Dawson Looks to Build on 'Special Week' Against Kent

Liam Dawson scored a century against Kent in the reverse fixture

Full squad and match preview ahead of Hampshire's LV= County Championship match against Kent at The Ageas Bowl, starting on Friday

Hampshire v Kent
LV= County Championship
Friday 27 – Monday 30 July (11am start)
The Ageas Bowl

After the excitement of Wednesday night, when Hampshire qualified for Friends Life t20 Finals Day for the third year in a row, they’ll now have to readjust to the longer form of the game very quickly as they take on Kent in a very important LV= County Championship match at The Ageas Bowl starting on Friday.

The hosts come into the match in the top two promotion spots; their opposition just two places – and five points – behind them. A win for either side would give them a crucial breathing space over the other at this stage in the season, while a convincing win for Hampshire could even move them top of the table with leaders Derbyshire not in action until next Thursday.

The good news is that both teams showed attacking intent in the reverse fixture at Tunbridge Wells where an unbeaten Liam Dawson knock of 134, coupled with some attacking declarations overcame massive amounts of rain to set up a game going into the final day. Sadly, for Hampshire, the wickets couldn’t come quickly enough in that match and Kent managed to bat out a draw in the end.

The weather forecast for this match indicates that we might experience some more rain over the four days of this fixture so captain, Jimmy Adams’ bargaining skills may yet come into play once again. Nevertheless, having set up an incredible run-chase (and eventual two-run win over Essex last week) he will back himself on that front.

Hampshire name the same squad as that which travelled to Chelmsford with the addition of James Vince, who may be required if the leg injury sustained by Neil McKenzie at the end of the quarter-final clash at Trent Bridge proves more serious than first thought.

Liam Dawson – centurion in the last match between these two teams – said; “When you score runs against any team you always go into the next fixture against them full of confidence so hopefully I can put another decent performance in.

“It’s been a pretty special week for the club. I think we’ve got a lot of momentum now in all forms of cricket and the boys are looking forward to this match. We said at the start of the year we want to be challenging for all competitions and it’s nearly August and we have a chance of winning all three.”

To hear a full interview with Dawson, click on the audio file below:

If you can not see this interview, listen to it here http://chirb.it/A2Dq2w

Full Squad:

(3) Simon Katich	(19) Danny Briggs
(4) Jimmy Adams*	(21) James Tomlinson
(7) Sean Ervine	(33) Kabir Ali
(8) Liam Dawson	(44) Neil McKenzie
(16) Michael Bates†	(46) Bilal Shafayat
(17) Dimitri Mascarenhas	(84) David Balcombe

Coverage:

Live Text Cricket Updates	Get updates sent to your phone by texting "Follow @HantsCricket" to 86444 (see link for more details)
Live Text Weather Updates	Get updates sent to your phone by texting "Follow @TheAgeasBowl" to 86444 (see link for more details)
Match-Day Information Line (for weather updates)	02380 475 662
Online Ball-by-Ball Commentary	Hospital Broadcasting Association