County Championship 2023. Division 1. Hampshire v Somerset. 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th  September. Southampton.

Jack Leach, (back), Josh Davey (family reasons), Sonny Baker (back), Craig Overton (back) and Kasey Aldridge (side) were all unavailable.

Hampshire. T.E. Albert, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, J.M. Vince (c), T.J. Prest, L.A. Dawson, B.C. Brown (w), J.K. Fuller, K.H.D. Barker, K.J. Abbott, Mohammad Abbas.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, T.B. Abell (c), A.R.I. Umeed, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory, B.G.F. Green, N. Wagner, J.A. Brooks, S. Bashir.

Toss. Hampshire. Elected to bat.

First day 3^rd September – “Dawson again”

The AGEAS Bowl is not the most accessible of grounds if you use public transport to get to the cricket, especially if you travel from the far end of Somerset on a Sunday. I do wonder if any of the great Victorian railway engineers ever had to travel from Taunton to Hedge End, for that is the nearest railway station to the cricket. Even so, it is nearly two miles away. Hotels near the ground are expensive, especially if there is a cruise liner or two in the port, and especially so, as with most hotels, on a Saturday night. If you stay in Southampton where there is a greater choice of hotels, but buses and trains to the ground are less than ideal, and, if you use the train, you still end up nearly two miles away. All added up, a back-of-the-envelope cost-benefit analysis led to my deciding to travel from Taunton on the day of the match, stay in a hotel near the ground and miss the morning session (Sunday trains do not get out of bed early).

That led to one of the purgatories of being a Somerset supporter. Not knowing the score. At least, now I have the eighth wonder, or is it one of the multitudinous irritants, of the modern world, a smartphone, I can check the score occasionally which leads to one of the other purgatories of being a Somerset supporter. Knowing the score. I am all for the advancement of science. I have the greatest respect for those involved in it. The basics of science I understand, but as soon as anything beyond basic arithmetic becomes involved, I am like a shipwrecked sailor adrift in the middle of the Pacific in a fog without a compass. All that said, I do wonder why it seems to be beyond the wit of modern scientists to invent a smartphone that does not result in Somerset losing a wicket every time I switch it on.

My journey, according to the booking details, should have taken me to Hedge End from Taunton via Reading and Basingstoke. It didn’t of course. The bit to Basingstoke worked, but none of the indicator boards there had any information about a train to Hedge End. My enquiry to one of the station staff resulted in a pitying look and the response, “Not from here. You need to go via Eastleigh.” At least when I finally reached Eastleigh there actually was a train to Hedge End and not too long to wait. There was a bus stop at Eastleigh Station but no indication of when a bus for the cricket might come, or indeed, if one would come. Not wishing to transport my luggage and cricket bag two miles on foot, especially as it was uncomfortable just standing in the direct heat of the sun, so hot was it, I resorted to my smartphone and a local taxi company,

“I am sorry, I can’t promise you a cab in under two hours. There are several cruise liners in port. Two other taxi firms produced a similar answer. Then, another wonder of the smartphone world. As I was contemplating a long and unpleasant walk, the phone rang, or whatever it is smartphones do to attract attention. It was one of the taxi companies. “Hello, did you ask for a cab from Eastleigh station to the cricket?” “Yes, I did.” “You are in luck. We have one on the way back from a cruise ship to pick up another passenger. He will be passing the station in a few minutes and going to a hotel near the cricket ground. Would you like him to pick you up?” In fact, he was going to my hotel. What a wonderful thing a smartphone is.

At least, I might have thought that had I not been using it to try to keep up to date with the cricket scores. The first thing it told me was that Craig Overton would not be playing because of injury. That was not a good omen on an Ageas Bowl pitch designed for bowlers like Kyle Abbott, Mohammad Abbas and Keith Barker. My first check was made while I was on the Basingstoke train, still, as it turned out, two changes away from the cricket. At least Basingstoke has the distinction of being John Arlott’s birthplace, for it has nothing else to recommend it when it is an obstacle to getting to the cricket.

Hampshire had won the toss and were 24 for 1. In the second over, a replay shows, Jack Brooks’ third delivery began on off stump but swung away markedly and late. Fletcha Middleton, yet to get off the mark, had to defend his stumps and edged the swinging ball straight to Andy Umeed at second slip. By the time I was on the train from Basingstoke to Eastleigh, my phone told me Hampshire were 54 for 2. Toby Albert, in only his second Championship match, had attempted a check drive with an angled bat against Ben Green and hit the ball through the air to Sean Dickson at point. It was one of those middling scores on a first morning in September which was unlikely to offer either side the advantage.

By the time I was on the train from Eastleigh to Hedge End, the morning was moving Hampshire’s way, as far as could be judged from a train and a phone. Hampshire were 74 for 2 with a boundary having come from each of the last four overs, bowled by Brooks and Green. James Vince, in at the fall of the second wicket, was on 20 from 23 balls. By the time I had checked my luggage in at the hotel and was ready to go to the ground, my check-in would have to wait until later, lunch had been reached with Hampshire on 90 for 2 with Vince and Nick Gubbins having developed a, from a Somerset perspective, worrying partnership of 40.

Standing next to the stairs down which the Somerset players came after lunch, it was noticeable that the crowd was large for a Championship match, and much larger than I remembered from my last visit when there were barely a thousand in the ground. On the first day here, by my eye, there were well over two thousand. It was not the normal Championship crowd of recent years either. There was a wide range of ages with a significantly higher number of younger people than the norm and families too. Perhaps a benefit of Championship cricket at the weekend with the school holidays not quite over. A last treat perhaps before returning to school.

Before going to my seat, I chatted for a while with another Somerset supporter. It is easy enough to do that there for the seats on the Pavilion terrace beneath the Somerset dressing room are a favourite haunt of Somerset supporters. As we watched, Vince first attempted to cut Gregory. The ball rose off the bat but safely negotiated its way to the boundary and Hampshire seemed set to build on their solid start. Then off the first ball of Gregory’s next over, Vince drove hard and straight but connected only with the inside edge. There was a clear deflection to leg and Rew took a catch which was not quite as easy as he made it look. Vince did not seem convinced and left the crease as reluctantly as a child who has omitted to do their homework leaves for school in the morning. Hampshire 94 for 3. Vince 34. Tom Prest came to the wicket and left as quickly as he came, leg before wicket to a jubilant Jack Brooks. Brooks had bowled a yorker which swung away late. It comprehensively defeated Prest. Hampshire 95 for 4. Prest nought. That brought some relief, although it was tinged with anxiety at what the Hampshire pace attack might do in the same conditions, for although the sun was bright and very hot, Brooks was getting significant swing.

Vince had been replaced by Liam Dawson, so often in recent years Somerset’s nemesis with the bat as well as the ball. Ominously, he began largely with a dead bat suggesting he was intent on building a long innings. Gubbins had been playing with caution too and brought up Hampshire’s century with a drive off Brooks, straight back past the stumps to the boundary. The care with which Hampshire were applying themselves can perhaps be gauged by the fact that it was 11 overs before Gubbins reached the boundary again with a pull through midwicket off Neil Wagner, and another five overs before his next boundary, this time a six over long on off Shoaib Bashir. But his innings ended in Bashir’s next over when he was pushed back onto his stumps, cramped into a desperate defensive swipe at the ball, and was bowled. He had spent two minutes short of three and a half hours at the crease for 49 and Hampshire were 135 for 5 in the 53^rd over.

An over later, there was an appeal for a catch against Dawson off Brooks, but the decision was that the ball had not carried. On such decisions can matches be won and lost. A glance at the scoreboard revealed that Dawson was on 19 from 71 balls. It was now that Dawson began to come into his own. With Brown barely scoring, he slowly edged Hampshire’s score forward. In the 12 overs from the fall of Gubbins to tea, 29 runs were added, taking Hampshire to 164 for 5.

I spent the tea interval again standing on the concourse next to the stairs to the Somerset dressing room talking to another Somerset supporter. “Bashir has got one or two to spit,” he said, “That doesn’t augur well.” We both sensed that Hampshire were doggedly and deliberately working to build a total in difficult conditions, however long it took. With Abbott, Abbas and Barker in their side, some life in the pitch and movement in the air, we concluded any total around or over 250 would give Hampshire the advantage.

From my seat a little further to the right of the Pavilion as viewed from behind, the sense of Hampshire systematically building pressure was unmistakable as the evening session wore on. In a partnership of 37 between Dawson and Ben Brown either side of tea, Brown scored four, but the partnership lasted 15 overs. Dawson reached the boundary four times, once with a sweep off Bashir, kept well down and played behind square, to bring up his fifty in nine minutes over two hours. With Dawson set and determined, that partnership was just the start. Brown was out, caught behind off Gregory, with the score on 172 for 6 in the 68^th over. Not normally an opposition score to worry about in the first innings of a match, but Hampshire were progressing at a steady two and a half runs an over, a further sign, in the modern age if ever there was one, of a difficult pitch and a team trying to build a total to put pressure on the opposition.

James Fuller joined Dawson, drove Gregory square and glanced him to fine leg before settling into a pattern of pushing the ball into gaps often enough to produce a distinct acceleration in the Hampshire scoring rate. Dawson responded with a sweep off Bashir from well outside off stump to the deep square leg boundary before matching Fuller with some well-placed pushes and steers of his own. By the time the new ball was taken, Dawson and Fuller were scoring at four an over and their partnership had reached 50. Dawson responded to the new ball with a vicious pull off Gregory to the deep midwicket boundary, but Fuller fell to it, much to the relief of the Somerset supporters around me. His defensive stroke was beaten by a full ball from Brooks, and he was struck on the pads. Hampshire 226 for 7. Fuller 27.

Dawson now had 76 from 155 balls and looked immovable. He was joined by Keith Barker, a bowler by trade, but he can be a considerable nuisance to opponents with the bat and is capable of sticking to the crease like glue. He was just the partner Dawson needed and they proceeded to play out two maiden overs as if by way of a statement of intent. Then, perhaps as the Somerset bowlers began to tire, for it had been an unpleasantly hot day in the sun, they began to find the boundary, scoring at the same rate as Dawson had with Fuller.

Twice in an over Gregory was struck to the boundary, once by the Dawson with a cover drive which brought a cry of, “Shot!” and once by the left-handed Barker who pulled him to deep midwicket. Dawson then continued to apply pressure with a four off Brooks pulled through straight midwicket. It felt as if the pair were now pulling Hampshire away from Somerset as Dawson struck two extra cover drives, one each off Gregory and Wagner. Another, off Tom Abell, brought three runs and took Dawson to his century. “Dawson again,” commented a rueful Somerset supporter as conscious as I of Dawson’s record against Somerset. An edged cut off Tom Abell through backward point might have seen him removed, but by this time, with Hampshire dominating, there was no fielder there. Barker had played his part, staying with Dawson, but also finding the boundary four times, twice with neat clips to the on side off Wagner, in a score of 20 not out.

It had been Hampshire’s and in particular Dawson’s day. At first, he and his partners had dug deep and long to establish themselves, then gradually accelerated, and finally, in that Dawson-Barker unbroken partnership, it felt as if the game was being taken away from Somerset. Despite the hot sun blazing down all day, it had not looked particularly easy to bat. The Somerset bowlers had started well, and Brooks had looked especially effective. At 137 for 5, the innings could have gone either way, with Somerset perhaps having the edge, but those final 145 runs for the loss of only two more wickets had hurt Somerset. There would be much for them to do on the second day if they were to retain any sort of grip on the match.

Close. Hampshire 287 for 7.