t take long for the final 2 wickets to fall after lunch, Dawson striking once more to remove Bresnan and then Fidel with the new ball to take the final wicket.

Yorkshire 349 all out

Handscomb (97) Bresnan (83)

Dawson (64-6) Edwards (83-2)


With a lead of 98 runs half way through day 3 the game was still all to play for, Rilee Rossouw joined Tom Alsop at the crease to open in the absence of Michael Carberry.

Alsop seemed to struggle as he was out for 9 and Vince soon followed, Rilee Rossouw looked assured and joined by George Bailey the paired looked to bat positively to press home there advantage. Rossouw passed 50 but was out not long after for a valiant 65.

Dawson joined Bailey at the crease as the pair batted until close, the score 155-3, the lead 253.

With some big hitters still in the shed, we decided to accelerate hard on the morning of day 4, Bailey and Dawson looked in good touch before Bailey was out for 70, handy quickfire knocks from McManus and Holland in partnership with Dawson took us to 266-6 where we declared setting Yorkshire a target of 365 in 2 and a half sessions.

Hampshire 266-6 Declared

Bailey (70) Dawson (68*)

Bresnan (52-2) Sidebottom (91-2)

The home side made a solid start, 42-0 reached at lunch although they still trailed by 323, Fidel had the perfect response and in his first over after the break dismissed both openers, 45-2. The England duo of Root and Bairstow showed their class as we struggled to continue our fight through their batting line-up, Bairstow the only man other man to fall before tea, bowled by Dawson.
216 to score for Yorkshire to win or 7 wickets for us to win a draw looked most likely at the tea interval.

Yorkshire continued to frustrate us as Joe Root showed his class reaching 118* and Handscomb just knocked it around for his 30 off 120 balls as we failed to take anymore wickets in the evening session.

Yorkshire 234-3

Root (118*) Bairstow (34)

Edwards (49-2) Dawson (49-1)

Match Drawn
Hampshire (11) Yorkshire (9)

[DjF]

Match Preview

Hampshire V Middlesex

County Championship Division 1

Middlesex are the first team to visit us in this seasons county championship and being last years champions a win will be no easy task.

Hampshire	Middlesex
Jimmy Adams	Nick Gubbins
Tom Alsop	Sam Robson
Rilee Rossouw	Adam Voges
James Vince	Dawid Malan
George Bailey (c)	Stevie Eskinazi
Liam Dawson	John Simpson
Lewis McManus (wk)	James Franklin
Ian Holland	Toby Roland-Jones
Gareth Berg	James Harris
Kyle Abbott	Tom Helm
Fidel Edwards	Steven Finn

We make one forced changed from our drawn game with Yorkshire, Michael Carberry is out having sustained a fracture and is expected to be out for 3-4 weeks and is replaced by Jimmy Adams.

The opposition look a strong side, with some very handy batsmen in Robson, Voges and Malan as well as a seriously strong bowling attack, some of our experienced players will need to step up to make a game of this one.