Daily Reports & Reaction: Warwickshire v Hampshire, LV= CC

Day Three

Liam Dawson spun Hampshire to the top of the LV = County Championship with one final round of fixtures to play after leaders Nottinghamshire capitulated after tea on a dramatic third day at the The Ageas Bowl to sink to a 122-run defeat.

Chasing 250 for victory, the visitors started well but lost nine wickets after the interval for 81 runs as Dawson finished with 5-45 and Felix Organ 3-22 after Mohammad Abbas had taken the crucial wicket of Ben Duckett for 33. 

After bowling out the hosts for 178 following a delayed start, the visitors were 46-1 at tea only to be bundled out for 127 on a dramatic day in Southampton.
The win leave Hampshire in position to seal a first County title since 1973 when they play Lancashire at Liverpool starting next Tuesday.

Hampshire added 45 for their final three wickets to add to their overnight score, after play was delayed until 1pm due to heavy morning rain.

Impressive young all-rounder Liam Patterson-White followed up his first-innings 50 by mopping up the tail to claim his maiden five-wicket haul, dismissing Keith Barker for 29, Brad Wheal for three and James Fuller for 21 as Hampshire were dismissed for 226.

Openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater got Notts off to a solid start after surviving a testing hour before tea from Barker and Abbas.

The pair survived 40 minutes of the new ball before Abbas got the breakthrough when Organ took a superb diving catch to pouch a bat-pad opportunity off the England opener and send him on his way for eight.

Duckett played the spinners well, sweeping Dawson and Organ with great success, but with tensions beginning to rise in the middle and words being exchanged between the England international and the Pakistan quick, umpire Martin Saggers was forced to step in between the pair.

But Duckett's barbs evidently only seemed to fire-up Abbas, and to his great delight, Saggers' finger went up shortly after his intervention when a ball thumped the left-hander on the pad when it appeared to be drifting down the leg-side.

Dawson, re-introduced into the attack following the dismissal of Duckett, vindicated the faith of skipper James Vince, when he had Slater prodding around off-stump and the ball ballooned off his bat and was plucked out of the air by Nick Gubbins at short-leg, reducing Notts to 72-3.

Following Slater's dismissal a procession of batsman came and went with only teenager Joey Evison reaching double figures as the leaders slumped to a dispiriting defeat to drop to third spot on the table with Dawson taking his first five-wicket haul since 2015.

Day Two

Third-placed Hampshire edged an absorbing second day of the LV = County Championship Division One clash with leaders Nottinghamshire, opening up a 204-run lead at the The Ageas Bowl.

In perfect seam bowling conditions, 16 wickets fell with Keith Barker taking a career-best 7-46 as the visitors were dismissed for 155 in response to Hampshire's first innings score of 226.

But Dane Paterson inspired a Nottinghamshire fightback, reducing the hosts to 133-7 at the close after James Vince and Liam Dawson had bolstered the hosts' advantage with an 82-run stand having come together at 28-4.

It leaves a fascinating match firmly in the balance although heavy rain is expected to disrupt much of day three.

Resuming on 29-1, Nottinghamshire were stopped in their tracks by a stunning burst from Barker that saw the table-toppers slump to 31-4 inside the first 15 balls.

The veteran left-armer dismissed Ben Duckett with the first delivery of the morning and struck again with the fifth when Joe Clarke chipped the former Warwickshire man to Brad Wheal at mid-wicket.

Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney came and went for just two to become Barker's fourth victim before Tom Moores was pinned on the crease and thumped on the pad to hand the 34-year his 17th First Class five-wicket haul.

Opener Ben Slater batted well amidst the rubble of his side's top order, posting a gritty half-century in a 70-run stand with Liam Patterson-White.

But Slater departed shortly after lunch when he mistimed an attempt to withdraw his bat and the ball kissed the edge and found its way into the gloves of Tom Alsop to hand Barker his sixth wicket with Joey Evison becoming his seventh to leave Notts in desperate trouble at 115-7.

Patterson-White brought up his 50 in a stand of 30 with Brett Hutton but the duo departed in successive balls with Brad Wheal bowling Patterson-White for 53 and Hutton caught in the deep by Felix Organ off James Fuller for 13.

Wheal wrapped up the innings by dismissing Paterson for six to deliver Hampshire a handy 71-run lead.

Openers Ian Holland and Joe Weatherley got off to a solid start putting on 26 for the first wicket, only for Paterson to rip through the top order.

Holland was the first to depart for 16 with Tom Alsop soon following him back to the pavilion after a second-ball duck before Joe Weatherley feathered a catch to Tom Moores off Luke Fletcher.

Matters were compounded for the hosts when Nick Gubbins became Paterson's third victim to leave Hampshire struggling at 28-4.

Vince and Dawson steadied the ship but their crucial partnership was ended by Patterson-White who trapped Dawson lbw for 28 with Vince then having his off-stump uprooted by Fletcher for 52.

Patterson-White struck again four overs from the close when Felix Organ was lbw for 11 with Barker and Wheal unbeaten on 11 and one.

Day One

Leaders Nottinghamshire edged the first day of the top-of-the-table LV= Insurance County Championship clash against Hampshire, bowling out the hosts for 226 before negotiating a tricky last seven overs to close on 29-1.

England opener Haseeb Hameed fell late in the day to a fine delivery from Keith Barker that he nicked to Tom Alsop for two but Ben Duckett and Ben Slater survived until bad light brought play to a conclusion with Notts trailing by 197 runs with nine wickets in hand. 

Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat on a morning tinged with blue skies and overhead cloud and Nottinghamshire took full advantage of the new ball by dismissing openers Joe Weatherley and Ian Holland cheaply.

Weatherley fell for 11 after he edged Brett Hutton to Duckett at slip and was joined back in the pavilion five balls later when Ian Holland was struck on the pad in front of his stumps by Luke Fletcher for three.

Alsop departed for 16 when he was bowled by Dane Paterson as Hampshire limped to lunch on 45-3 having struggled against the swing and movement generated by the Notts attack.

James Vince and Nick Gubbins steadied the ship for the hosts with the skipper stroking four sumptuous fours, but he was dismissed for 30 caught at slip by Hameed to leave his side 87-4.

The unfortunate Joey Evison saw four catches go down off his bowling with Gubbins having three lives on his way to a half-century and Liam Dawson surviving a tough diving chance that was spilled by Paterson at mid-wicket.

But the teenager got his just reward when he cleaned up the left-hander with a magnificent delivery to dismiss the on-loan Middlesex man for 54.

Dawson smashed a huge leg-side six on his way to 31 before he fell to a ball from Paterson that caught the edge of his bat and Duckett took a smart catch at second slip.

Resuming after tea at 175-6, all-rounders Barker and James Fuller fell soon after the restart for 19 and 13 respectively with Paterson and Hutton each picking up their third wickets.

Brad Wheal survived four balls before his stumps were uprooted by Notts skipper Steven Mullaney as Hampshire slumped to 193-9. 

Felix Organ earned his side a potentially crucial batting point with a crucial 36 in a final wicket stand of 33 with Abbas before Fletcher ended the innings to pick up his second wicket.