Hampshire Claim Crushing Championship Victory

Wickets for Fidel Edwards (4-55), Jackson Bird (2-50) and Will Smith (1-8) ensured Hampshire claimed their first home LV= County Championship win of 2015 campaign as they defeated Warwickshire by 216 runs at the The Ageas Bowl.

Needing just four wickets to win the match, Hampshire began brilliantly on a drizzly day four as Bird and Edwards picked up the first three wickets inside the opening 30 minutes of play.

Despite good resistance coming from England all-rounder Chris Woakes (42) and Boyd Rankin (16*), Smith grabbed the final wicket just before the rain set in to hand the hosts a crucial four-day win.

Warwickshire resumed on 161-6 on the final day knowing that, whilst victory seemed unlikely, with rain forecast a draw was still possible if early wickets remained intact.

However the loss of key batsman Rikki Clarke (55), who had remained unbeaten overnight, sparked a flurry of further wickets with Edwards dismissing Keith Barker (0) and Jeetan Patel (10) shortly after for his eighth and ninth scalps of the match.

The last-wicket partnership between Woakes and Rankin frustrated the home-side initially as they sought to wrap up a vital victory amid difficult weather. Although the bowlers looked continually threatening against the final pair, Woakes farmed the strike expertly, but when the former chipped a flighted Smith delivery straight to Mason Crane at mid-on, celebrations ensued as Hampshire claimed the 10^th wicket and with it a deserved victory. 

Words: Will Brewster