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Report from day four of Hampshire's LV= County Championship match against Northamptonshire at The Ageas Bowl

Hampshire v Northamptonshire
LV= County Championship
Day Four: Saturday 18 August 2012
The Ageas Bowl

Summary: Hampshire beat Northamptonshire by eight wickets
Northamptonshire: 356 & 245-8d
Hampshire: 276 & 329-2 (70.1 ovs)
Scorecard
Concurrent Table

Hampshire Team
Adams*, McKenzie, Katich, Dawson, Vince, Ervine, Bates†, Wood, Balcombe, Ali, Tomlinson
Northamptonshire Team
Peters, O'Brien, Sales, Wakely, Newton, Hall*, Middlebrook, Murphy†, Willey, Daggett, Evans

A stunning 149 from captain Jimmy Adams (216 balls, 23 fours and two sixes) helped Hampshire record an incredible win, taking it down to the wire on day four of this LV= County Championship match against Northamptonshire at The Ageas Bowl.

After wickets for the hosts earlier in the day, Northants declared on 245-8, giving Adams’ side a challenging 325 to chase.

But, the skipper’s stunning individual performance, combined with some fine batting under pressure from Neil McKenzie (76), Simon Katich (61 not out) and Liam Dawson (27 not out) was enough to help the home side to a outstanding victory with only 11 balls remaining.

Hampshire take 21 points in total from the match to cement their place in the second promotion slot in the table, nine points behind leaders, Derbyshire.

***

Northants had resumed on 176-5 and were still finding their feet when, with Chris Wood (1-38) taking out James Middlebrook’s off-stump for only four runs, the first innings talisman was on his way back to the dressing room just three overs into the day.

And things got even better for the South Coast side when a swinging delivery from David Balcombe (2-37) in the next over caught out David Murphy (1), who edged into McKenzie’s path in the slips; Northants 182-7.

David Willey (31*) and Alex Wakely (96) would then combine to put on 63 runs but when Wakely went for a big hit, only to pick out Liam Dawson in the covers, it brought the declaration; Hampshire given little over two sessions to chase down an intimidating total.

So openers Adams and McKenzie began by scoring at a decent enough rate and it was shortly after lunch that Hampshire reached their 50 with a few well-placed boundaries. But they also knew that only with wickets in hand would a One-Day-style surge for runs towards the end be possible and sp they also drew on all their experience to only play the balls that were necessary.

So it was hugely important that, together, the openers were able to see their side to tea on 144 without loss, bringing up the 150 soon after. In fact, it took a superb low diving catch at first slip from Andrew Hall to dismiss McKenzie (75).

But this wasn’t enough to halt the determination of the home side, Adams playing some immaculate shots to the boundary and reaching a career milestone by surpassing 8,500 first-class runs to also bring up his 15th first-class century.

Encouraged, he opened up his shoulders, hitting 50 runs in 33 balls and, even when he departed Katich was fluent enough, getting his 50 in 61 balls to keep the home team in with a shout, needing just 16 to win off the remaining four overs.

A few well placed fours and the 50 partnership with Dawson was brought up, the win secured. Elsewhere, draws for Yorkshire and Kent meant they slipped to 10 and 16 points behind Hants, capping a great day all-round. Their next match in this competition is against Leicestershire away next week.
 

Catch Up:

Preview:	Hampshire Seek Revenge Against Northants
Day One:	Early Wickets Hand Hants the Initiative
Day Two:	Lower-Order Resistance Frustrates Hosts
Day Three:	Late Wickets Give Hants Hope

Words: Will Rimell
Images: NJM Photography

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