April 2009 Archives

Hampshire 344 for 8 (108 overs). Pothas 96, Balcombe 0.

The eighth-wicket pair added 70 in 20 overs before Woakes, with the 191st sphere he has propelled in this innings, collected his first wicket by disturbing the middle stump of Tremlett.

In has come Balcombe who was born in the 'City of London' in 1984, almost a decade after the Balcombe Street Siege took place in that conurbation.

Hampshire 331 for 7 (104 overs). Pothas 93, Tremlett 26.

Sedate progress. The eighth-wicket pair have so far added 60, almost halfway to Hampshire's record eighth-wicket stand against Warwickshire - 124 by Mike Taylor and Bob Stephenson at Portsmouth in 1974.

Woakes and Rankin have bowled this morning and beaten the bat from time to time but this appears to be a situation where a spinner would be nifty.

That's not BBC WM's Mike Taylor, by the way.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

Fine weather. Set fair. Interesting day in prospect.

Yesterday's play was hard-fought, fluctuating, entertaining and enjoyed by the spectators but also stirred into the pot was a little pinch of vile.

Rikki Clarke bowled less-than-accurately again and there were one or two grumbles and even ribald shouts from the crowd. Fair enough - that's professional sport. But then somebody took it upon himself to bellow out a really nasty piece of personal abuse. Nothing to do with sporting prowess, just a crass outpouring of bile.

I'm sure Clarke didn't hear it - he was 100 yards away - and, even if he did, I expect he would have just dismissed it as, sadly, part of the job. But what is it about a minority of sport spectators that think they can behave that way? I'm sure they wouldn't go up to a bloke, face-to-face, and yell vitriolic personal abuse. Yet there, in the distance and the anonymity of a crowd, they feel they can stoop as low as they like?

It's crap and it's horrible and it's sad and then you switch on the goggle-box and see freak shows like 'The Apprentice' and people being encouraged to be as nasty and aggressive as possible (even more 'entertaining' if it's behind the victim's back) and you think well maybe that's the direction in which we are all being led. And that IS sad.

Close: Hampshire 310 for 7 (96 overs). Pothas 83, Tremlett 15.

Absolutely spot-on, dead level and all-square, I'd say.

Hampshire 272 for 7 (76 overs). Pothas 62, Tremlett 0.

In his third over with the new ball, Miller takes his third wicket as Cork, on 5, fails to control a drive and Bell takes a sharp catch diving to his left at extra cover.

Hampshire 241 for 6 (75 overs). Pothas 35, Cork 2.

Clarke drops short, Dawson, on 22, fails to control a pull and Troughton takes an excellent catch running to his right on the long-leg boundary in front of the Hollies Stand.

Warwickshire have nagged away at the batsmen and taken wickets just whenever Hampshire have appeared to be gaining control.

Pothas remains dangerous.

Five overs to the new ball.

Tea: Hampshire 219 for 5 (64 overs). Pothas 35, Dawson 12.

Miller and Woakes bowled up to tea and induced a false shot or two but the batsmen defended doggedly. Woakes's line today not as good as usual.

An interesting day's play so far. Finely balanced.

Hampshire 183 for 5 (48 overs). Pothas 13, Dawson 0.

Rankin is sustaining his pace and accuracy and both those attributes, abetted by a bit of low bounce, applied to the delivery which has just ousted Ervine lbw for 30.

Hampshire 182 for 4 (45 overs). Ervine 29, Pothas 8.

A nifty bit of captaincy from Ambrose. He brings Maddy back on and the ex-skipper's third ball back draws North, on 15, into playing away from his body and edging to the keeper.

Lots of edges since lunch, plenty of which have gone to the boundary. Ervine, in particular, is mixing streakiness with handsome strokes.

Rankin and Maddy bowling.

Sultry.

Anyon has had a scan today.

Nor sure whether the BBC's remake of Reggie Perrin is a good idea but 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' was a simply brilliant book.

Hampshire 134 for 3 (36 overs). North 5, Ervine 13.

North, on 1, edged Woakes inches beyond the grasp of Clarke and away to the boundary for four.

Crawley, on 30, edged Miller and Clarke took the catch at second slip.

Ervine, on 1, edged Woakes streakily to the third man fence.

Cloud cover has arrived and the ball has started to jag around quite a lot.

That's two well-set batsmen that Miller has dismissed. Promising start.