Friends Provident Trophy: Hampshire v Worcestershire

Friends Provident Trophy v Worcestershire 19th April

Despite a fine century from John Crawley, Hampshire Hawks lost to Worcestershire Royals in the first match of Friends Provident Trophy. The visitors won by 53 runs as Gareth Batty took 5 vital Hampshire wickets in a high scoring match.

With conditions ideal for batting, Worcestershire won the toss and chose to bat, keen to make up for their defeat in the recent LVCC Championship match. Openers Vikram Solanki and Steve Davies soon got to work both hitting boundaries in the opening overs, with captain Solanki picking up from where he left off in the 4 day game with a beautiful cover drive in front of square. Balcombe didn’t seem to be put off by the openers’ aggressive start however and with Solanki cruising on 35 he played all round a straight delivery to end his innings after six glorious fours.

New man Stephen Moore wasn’t around for long as he edged a delivery from Billy Taylor straight to Sean Ervine at second slip for nought. Consecutive wickets had disrupted the Worcestershire momentum slightly but Davies still found gaps available. After flicking Balcombe over third man for his sixth boundary of the day, as he moved swiftly towards his 9th one day half century. Liam Dawson was tasked with holding up the Pavilion End, and after frustrating Davies he finally secured his wicket after seducing the batsman into a long hop, a shot that was delivered straight to Sean Ervine, making it 107 for 3.



Moeen Ali and Ben Smith were brought together at the crease and although boundaries weren’t forthcoming they continued to frustrate the Hampshire attack, putting on a 50 partnership to help rebuild the Worcestershire innings. Ali himself was in fine touch and a rare boundary off Billy Taylor brought up his fifty off a steady 73 balls, but a huge six off Tremlett signalled his side’s intentions for the final 15 overs.

Hampshire were suffering from the third and final powerplay in which they conceded 64 runs with Smith and Ali reaching their 100 run partnership in the 37th over. Ali then completed a stunning 100 off 97 balls to move his side onto 227 for 3 with the final ten overs still remaining. He continued his innings with a breathtaking six down the ground, and a further Smith four increased the record 4th wicket partnership to the 150 mark. The huge partnership was eventually broken as Ali found Michael Carberry out in the deep off Balcombe for a stunning 125.

Daryl Mitchell stuck around for two scoreless deliveries as Taylor caught a thin edge, which was taken comfortably by Nic Pothas, while Smith picked up his 50 after playing a reserved role during his partnership with Ali. The final five overs didn’t produce the barrage of runs expected, with Tremlett picking up two late wickets, bowling Gareth Batty for 17, and having Dawson catch Kabir Ali for 11.

Worcestershire finished their innings on 320 for 8, with Smith being caught and bowled by Tremlett by the last ball for 70 and Gareth Andrews finishing on nought not out, leaving Hampshire an uphill task of chasing the second highest one day total at The Rose Bowl.

Hampshire’s reply began positively as opener Michael Lumb smashed two consecutive fours in the first over from the bowling of Kabir Ali, in an attempt to chase down Worcestershire’s mammoth total. Lumb continued optimistically, running a single for his 29th half century off 51 balls from the bowling of Ian Fisher. Fellow opener John Crawley contributed 35 as the pair brought up 100 runs soon after and they looked in solid form.

Gareth Batty eventually ended their dominance as Lumb was caught and bowled by the all rounder; he finished on 61 from 72 balls. Lumb and Crawley’s partnership of 116 is a record first wicket stand against Worcestershire as it passed BA Richards and CG Greenidge record of 112 set back in 1973.

Liam Dawson, batting at three, was cruelly run out for 10 after a mix up with Crawley, and all rounder Sean Ervine soon followed Dawson back to the pavilion when Fisher superbly bowled him for 3 leaving Hampshire on 136 for 3. In that same over Crawley moved on to his 56th half century after running three with new partner Michael Carberry.

Carberry was going well, 34 runs off 33 balls, before being caught easily by Chris Whelan from Fisher’s bowling. Cork (1) was heading back in no time, he was caught by Moeen Ali from Batty‘s bowling for his second wicket of the day. Chris Benham (5) did not last long either; he was bowled by Mitchell and it left Hampshire on a worrying 217 for 6.

Only 34 runs were scored in the batting powerplay, which slowed Hampshire’s progress and it was up to captain Nic Pothas to keep the Hawks on track for the win. He led the way by smashing a huge six into the hospitality suites as he and Crawley attempted to keep the run rate ticking over.

Opener Crawley got his deserved 8th one day century, just before Pothas (24), attempting a reverse sweep, was given lbw from Batty’s bowling. Batty then picked up the prized wicket of Crawley in the same over as he was stumped by Davies for 100. Batty's fifth wicket was Balcombe, for a duck, before Taylor (4) was caught on the boundary to end Hampshire’s hopes with a final score of 267 all out.

The match was watched by a crowd of more than 3,000, a fitting end to a well supported week for Hampshire Cricket with good attendances every day.

Match report by Nick Howson and Steve Woodgate.

(Written for www.rosebowlplc.com)