Match report: Hants v Lancs in NCL 2003 by Neil Adams

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Scorecard:

Hampshire v Lancashire

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Summary

Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat. The wicket quickly proved to be very difficult to negotiate from a batsman's perspective as only 2 boundaries were struck in the first 17 overs. Nick Pothas, standing up to the wicket held 3 catches in the first 15 overs to reduce Lancashire to 34 for 3. Glen Chapple teamed up with Carl Hooper to steer the visitors to safe ground. Lancashire added 80 runs from the last 10 overs thanks to a combination of well placed shots and a couple of unconventional one-day strokes over the top of the wicket keeper. A score of 204 was always likely to prove very difficult for the home side. Early wickets and a poor scoring rate soon placed Hampshire on the back foot. As the run rate climbed and the wickets tumbled Lancashire slowly and surely strangled the life out of the hosts to record their 11th consecutive victory of the season

 

Bowling Performance of the Day

Everyone contributed! - Martin 1 for 19 from 7 overs. Martin bowled Hampshire's overseas star batsman for one (Middle stump). John Wood captured the wicket of Francis for 23 in the 28th over (An edge through to Hegg) to finish with 1 for 23 from 7 overs. Steven Crook bounced back well from a disappointing opening spell (2 overs for 21) to clean bowl Prittipaul for 15 (Final figures of 1 for 27). Kyle Hogg claimed the prize wicket of John Crawley for 18 by removing the ex- Lancashire players middle stump. He also induced a poor stroke from Mascarenhas in the 33rd over (Catch for Hegg). Hogg's figures at close were 2 for 37 from 9 overs. Glen Chapple dismissed Kenway (1) and Mullally (3) to finish with figures of 2 for 27. Carl Hooper never joined the bowling attack until the 30th over but still claimed 3 wickets by the close of play. He forced Pothas (58) to play-on in the 32nd over, Vaas (0) played back to a straight ball in the 38th over, and Tomlinson (2) played all round Hooper's final delivery to be clean bowled. Hooper's match analysis was 3 for 18 from 6.3 overs

 

Batting Performance of the Day

The surface at the Rose Bowl was not conducive for an exciting one day game. The ball did not come onto the bat and the bounce was occasionally unpredictable. Scoring runs was extremely difficult particularly in the early stages (Lancashire 25 runs from 11 overs and Hampshire 27 runs from 11 overs).Consequently, the partnership of 124 between Hooper and Chapple in 21.4 overs was incredible. The pair cleverly worked the ball into gaps and were satisfied with singles rather than trying to hit boundaries. Hooper finally lost his wicket with 73 runs (88 balls) to his name (6 x 4 & 1 x 6), while Chapple remained unbeaten on 66 from 83 balls (5 x 4 & 1 x 6). Hampshire's batsmen failed to adopt the same approach - they tried to smash the ball to the boundary in a desperate attempt to maintain the scoring rate. They did not run between the wickets as well as Lancashire. Consequently, the run rate kept climbing throughout the Hawks innings and wickets fell at a steady rate

 

Fielding Performance of the Day

All 3 dropped catches were totally excusable owing to the extremely difficult nature of the chances on offer. Peter Martin made a fantastic attempt to hold a hook shot by Francis at long leg but narrowly failed to hold the ball as he fell to the ground. Hegg held 3 straight forward catches behind the stumps. Both Schofield and Crook were extremely lively in the field

 

Highlights of the Day

• The partnership between Hooper and Chapple
• The delivery from Kyle Hogg which removed John Crawley's middle stump
• The margin of victory which eliminated Hampshire from the title race - now Lancashire only require one more victory to clinch the title, or Northamptonshire to drop any points
• Maintaining Lancashire's 100% away record in the league and successfully winning 11 games in a row

 

Lowlights of the Day

• A few too many wides (seven) and a couple of no-balls
• Losing the toss again! (3) Finding out that Northamptonshire had managed to beat Durham thus preventing Lancashire from claiming the title

 

Contentious Discussion Points of the Day

• Mark Chilton did not edge the ball to Pothas but was still given out - Chilton was not very impressed as he returned to the pavilion.
• John Crawley appeared to edge one of Chapple's deliveries to Warren Hegg while still on nought. There was a discernible noise. The entire team celebrated but the umpire failed to raise his finger

 

Key Notes of the Day

• Hampshire won the toss and elected to field
• Chilton caught Pothas bowled Mascarenhas 12 - 16 for 1 in the 6th over - Loye 4*
• Law caught Pothas bowled Mascarenhas 1 - 23 for 2 in the 10th over - Loye 5*
• Loye caught Pothas bowled Mullally 10 - 34 for 3 in the 15th over - Hooper 5*
• 50 for 3 in the 20th over - Hooper 8* Schofield 12*
• Schofield caught Mascarenhas bowled Tomlinson 14 - 52 for 4 in the 20th over - Hooper 8*
• 100 for 4 in the 31st over - Hooper 33* Chapple 23*
• 50 partnership - 102 for 4 in the 32nd over - Hooper 35* Chapple 23*
• 50 Hooper from 74 balls (4 x 4) - 131 for 4 in the 37th over - Chapple 37*
• Chapple 37 missed stumping by Pothas - 131 for 4 in the 37th over
• Chapple 43 dropped by Tomlinson (Cover) - 139 for 4 in the 38th over
• 100 partnership - 155 for 4 in the 39th over - Hooper 65* Chapple 45*
• 50 Chapple from 70 balls (4 x 4 & 1 x 6) - 166 for 4 in the 41st over - Hooper 70*
• Hooper caught Katich bowled Mullally 73 - 176 for 5 in the 42nd over - Chapple 51*
• Hegg 3 dropped by Kenway (Deep mid-wicket) - 183 for 5 in the 44th over - Chapple 58*
• 200 for 5 in the 45th over - Chapple 66* Hegg 12*
• 204 for 5 from 45 overs - Chapple 66* Hegg 16* - Light rain falling

• Hampshire required 205 runs at a rate of 4.55 per over
• Katich bowled Martin 1 - 2 for 1 in the 3rd over - Pothas 0*
• Kenway caught Hegg bowled Chapple 1 - 3 for 2 in the 4th over - Pothas 0*
• Crawley 0 dropped by Crook (Very tough) - 5 for 2 in the 7th over - Pothas 1*
• Crawley bowled Hogg 18 (Middle stump) - 46 for 3 in the 17th over - Pothas 23*
• 50 for 3 in the 18th over - Pothas 27* Francis 0*
• Francis 2 dropped by Hogg (Caught & bowled chance - very tough ball fired back) - 60 for 3 in the 21st over - Pothas 33*
• Francis 8 dropped by Martin (Long-leg - difficult chance) - 69 for 3 in the 24th over - Pothas 35*
• 50 Pothas from 73 balls (8 x 4) - 97 for 3 in the 27th over - Francis 17* - also 50 partnership
• 103 for 3 in the 28th over - Pothas 51* Francis 23*
• Francis caught Hegg bowled Wood 23 - 103 for 4 in the 28th over - Pothas 51*
• Pothas bowled Hooper 58 (Played-on) - 116 for 5 in the 32nd over - Prittipaul 4*
• Mascarenhas caught Hegg bowled Hogg 1 - 117 for 6 in the 33rd over - Prittipaul 4*
• Prittipaul bowled Crook 15 - 134 for 7 in the 37th over - Udal 3*
• Vaas lbw bowled Hooper 0 - 141 for 8 in the 38th over - Udal 9*
• 150 for 8 in the 40th over - Udal 12* Mullally 2*
• Mullally caught Hooper bowled Chapple 3 - 156 for 9 in the 41st over - Udal 17*
• Tomlinson bowled Hooper 2 - 159 all out in the 42nd over - Udal 18*
• Lancashire 4 points beat Hampshire 0 points by 45 runs

 

Man of the Match

Carl Hooper for his 73 runs, 3 wickets and 1 catch. Glen Chapple was a close second with his 66 runs and 2 wickets

 

(Article: Copyright © 2004 Neil Adams http://www.cricketimages.co.uk/adams-report/intro.html)