v Hampshire LVCC1 @ Taunton Friday 9 July 2009

Scorecard

Commentary

Suggestions from the official site are that it will be an unchanged line-up for this fixture with Max Waller still injured and therefore Arul Suppiah operating in the dual role of opener and spin option.

And that's the way it is at the start of the first day as Hampshire win the toss and put us in to bat......obviously don't want us chasing on the last day.  The forecast is supposed to be a calm for the first day and then a little troubled on days 2 and 3.

Day 1 starts quite well but it isn't particularly solid as we lose Banger before the 50 is up caught behind by reserve keeper Crawley off Mascarenhas.  So it is left to the other (surely we can use the term now after the excellent innings against yorkshire) opener Suppiah to act as general and rally the troops, especially after his skipper goes for 30 before the 100 is up to a 50/50 LBW off Tomlinson. 

In comes James Hildreth who shold also have taken confidence from his knock in that mighty run chase.  He didn't score a lot but his job was to keep the strike ticking over and get the big hitters for the day on strike and he did that very well.  He starts slowly here, helping Arul take us past 100 but he accumulating runs at a fair lick and after his partner goes for 52 at 147, he develops partnerships with ZdB (35), a storming one with Kieswetter (100), a quick one with Trigger (76 of which PT scored 50 off 52 balls) and he has 155 to his name off 232 balls and his county have 445 for 8 to their name.

But the tail isn't finished yet as Stiff hits 25 off 29 with 2 fours and a six and the phenomenal Thomas hits a mighty career best as a Somerset player with 70 off 147 balls with 10 fours. with 3 for Caddick none for Charl and 36 extras from 15 no balls courtesy of Hampshire, we finish on a big 510 half way through Day 2.

The best dismissal of the day?  Craig Kieswetter coming up the wicket to drive Tahir, snicks the ball to Crawley who belts forward to take the bails, looks at the square leg umpire for the finger only to see our wicket-keeper walking past him having accepted he hit it.  The Hampshire team then all crowd around but aren't sure who to congratulate because no-one knows who got the wicket.

So Hampshire take the field in the form of opening partners Carberry and Adams with a little session before Tea and then the whole of a session to face.  They get 15 overs, in which time Carberry takes a real liking to Caddick and hits a lot of boundaries to move to 49 and Adams adds another 30.  They go in at Tea at 83, the rain comes down, the covers come on and they never return!! Probably a good thing because it gives the home side a chance to re-assess their strategy for the morning.

Day 3

Starts on time with Hampshire on 83 and Carberry a run from a very quick 50.  Charl opens from the OP and thinks he's got Adams caught behind second ball, the whole team went up but the umpire was not convinced and kept his finger firmly in his pocket.  Thomas took the River end first up and Carberry quite rightly took his score to a very creditable 47 ball 50 off the second ball of the over.  It's windier and fresher than it has been and there are smatterings of blue sky and most of the cloud is white but there are dark patches and one hopes they won't build.

That is especially true as Adams takes an almighty flash at a ball from Willoughby, bottom edges it as is caught sharply (good catch to a quickly rising ball) at second slip by Marcus Trescothick 89 for 1 courtesy of some tight bowling. 

The 100 arrives in the 25th and Carberry then murders an over from Willoughby to take the score to 122 before Suppiah pouches a long hop 'flip' from Lumb off Thomas at point to send him back at 122.  Crawley arrives with the bowlers on a high and there is great excitement as he almost gloves one down the legside into the keeper's gloves....no touch though. Somerset in the ascendancy and the Hampshire pair having to reset their innings. 

Unfortunately we don't let them as Crawley scratches around for half an hour for 2 before swatting one to second slip for the VC to take in his huge hands off Stiff (what is it with this man and this ground?).  Dawson comes in and then goes out, to the same man caught by a wider fielder doing the same shot (Zander pops it up and then catches it on the second attempt).  157 for 3 becomes 157 for 4..... but Carberry is up the other end putting 3 figures on the board at around a run a ball... his first century for 2 seasons...why against us?

It gets better though as Ervine drops one to Hildreth off the River end bowling of Suppiah.  185 for 5. But Stiff isn't finished as he gets Mascarenhas to do the same as two of his compatriots, swish at one going away and it produces a similar result as Trescothick takes the rising ball at second slip.  Lunch arrives with Hampshire at 186 for 6 with only Carberry really giving any kind of resistance on an excellent 121 off 129 balls.

The sun is out, the sky is blue and we have our hands around the throats of the visitors! Suppiah and Stiff open after the break from the River and OP ends resepectively and Carberry is joined by Pothas.... a very fragile Pothas who has Adams as his runner and can hardly move it seems and after making 15 and getting his side past 200 he absolutely middles one to short cover....which Hildreth holds onto as it tries very hard to go right through him.  204 for 7 inn comes Tremlett and nearly goes leg glancing a very fast one from Stiffy which Kieswetter dives to take acrobatically.

After keeping Carberry away from the Stiff end he gets down to give him some welly and in the 49th after bowling a wide and a no ball and one that just rolled along the ground David gets his first five-fer when Carberry tries to sky one and gets a leading edge which spirals to Willoughby and the man menace to our intentions goes for 123 at 208 for 8.

There is something strange about this guy.  He bowls all kinds of things but occasionally one moves or goea through or the batsmen just treats him with contempt and it's working for us.  He's gone for 63 off 10 overs but he has figures of 5 for less that 70 so who the hell cares how he does it.

He doesn't get the next one though because Arul has been tying them down at the other end and a frustrated Tremlett loses his patience and smacks the first one with a little width and height to mid-wicket where Marcus says "thank you very much" 216 for 9 in the 53rd.

Caddy is back on at the OP to finish the innings but the tailendeers have other ideas and they move the score on from 241 to 264 off the bowling of Suppiah and ARC before Langer brings on Thomas who gets Tahir to sky one which is caught by the keeper.  264 all out off 61.3 overs and the follow on has been enforced with 46 overs to go in the day.

Carberry continues where he left off, hitting from the start but Willoughby and Thomas offer a tighter option in this second innings and they only have 20 odd after 14 overs this time.  Caddy is introduced at the OP and he is also a much more aggressive option for Carberry this time around.  He and Suppiah hold them back even though they do move on to 50 by the 20th.  But Caddick is very determined to get a wicket and he is belting in  and causing both batsmen as bit of trouble.  Then it comes...Lumb gets one on his toes, he doesn't hit is, the finger goes up and Andy is swamped by his team mates as he stands with both arms raised to the sky.  Who says this doesn't mean a lot to the man?

In comes Lumb and Caddick nearly gets him as well although the umpires finger going up is for a no ball rather than the fall of a wicket.  Hampshire are under the cosh and after 28 overs they have only amassed 58.  This is now a war of attrition and an entirely different game to the one that restarted at 11:00 this morning.

However, it's Suppiah who is doing the job as he gets Lumb playing back to a ball which spins into him and catches him plumb. 68 for 2 and then the vital wicket of Carberry.  The Hampshire man goes to 50 at 87 off 105 balls with one six and nine fours but is C&B to the Somerset spinner almost the next ball and sent packing with only 87 on the board.  There are 11 overs to go after the present one and Hampshire are really in trouble.

Dawson and Crawley re-establish some semblence of calm in the Hampshire camp as Langer moves his bowlers around bringing Thomas on to replace Suppiah (no idea why that was a sensible move) and Stiff to provide some 'umphh' at the OP.  However the Hampshire pair bring up the 100 without further problems.  They end a good Somerset day with 122 for 3 on the board with Crawley on  14 and Dawson on 21.  Good day for us and hopefully a better one to come tomorrow.  They need 124 more runs to make us bat again and we need 7 wickets to take the points.

Day 4

Dawns with a rain shower just before play but we start on time in breezy sunshine.  The first five overs take the visitors over the 150 mark as Charl and Alfonso go to all corners from Dawson especially.  He celebrates at 156 with a 50 off 72 balls with 8 fours and the feeling around the ground is that it is going to be a looooooooooong day with the possibility of being cut short by showers predicted for this afternoon.

Stiff is introduced at the River in the 59th but there is no sign of the other hero from day 3 - Arul Suppiah - if the plan is to introduce him early it is going to fall foul of the new ball being available in 21 overs and it is Peter Trego who comes on at the OP at the end of Alfonso's opening spell and the 59th over.  156 for 3 after the first hour. Yesterday Peter had one over for 12 runs but it seems that was due to a back niggle but this morning he is up for it and he takes the first wicket of the day when he has dawson LBW for 69 at 185.  It seemed to mean a lot ot him which was also good to see. At the othe end Andy Caddick takes over from Stiff and has variable results. Some are wide, some are dead on and occasionally one rises to surprise the batsman...but no wickets.  Hampshire pass 200 halfway through th 72nd over and we await the new ball which should come just after lunch.

It's 213 for 4 at lunch.  Crawley seems to be set to bat the day out, the seamers haven't had a whole lot of good stuff this morning and Suppiah is sporting a bandage on one hand and didn't turn his arm over at all during the session. Need some fireworks before Tea for the weather or boredom to send this to a drawn result.

We're back after the interval to a little light drizzle and Zander de Bruyn at the OP and Arul Suppiah at the River End.  The score is 226 by the time the new ball is ready but Justin doesn't seem to want it as the medium pacer and the spinner continues.  Crawley has kept to his name and 'crawled' to 40 while his new partner Ervine is scoring at a much better rate with 24 to his name as Hampshire roll to only 19 behind.

As we near the 250, at the end of the 84th over, JL takes the new ball and puts Alfonso and Charl on to use it.  At 247 they reauire uas to bat again and are effectively 1 for 4.  Ervine has nearly passed his partner and may even get to 50 first at this rate (a little scary when Crawley was on 20+ when Ervine came in.  But it is all crawling along to be honest.  It needs someone to take it by the scruff and give it a good shake.

250 up in the 88th and a fifty for Ervine off 57 balls and 10 fours while "Creepy" is becalmed on 42.  He's scored 2 while his partner has put on 29!

Using the pacemen gets us nowhere for about an hour as Crawley finally gets his 50 off 170 balls with 5 fours and it isn't until the captain re-introduces Arul at the River that we get a result as he catches Ervine in front on 58 with his second ball!  273 for 5 in the 94th.  Still like pulling teeth but at least the spinner is proving his value.  In fact he's so valuable that two overs after he takes a wicket he is replaced by Trigger at the River.  280 for 5 at 3:00 in the afternoon with a first possible cut off time of 5:00. 

As the 300 looms, Thomas comes on to fire the side up from the OP and Arul returns to the River in a last gasp before Tea.  Pothas is in and not particularly mobile, but then again he isn't looking for runs just to partner "Creepy" (57) to the end .  300 arrives in the 102nd over to a slight clap of recognition.  It's all a bit flat and without wickets it will whimper into oblivion before the official end.

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