Declarations Set Up Final Day Cracker

Report from day three of Hampshire's LV= County Championship match against Essex at the Ford County Ground, Chelmsford

essex v Hampshire
LV= County Championship
Day Three: Saturday 21 July 2012
The Ford County Ground, Chelmsford

Summary: Essex trail Hampshire by 257 runs
with eight wickets remaining in the second innings
Hampshire: 323 & 54-0d
Essex: 18-0d & 102-2 (50 ovs)
Scorecard

Essex Team
Godleman, Mickleburgh, Westley, Pettini*, ten Doeschate, Smith, Wheater, Napier, Harbhajan Singh, Masters, Craddock
Hampshire Team
Adams*, Shafayat, Katich, McKenzie, Dawson, Ervine, Bates†, Mascarenhas, Tomlinson, Balcombe, Briggs

Some shifty manoeuvring from both captains has ensured day four of this LV= County Championship match between Essex and Hampshire at Chelmsford should be an absolute cracker.

Two declarations – first from home stand-in skipper, Mark Pettini with his side on 18-0, then from Jimmy Adams with his team 54-0 – meant Essex were set 360 to win in a minimum of 144 overs and with four and a half sessions to do so.

By close, they had reached 102-2 – 257 runs behind (Billy Godleman 37*, Pettini 16*).

With sunshine forecast for day four it looks like a result could be on the cards, but which way will it go?

 

The initial plan, certainly from Hampshire’s point of view, had been to take their overnight first-innings score of 303-6 and shift it up towards 350 or 400 before trying to arrange a double forfeiture and a chase.

But having lost the whole of day two to the weather, Essex knew from the off that they needed a game in fast-forward and that was what they got. Some determined attacking from David Masters and Graham Napier, in particular, saw them run through the remaining Hampshire order with relative ease, the visitors losing their remaining four wickets for 15 runs to end 323 all out (centurion, Neil McKenzie was out for 139.)

The early blitz appeared to confuse everyone as Essex came out to bat their first innings with no one, apparently, knowing how they visioned the game panning out from there.

Indeed, the hosts scored just 18 runs in as many overs as the game meandered into lunch and it was only at this point that the captains managed to get together to set something up.

It was agreed that a target of 360 seemed fair to both sides and so McKenzie (27*) and Adams (23*) came out to set up the game scoring the 54 required from 14.5 overs.

Finally, at 2:30pm the second declaration was made and we had a game on our hands. Hampshire would come quickly out of the blocks when James Tomlinson (1-37 off 12*) clipped Jaik Mickleburgh’s (18) leg stump inside the opening ten overs of the chase, leaving Essex 25-1.

A period of rebuilding followed and the hosts went into tea at 44 without further loss. Upon the return, however, things spiced up as Tom Westley fired David Balcombe to the ropes in his first over back in the attack to bring up the 50 for Essex.

Riled, Balcombe (1-25 off 14*) would get his own back by trapping the former England U19 captain plumb in front soon after to leave the hosts needing another 300 runs for victory with eight wickets now remaining.

25 overs down, another 25 to go in the day and the chance for either side to really take a strangle hold on the game going into the concluding day. However, on a slow wicket which didn’t offer much assistance to bat or ball all day, neither could really claim the edge by stumps.

Not to worry, it should just make for an all the more entertaining day four. Who’s your money on?

Catch Up:

Day One:	McKenzie Century Seizes Early Initiative
Day Two:	Play Abandoned on Day Two at Chelmsford

Words: Simon Vincent
Images: LMI Photography

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