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Report & Reaction: Hampshire Men v Nottinghamshire, Rothesay County Championship
Report & Reaction: Hampshire Men v Nottinghamshire, Rothesay County Championship
Read the match report & hear reaction from Hampshire Men's Rothesay County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Utilita Bowl
Day Four Hampshire vs Nottinghamshire - Hampshire 214 & 207/6 drew with Nottinghamshire 229
By Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Jake Lehmann converted a fifty into three figures at the sixth attempt as Hampshire avoided defeat at home in the Rothesay County Championship for the first time in 10 months.
Champions and table-toppers Nottinghamshire had hoped to rip through the hosts on the final day to secure victory, but found Lehmann blocking their path.
The Australian, who qualifies as a domestic player, had scored five half-centuries – all in succession – earlier in the season before batting out the day for a 205-ball 102.
Both sidestake11 points from the match, enough to keep Nottinghamshire top, but not enough for Hampshire to escape the bottom.
If this match hadn’t lost almost 140 overs to rain, it would likely have been a thriller.
All three results had still looked vaguely possible at the start of the final day, but Hampshire needed to score runs at a decent rate, Nottinghamshire had to claim the remaining six wickets quickly, or a draw became the favourite.
Rain half an hour into play took most of the jeopardy out of the day, even though Ben Brown had edged Fergus O’Neill to first slip, giving the Australian quick his eighth wicket of the match.
His eight for 86 were his best match figures for Nottinghamshire.
Having taken lunch early, the afternoon was also delayed, and by the time play resumed, there were just 59 overs left in the day.
The Nottinghamshire attack, which had bowled well throughout, continued to bang the ball in, but Lehmann, with first Delano Potgieter and then Felix Organ, meant it was without reward.
Lehmann, the son of Australia great and Northamptonshire head coach Darren, has been a rare bright spark in Hampshire’s underperforming batting line-up.
On this occasion, he was unperturbed by the threat of any collapse by batting at his pace – mainly blocking but occasionally climbing into a lavish cut or a well-timed drive.
His unconventional stance, almost standing completely front on when the ball is delivered, looks susceptible to lbws and getting the ball onto the offside, but a mixture of quick hands and repositioned feet means he is difficult to dismiss.
Lehmann had struck twin fifties against Yorkshire and Somerset, plus an 89 against Essex, but despite scores of 89 and 92, he couldn’t break through to three figures.
And while he stuttered his way through the late 80s and early 90s, he reached his century – the 17th of his first-class career – with a flick off his hips for four.
Potgieter, who joined earlier in the week as a replacement for the ineffective Codi Yusuf, had a solid debut. A 15 in the first innings was followed by a tidy bowling display and a deserved wicket.
He stuck around with Lehmann for the second-highest partnership of the low-scoring match, worth 65 runs, before a slog sweep went straight up and he was caught.
Felix Organ simply completed the destination to share the point by digging in for over an hour. Hands were shaken at the earliest possible time in the middle of a rare Joe Clarke over.
Nottinghamshire still haven't won in the Championship at Utilita Bowl since 2010.
Day Three Hampshire vs Nottinghamshire - Hampshire 214 & 82/4 lead Nottinghamshire 229 by 67 runs
By Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Sonny Baker celebrated his Test call-up with his best bowling figures but Hampshire’s batting faltered again to give Nottinghamshire the scent of victory at Utilita Bowl.
Baker produced two searing spells either side of lunch to claim five for 45 and prove why he was named in the squad to face New Zealand next month.
His excellent figures, after Kyle Abbott had taken four for 40, meant Nottinghamshire could only take a 15-run first innings lead despite Liam Patterson-White’s 48.
But Hampshire couldn’t capitalise as they slipped to 82 for four by stumps with a slim 67-run lead going into the final day.
Baker hadn’t played a first-class match at the start of 2025, after a series of back injuries had thwarted his early years at Somerset.
He debuted for England Lions in the January of that year, made his Rothesay County Championship bow four months later – where Jonny Bairstow was his first wicket – and this is still only the 12th red ball match of his career.
And yet his England acknowledgement has not been a surprise, with this the fourth five-wicket haul of his embryonic career.
In that time, he has gained a reputation for devastatingly short-pitched bowling at high speeds, and while three of his five came while digging the ball into the pitch, the deliveries are built on pressure skilfully gained from traditional line and length.
Ben Slater had been suckered into a short ball on day two, and Lydon James and last man out Patterson-White also were unable to control hook shots.
The other two wickets came via irresistible full pace, with Fergus O’Neill losing his off stump and Olly Stone pinned lbw – Baker’s 13 balls after lunch drew figures of three for four as Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 229.
Much of that low total, before Baker’s tearaway, was down to Abbott and his unerringly accurate bowling.
He got the day rolling when he had compatriot Kyle Verreynne leg-before, and then Sam Seecharan – on debut after coming in as an injury replacement for Freddie McCann, who was struck on the thumb yesterday, was tied up before getting caught behind.
The other wicket in the innings fell to Delano Potgieter – his first Championship scalp of a tidy 20 overs when Jack Haynes prodded to second slip.
Hampshire’s batting has been the main reason they are bottom of the table, and before they had knocked off the first-innings deficit, they had already lost Toby Albert.
O’Neill took five in the first innings and had Albert lbw with a wobble ball, before making Fletcha Middleton his seventh scalp of the match with an edge behind.
Nick Gubbins’ loose hoick was also caught behind, off Olly Stone, as Hampshire slumped to 30 for three.
Tom Prest somewhat improved things by adding 43 with Jake Lehmann, but top-edged a short ball to fine leg, shortly before rain cut short the day.
Day Two Hampshire vs Nottinghamshire - Hampshire 214 lead Nottinghamshire 124/3 by 90 runs
By Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Fergus O’Neill secured his ninth career five-wicket haul but Hampshire refused to let Nottinghamshire get too far ahead on day two of their Rothesay County Championship meeting.
Australian quick O’Neill followed up his four wickets on the opening day by adding a fifth as Nottinghamshire bowled Hampshire out for 214.
Felix Organ’s well-made 55 bolstered the hosts’ score before early scalps, including two for Kyle Abbott, kept the champions in check.
The day ended prematurely at 17:30 BST after an afternoon of rain with table-toppers Nottinghamshire 124 for three, trailing by 90 runs.
Organ has been given the unenviable task of stepping into Liam Dawson’s shoes, after the former Test spinning all-rounder retired from first-class cricket earlier in the week.
Having initially broken into the Championship side as an opener in 2019, Organ has been found hovering in the lower middle-order and played predominantly for his off spin – with much of his success coming when bowling into left-armer Keith Barker’s massive footholds.
But his opener’s instincts are still intact as he led Hampshire's tail-end charge to boost a lacklustre score.
Organ had added 47 with debutant Delano Potgieter on the first evening, having come together on 105 for six.
But the South African only added one run to the partnership in nine balls before handing O’Neill his first five-for of the season.
O’Neill’s whirlwind four-match spell last season, during which he took 21 wickets, was a catalyst for giving Nottinghamshire the belief to win their first title for 15 years.
He claimed two five-wicket hauls in 2025, and picked up his first of the new season when Potgieter chipped to mid off – he had taken four on day one, having been pumped up by rapper Drake’s newly released albums.
Organ chuntered on with 23 run stands with Abbott and Brad Wheal and then another 15 for the last wicket, securing his 13th first-class fifty.
But the 214 Hampshire reached was significantly below par, with the sprightly Josh Tongue, Olly Stone and Liam Patterson-White claiming the last three wickets.
Hasseb Hameed and Ben Slater were given a tricky 10 overs under the lights before lunch, although the former didn’t make it through the first over.
The Nottinghamshire skipper couldn’t deal with the tension built by Abbott before getting bowled on the outside edge.
Lunch brought another celebration for Abbott, as he was awarded a framed picture and ball by the county, having picked up his 500th first-class wicket for the county against Essex last week.
Hampshire bowled impeccably after lunch, with plays and misses galore, but the longer Slater and Freddie McCann survived, the less pressure could be built because of the low total.
Abbott led things, Wheal was tight and Potgieter solid during his first bowl in the Championship, but it was Sonny Baker who was the one to make things happen.
Baker, who was called up to the England Test squad for the first time last week, bowled rapidly and largely to a short-pitch plan.
That ploy added Slater to the list of victims this season, when he picked out deep square to end an 85-run stand, before McCann was wrapped on the fingers and retired hurt.
Joe Clarke’s 748 runs this season, the most in Division One, meant nothing when Abbott bowled a snorter to catch his inside edge.
But tea, and the rain that fell from then on, stopped Hampshire’s roll, albeit with Nottinghamshire still 90 runs ahead and in the more commanding position.
Day One Hampshire vs Nottinghamshire - Hampshire 152/6 (45.3)
By Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Fergus O’Neill claimed four wickets as leaders Nottinghamshire piled more pressure on Hampshire’s out-of-form batting line-up.
Australian quick O’Neill picked up four for 32 as bottom-placed Hampshire were left 105 for six.
New overseas Delano Potgieter and Felix Organ improved the situation somewhat to reach 152 for six at stumps – with 50 overs lost in the day.
Hampshire have only picked up a single batting point – by reaching 251 against Yorkshire – so far this season and don’t look like grabbing any out of this match.
They have lost all but one of their five matches, two of which by an innings and all three at home.
On the flip side, Nottinghamshire have bounced off their title-winning campaign to begin the 2026 season unbeaten, to sit top of the table.
The form guide was indicative of a rain-affected opening day at Utilita Bowl.
Australian O’Neill went wicketless in a bore-draw against Surrey last week but roared into action with a ferocious opening eight-over spell – after the visitors had chosen to bowl first.
He burst through the Hampshire top-order with figures of three for 14, which was interspersed with four maidens on the bounce.
Toby Albert was the first to depart when the Victorian speared one straight, full and into his pads.
Hampshire’s attempt to change their relegation form was to mix the batting order around. That included moving previous No.4 Fletcha Middleton to No.3. He tickled behind for a 14-ball duck.
Jake Lehmann had been on a heater with five fifties in a row, which was ended with a 27 at Essex. He only reached four before his Sheffield Shield rival O’Neill pinned him in front.
Lyndon James replaced O’Neill at the Rod Bransgrove Pavillion End and within three overs had Tom Prest – who had dropped to No.5 – wafting behind, before O’Neill returned after lunch to dislodge Nick Gubbins – who had stuck around for over two hours before nicking off.
Like Gubbins, captain Ben Brown took slightly more thought to dismiss, but England selected Josh Tongue carried out a short ball plan to compel a top edge to fine leg.
Another new ploy from Hampshire was to sign a new overseas. South African Codi Yusuf had proven ineffective with the ball, so Delano Potgieter had been flown in.
The all-rounder showed his stickability either side of a length rain delay, and added a match-high 47 with Felix Organ – the latter doing the bulk of the scoring.
Bad light eventually ended the day’s play at 18:30BST.
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