James Vince maintains his composure throughout the chaos as Warwickshire assumes command
At the Ageas Bowl, Warwickshire won the first day’s competition with an unbeaten 75 from James Vince as Hampshire fell apart.
The Hampshire captain James Vince hit an incredible 186 runs in the win over Northamptonshire last month and displayed composure in the face of a formidable aggressive attack.
Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Ed Barnard supplemented the efforts of Chris Woakes and Chris Rushworth, who each took three wickets, in place of Pakistani abroad Hasan Ali, who was rested.
Their victories led to Hampshire’s demise as they went from 83 for one to 109 for six before being bowled out for 229 runs. Alex Davies led the assault with 46 not out as Warwickshire responded by reaching 82 without a loss at the end.
Hampshire’s flimsy batting was their LV=Insurance County Championship championship challenge’s Achilles heel the previous season, and it could further prolong their 50-year wait for another title.
After being bowled shouldering his arms at Rushworth for 1, opening batsman Felix Organ is starting to run out of opportunities after Hampshire choose to bat first.
With pressure from the 2nd XI, Toby Albert scored 231 and 63, and Joe Weatherley also hit a century in the match against Kent 2nd XI this week, his season average dropped below 10.
Fletcha Middleton, on the other hand, has quickly adapted to first-class cricket. In the prior game at the Ageas Bowl, he notched two half-centuries and again handled the new ball with ease. He shared a 74-run stand with Nick Gubbins.
Woakes is trying to persuade Ben Stokes to return for England before the Ashes, and his frugal opening spell of five overs for only two runs would be a good talking point.
The main topic of discussion would be his second spell and how, using a chested parry from second, he slanted a delivery over Gubbins that was grabbed at first slip.
Then, in his punchline, he might mention the magnificent away seamer who unfortunatey clipped Middleton’s outside edge for a 49. In his third period, he also caught a hooking Ian Holland and finished with 3 for 45, including his 550th first-class dismissal.
Before Rushworth rammed into Ben Brown and Liam Dawson’s pads in one prolific over, Hannon-Dalby intervened to bowl Tom Prest out leg before wicket. For just 26 runs, Hampshire had lost five wickets in 69 deliveries.
Vince managed to survive all of this, and following a brief 28-run stand with Holland, he led the way forward with the tail. Along with Kyle Abbott, James Fuller, and Mohammad Abbas, he scored an additional 12 runs.
As his partners dwindled and Barnard took the final two out, he continued to play his usual mix of drives to reach his half-century in 72 balls before aiming for midwicket and long-on for three lusty sixes.
Abbas and Abbott are frequently relied upon by Hampshire to get them back into games after receiving subpar scores. Rob Yates and Davies stopped them in this instance.
The Warwickshire openers calmly handled the evening session and have already scored hundreds this year. Yates finished the day with 26 off 104 balls, with Davies being by far the more aggressive.