SOUTHAMPTON (second day of four): Hampshire, with seven first-innings wickets in hand, are 275 runs behind Warwickshire
THE marked improvement in the standard of pitches at the Rose Bowl this summer was in evidence again yesterday when Warwickshire became the latest team to harvest maximum batting points and Jimmy Adams passed 1,000 first-class runs for the first time in his six seasons with Hampshire.
Warwickshire needed 26 runs to claim a fifth point, once a rarity here, when play began 45 overs late after heavy overnight rain, but neither Chris Tremlett, with six wickets already under his belt, nor James Bruce could dislodge the last pair of Tim Groenewald and Paul Harris and they had reached their target by the time Shaun Udal had Harris picked up at short leg.
The pitch held few terrors for Hampshire until Michael Carberry ducked into a short ball from Neil Carter and was struck a clanging blow on the side of the helmet. Carberry responded by hitting Carter’s next two balls for four, but his head must still have been spinning when he waltzed down the pitch to Harris, turning his left-arm spin out of the rough, and was comfortably stumped.
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John Crawley, having moved imperiously to 29, was the next batsman to be surprised by Carter, dragging himself reluctantly from the crease after being caught behind, and soon afterwards Chris Benham was brilliantly caught by Luke Parker at silly point off Harris, but Adams was there at the close.
The left-hander from Winchester, who played for England at under-15 and under-19 level, has taken a long time to establish himself in the Hampshire team since leaving Loughborough University, but he has broken through this summer with scores of 262 and 168, both unbeaten, and when he reached 43 he completed his 1,000 for the season.