LVCC Hampshire v Durham Day 4

Hampshire came into the last day of this County Championship game against Durham looking to reach the 400 mark and with the fall of Chris Benham and nightwatchman David Griffiths last night, they only had 4 wickets in hand to achieve that goal.

Starting the day on 267 for 6, new man Sean Ervine laid down his intentions of picking up the pace with a huge six in the first complete over of the day off Scott Borthwick.

Ervine’s swashbuckling attitude demonstrates Hampshire’s perseverance to push on and brilliantly timed sweeps off Borthwick and then Liam Plunkett raised the home side’s run rate under a very cloudy Rose Bowl. Nic Pothas, resuming on 55, beautifully crafted a sweep shot down to the square leg rope for his first boundary of the day as the pair looked to build a big scoring partnership.

Hampshire won their third batting point when Ervine nipped Plunkett to third man in the day’s 9th over. However with Hampshire making good progress the umpires decided to stop play for bad light prompting an early lunch; Hampshire were 319 for 6.
Hampshire resumed their innings after Lunch when the umpires decided light was good enough to restart.

Pothas and Ervine managed to score runs freely, all be it fortuitously. The first over after lunch Ervine flashed hard outside his off stump and found the boundary through the gap between slips and gully from the bowling of Steve Harmison. Two overs later Pothas saw an inside edge race to the boundary again from Harmison.

In the 110th over Ervine ran a scampered two to reach his half century from just 56 deliveries, which included 7 fours and 1 maximum.

Hampshire’s captain Pothas (78) was dismissed by Ian Blackwell in the 112th over, when he attempted a big sweep only to see his off stump unhinged; leaving the home team on 345 for 7.
With overs ticking away, Hampshire gained their fourth batting point of the innings after Ervine ran a single off Blackwell to take the score past 350.

The 118th over saw Dominic Cork take the attack to Blackwell, hitting him through mid-on for two consecutive boundaries as the Home team chased after the final batting point.
Cork (24) then tried one elusive shot too many, when he attempted to guide a Harmison delivery over the slips only to be caught by wicketkeeper Phil Mustard.

Two balls later Ervine (67) was heading back to the pavilion after trying to hit Blackwell for a big shot on the leg-side, which resulted in a top edge and was caught behind, giving Durham maximum bowling points.

Hampshire were bowled out for 384 when Youngster Danny Briggs was dismissed by Blackwell for a second ball duck. The Durham all-rounder finished the innings with figures of 5 for 110.
Durham started the second innings with a lead of 55 and made their way without scare to 8 for 0 before the umpires took the players off for bad light.

The match ended in a draw after the players failed to return to the field resulting in Hampshire scoring 10 points and Durham 11. The result leaves Hampshire closer to safety with one game remaining away against fellow relegation strugglers Yorkshire.