On This Day: Hampshire Wrap-Up Somerset Win After Tremlett & James Heroics

Hampshire Cricket's historian Dave Allen takes a look back on timely memorable moments in his ‘On This Day’ series.

Somerset v Hampshire, County Championship: 22nd - 24th May 1985

In the County Championship - on this day in 1985 - Hampshire beat Somerset by five wickets, after a remarkable and record-breaking recovery in their first innings.

Stand-in captain, Paul Terry won the toss, took the field and Hampshire dismissed Somerset in 73.4 lively overs for 298. The energy came unsurprisingly from one IT Botham who arrived at 58-4 and hit 149 before Marshall (3-81) bowled him. Tremlett took 3-36, and he wasn’t finished.

By the close of play Hampshire were in trouble at 90-5, with one wicket for Botham and two for Viv Richards who had earlier gone for nought. On the second morning Somerset quickly dismissed the overnight batsmen and Hampshire on 107-7 needed 42 more to avoid the follow-on.

The new partnership brought together Tim Tremlett (102*) and newcomer Kevan James (124) and the pair added 227* for the eighth wicket – a county record, broken 20 years later by Pothas and Bichel.

In Somerset’s second innings, Viv Richards scored 186 more runs than he had in the first innings (176 balls), and Popplewell, once of Hampshire 2nd XI, added 68, so the declaration (five down) set Hampshire 323 to win.

This time Chris Smith was the fifth centurion, and with Paul Terry (83) and Malcolm Marshall 49*, Hampshire won.

While Botham, Richards and Smith were regular centurions, for Hampshire’s record breakers, these were maiden first-class hundreds.