Lancashire batsmen must build on bowler’s good job

Jul 12 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

WITH its curved, five-pointed roof gleaming white against a background of dense English wooodland, the pavilion of Hampshire’s Rose Bowl ground looked at times rather more like the tented setting for a medieval tournament than a cricket match yesterday afternoon.

As such, though, it perhaps provided a suitably heroic environment in which England’s champion could hone his skills and prepare to repel foreign invaders.

Andrew Flintoff might put things rather more prosaically of course: he wants to spend the next four days helping Lancashire get to the top of Division One table and then he’d like to get at the South African tourists in the next three Tests.

The presence of both the England selector James Whittaker and the national team’s fast bowling coach Ottis Gibson offered some evidence that Flintoff’s recall may not be long delayed. Moreover, the efforts of the all-rounder’s team-mates in restricting Hampshire to a modest 248 for nine did the sort of groundwork necessary if Lancashire are to secure a second successive championship victory in a couple of days’ time.

Flintoff did his bit too. His 14 overs, all delivered at full pace, included the wicket of John Crawley in mid-morning and he also pocketed a couple of straightforward slip catches, one of which disposed of Hampshire’s top scorer, Nic Pothas, for a patient, resistance-stiffening 62 made in four minutes less than three hours.

Certainly Lancashire skipper Stuart Law could have been little but content with a first session which both began and ended with a Hampshire wicket: Glen Chapple’s third ball of the morning caught the leading edge of Michael Carberry’s bat to provide the bowler with an ankle-high return catch; and three overs before lunch Michael Brown was trapped lbw by Sajid Mahmood with one that nipped back off the seam.

In between these successes, the Burnley-born opener Brown held the Hampshire batting together in much the same fashion as he has all summer, adding 48 for the second wicket with Crawley, and 33 for the third with Michael Lumb. Lancashire bowled accurately during these partnerships, but had only the wicket of Crawley to show for their labours on a slow pitch. Brown’s departure for 49 tipped the advantage decisively in the visitors’ favour.

The dismissal of a further three Hampshire batsmen at a cost of 81 runs in the afternoon session further emphasised Lancashire’s dominance against a home side clearly lacking in confidence.

Chapple claimed the first success three overs after the break when Sean Ervine, a century-maker at Old Trafford last season, could only deflect a lifting delivery straight to Paul Horton in the gully.

Gary Keedy, wicketless but widely praised at Hove last week, bowled, if anything, slightly less well yesterday afternoon but still claimed a couple of wickets, the first when Michael Lumb was cramped for room and edged to Law, the second when Dimitiri Mascarenhas drove a sharp return catch to the slow left-armer when he had made 29.

The evening session confirmed the almost perfect symmetry of the first day’s play: three more wickets and 84 further runs to add to the 83 scored in the morning and the 81 in the afternoon. The most crucial departure was that of Pothas who attempted to drive Chapple on the up but only succeeded in edging the ball to Flintoff.

Either side of that breakthrough, Greg Lamb was caught down the leg-side off Mahmood and the Cork/Flintoff partnership accounted for the Hampshire debutant Rory Kleinveldt.

Advantage Lancashire then, but there is plenty of hard graft ahead for Stuart Law’s top order this morning.