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

Day Four

A James Vince batting rearguard helped save his Hampshire side from defeat on a day of huge frustration for Yorkshire at The Ageas Bowl.

Vince faced 151 deliveries before being dismissed late in the day for 42, before injured tailenders Kyle Abbott and Brad Wheal held out for the final 7.4 overs to deny the Tykes a crucial victory on the final day of the LV= County Championship Division One clash. 

Hampshire coach Adi Birrell set his players a target of each soaking up 72 balls to save the match on a lifeless day four pitch just as Surrey and Gloucestershire had against the hosts earlier this season.

Nightwatchman Mason Crane and Vince fulfilled their side of the bargain as Hampshire finished the day 177-9 with Wheal and Abbott unbeaten at the close, in pursuit of an unlikely target of 392 for victory.

Crane repelled 196 balls - the most he has faced in a single innings - before falling for 28 and his exit just after tea saw the Tykes take three wickets in eight overs with the new ball to put themselves in view of victory. 

But Vince, shelved his natural attacking game and showed magnificent technique and temperament to keep alive his side's County Championship title aspirations.

Starting the day on 26-2 with Joe Weatherley and Crane at the crease, the pair survived the first 28 overs of the day until Weatherley fell lbw on the stroke of lunch to the impressive Jordan Thompson.

Nick Gubbins exited after the restart for six when he was caught and bowled by Andrew Fisher, but with runs irrelevant, Vince joined the dogged Crane at the crease and the pair made it safely to tea with just 44 runs added from 29 overs.

The docile pitch continued to offer little encouragement for both the spin of Dom Bess or the tireless Yorkshire seamers.

Fisher finally made the breakthrough with the new ball shortly after the restart when he brushed the edge of Crane's bat with Adam Lyth taking the catch at slip to end his stubborn vigil.

Fisher struck again in his next over to pin Liam Dawson on the crease and trap him lbw for a duck to leave Yorkshire in sight of  victory.

Thompson, as he does so often for his side, made something happen when his side needed him most, when he bowled Lewis McManus to leave Hampshire on the brink at 138-7 with 25 overs remaining.

Keith Barker survived nine overs before falling to the excellent Thompson bringing Abbott, who was unable to bowl on day three due to a foot injury, to the crease with 16.3 overs remaining to join Vince who was then dismissed six overs from the close by Thompson. 

Abbott was joined by Wheal who held out magnificently with 10 men around the bat for the final three overs as Yorkshire fell short in an absorbing finish.

Day Three

Yorkshire put themselves firmly in a strong position to wrap up victory against an under-manned Hampshire after another LV = Insurance County Championship day of dominance at The Ageas Bowl.

Starting the day on 37-1 - a lead of 114 runs - the visitors batted their opponents out of the game after declaring on 312-6 - setting a mammoth target of 392 for an unlikely victory.

Then Tykes then reduced the hosts to 26-2 before the close after Ben Coad had dismissed Ian Holland for three thanks to a one-handed diving slip catch by Harry Brook before Tom Alsop fell in the penultimate over of the day to Dom Bess to leave Hampshire 367 runs behind and needing to bat 96 overs to save the match.

Ground specialist Gary Ballance chalked up his sixth score of 100 or more at the venue and his first century of the season.

The left-hander belted seven leg-side sixes on his way to an unbeaten 101 - taking his overall First Class total in Southampton to 1150 in 15 innings.

After losing attack leader Kyle Abbott late on day two with an ankle injury, Hampshire were further hampered by the absence of fellow pace spearhead Brad Wheal before play got underway.

Wheal, who has enjoyed a break-out season, didn't take the field after injuring a knee.

Although Ian Holland and Keith Barker were left to carry the load of the seam bowling and the spin of Mason Crane and Liam Dawson took up the rest of the slack, Yorkshire batsmen Tom Kohler-Cadmore and George Hill resisted any early temptation to cut loose with just 67 runs added before lunch in an uneventful session that saw no wickets fall.

It was a trend that continued until an hour after lunch when Hill edged Holland behind for 55 bringing Ballance to the crease with obvious orders from the dressing room to up the ante.

The former England batsman took no time in tucking in against a tired attack, hitting five sixes off Dawson on his way to his half-century.

Kohler-Cadmore also broke the shackles, hitting 18 off four Crane deliveries before finding the hands of Dawson at deep extra cover to be dismissed for a fine 89.

Ballance continued to tee off after tea, smashing two sixes off the part-time seam of James Vince after the Hampshire skipper had Harry Brook caught for 12 by Nick Gubbins.

Jordan Thompson, promoted up the order, put on a quickfire 59 with Ballance, before holing out for an entertaining 33 and Bess departed for a duck before Steve Patterson called his players in.

Day Two

Yorkshire's bowlers put their side in full control of the LV = County Championship clash against Hampshire on a day of White Rose dominance at The Ageas Bowl.

Victory for either team would greatly enhance a push to be in the title mix, but it was the visitors who seized the initiative as Hampshire were bowled out for 163 having earlier dismissed the visitors for 243 before lunch.

Yorkshire closed the day on 34-1 in their second innings - an imposing-looking lead of 114 - despite losing Adam Lyth for seven before the close.

The visitors added 46 to their overnight total of 197-6, missing out on a second batting point by just seven runs, as Mason Crane mopped up the tail.

Dom Bess top scored with a potentially priceless 54 before playing on to Keith Barker after Jordan Thompson had departed to the second ball of the morning from Brad Wheal.

Crane then trapped Matthew Fisher and Ben Coad lbw to wrap up the innings and leave Hampshire's batsmen with a tricky 35 minutes to negotiate before lunch.

It was a task they failed miserably as the fired-up Yorkshire bowlers ripped through the top order with Ian Holland falling for a first-ball duck to Coad before Joe Weatherley edged Fisher behind to leave Hampshire reeling at 1-2.

Nick Gubbins looked in decent touch as he unfurled three boundaries only for Coad to find the edge of his bat and Harry Brook pouched the catch at slip as Hampshire limped to lunch on 29-3.

When play restarted the murky skies that had enveloped the ground since day one lifted as sun briefly broke through the clouds to create the best batting conditions of the match.

In an encounter where run-scoring has been at a premium, Vince showed his class with two boundaries from the first two balls he faced to raise hopes of a Hampshire rebuild.

Yorkshire were convinced they had their man on 35 when Vince was struck on the pad by opposite skipper Steve Patterson with a ball that looked destined for middle and off-stumps.

But umpire Nigel Llong kept his finger down, much to the dismay of the Tykes fielders, who then saw the elegant right-hander crunch the ball to the boundary two deliveries later.

Yorkshire finally got the vital breakthrough when Vince, who had played a relatively risk-free innings, changed tack when on 49 only for his attempt to lift a short ball from Fisher over the rope finding the hands of George Hill.

Vince's exit sparked a collapse of 6-37 as Tom Alsop, who soaked up 96 balls for 12 runs, saw his torturous vigil ended by a peach of a delivery from Bess that clipped his off-stump.

The impressive Thompson picked up the wickets of Liam Dawson, Barker and Crane either side of tea with Bess grabbing his second victim when Lewis McManus was smartly caught off his boot by Harry Duke.

Brad Wheal and Kyle Abbott added some valuable runs in a last-wicket stand of 40 before Coad wrapped up the innings to finish with 3-29.

Day One

Gary Ballance continued his The Ageas Bowl love affair by helping Yorkshire finish an attritional opening day of the LV= County Championship Division One clash against Hampshire on 197-6.

Ballance, who has scored more than 1000 runs at the Southampton venue, including a Test high 156, scored 42 hard-fought runs in conditions tailor-made for seam bowling to admirably hold the innings together alongside Dom Bess.

Bess hit the last ball of the day for four to be unbeaten on 45 before bad light brought play to a conclusion 10 overs before the scheduled close.

On an overcast Bank Holiday Monday morning, Hampshire skipper James Vince had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat on a green-tinged surface after winning the toss.

Kyle Abbott and Keith Barker immediately posed plenty of questions for the openers Adam Lyth and George Hill, who eked out just 13 runs between them in the first 10 overs before the South African quick made the breakthrough.

Having beaten the bat on numerous occasions, Abbott finally got a ball to nip back and trap Lyth on the pad for six, with umpire, former Yorkshire all-rounder James Middlebrook, raising the finger.

Despite the tough conditions and some probing bowling from Ian Holland, who conceded just four runs from his first five overs, Hill and Tom Kohler-Cadmore showed great patience and discipline to help Yorkshire reach lunch at 60-1.

However, Hill's good early work was undone immediately after the restart when Abbott struck with the first ball following the resumption, thumping the 21-year-old's front pad with a delivery that would have clipped the stumps and he departed for 31.

Hill's departure brought Ballance, who has scored three centuries and a double ton on his previous three visits to The Ageas Bowl, to the crease.

Like his fellow batsmen he was forced to graft for every run with the floodlights turned on half-an-hour after lunch.

Abbott picked up his third wicket when Kohler-Cadmore tried to break the shackles with an attempted drive down the ground but could only edge behind to Lewis McManus.

Kohler-Cadmore, who ground out 20 runs from 91 balls, threw his head back in frustration following his departure as his side slipped to 84-3.

Former England Under-19 skipper Jack Brooke soon followed him back to the pavilion after playing on to a Brad Wheal ball just before tea.

Ballance and Bess looked relatively untroubled, despite the scoreboard not accelerating rapidly.

But just when Ballance looked to be heading past 50 for the eighth time in 13 innings on this ground, he was dismissed in a somewhat tame fashion when he chipped Liam Dawson to Joe Weatherley at mid-wicket.

Wheal struck again to dismiss Harry Duke for 12 to leave Yorkshire on 159-6 before Bess Jordan Thompson added a potentially priceless unbeaten 38-run stand for the seventh wicket.