Report & Reaction: Nottinghamshire v Hampshire Men, Rothesay County Championship

Day Three

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Hampshire collapsed to a three-day defeat after centuries from Jack Haynes and Liam Patterson-White had batted them out of the game as Division One leaders Nottinghamshire romped to a third victory in their opening five matches of the Rothesay County Championship season, winning by a massive 366-run margin.

All-rounder Patterson-White struck a magnificent career-best 135 containing 21 fours and two sixes, with Haynes making 120, the pair sharing a seventh-wicket stand of 238 as the Trent Bridge side made 345 in their second innings.

Chasing down 483 to win looked wholly unrealistic on a pitch that has made the new ball a potent weapon, but Hampshire supporters would have hoped at least to see the match taken to a fourth day.

Instead, they witnessed their team bowled out for 116 by half past five with former favourite Mohammad Abbas not even among the wickets as the bowling honours were shared between Lyndon James (five for 22) and Brett Hutton (four for 56).

The winning margin is Nottinghamshire’s second largest by runs in their Championship history.

The mayhem of the final session was in complete contrast with the first, when it felt like a different match as Nottinghamshire’s seventh wicket pair, whose partnership was worth 87 at Saturday’s close, added another 144 runs before lunch.

Haynes, 60 overnight, had given his team-mate a 21-run start but in the event, as Hampshire’s bowlers toiled in vain to conjure life from an aging ball on a pitch that looked benign for the first time in the match, Patterson-White was first to three figures.

He reached the milestone from 139 balls with a mighty pull for six off Sonny Baker. It was his second six of the innings, having hit 76 runs of his hundred runs in boundaries.

Given that he had not made even a half-century in 32 innings over three seasons before this one and had struggled to keep his place in the side, it was little wonder he allowed himself a lengthy celebration.

Moments later, he overtook his previous career-best - 101 against Somerset at Taunton in 2021 - before a single off Baker completed Haynes’s hundred, from 137 balls, also with 16 fours, his second in five innings.

Haynes, dropped at deep square leg on 80, departed three overs after lunch. Kyle Abbott now had the new ball in hand but it was coming back for a second run to deep mid-wicket that cost Haynes, Baker’s throw to the wicketkeeper beating him comfortably.

Nonetheless, the completed first run was enough to take the partnership to 238, Nottinghamshire’s second biggest for the seventh wicket against any opponent.

Abbott followed up with a more conventional new-ball wicket in his next over - taking his tally for the season to 23 as the country’s leading wicket-taker so far - as Hutton was caught behind without scoring, after which Farhan Ahmed was yorked by James Fuller and Patterson-White bowled off a bottom edge.

It gave Hampshire a theoretical target of 483 to win the match or else bat long enough to salvage some pride. Yet the chances of achieving even that quickly diminished as they slipped to 33 for three at tea.

Abbas bowled six wicketless overs but from the other end Hutton had a leaden-footed Fletcha Middleton leg before and Mark Stoneman caught behind off a thin outside edge.

First change James then dismissed Prest, who top-edged a cut as Kyle Verreynne held a second catch.

And there was little sign of Hampshire trying to bed in for a fight after tea as wickets tumbled with unseemly frequency.

Ben Brown’s loose pull off Hutton came down in the hands of square leg, Nick Gubbins fell tamely to a catch at extra cover off, Liam Dawson was caught on the boundary hooking, Fuller flicked straight to midwicket, Toby Albert, dropped at first slip, edged to third - albeit superbly caught by Haynes - and Brad Wheal was caught at mid-off, leaving the visitors 82 for nine.

Abbott and Baker kept the home side’s celebrations on hold for 10 overs before the latter sliced to backward point for 27 as Hampshire’s top scorer, Patterson-White aptly taking the final wicket.

Day Two

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Mohammad Abbas took five wickets on his Nottinghamshire debut to put the Division One leaders in a strong position against his former county after 16 wickets fell on day two of their Rothesay County Championship clash with Hampshire at Trent Bridge.

The 34-year-old Pakistan seamer, who took 180 first-class wickets in four summers at the Utilita Bowl before agreeing to move to Trent Bridge for part of this season, finished with five for 31 as Hampshire were bowled out for 196 in their first innings in reply to Nottinghamshire’s 333.

Nottinghamshire slipped to 59 for five in their second innings but Jack Haynes (60 not out) and Liam Patterson-White (44 not out) helped them recover to 171 for six at the close for a lead of 308, which already looks like a winning advantage on a pitch that has given plenty of assistance to the bowlers.

Earlier, Kyle Abbott - Abbas’s former new ball partner on the south coast -  hit three sixes in a feisty 67 to rescue Hampshire from 106, going on to add two wickets to his own five-wicket first-innings haul.

Bowling initially from the Radcliffe Road end, Abbas dismissed Nick Gubbins via a catch to fourth slip to claim his first scalp in Nottinghamshire colours in his fifth over as Hampshire, two without loss overnight, found themselves 31 for two after 40 minutes, having already lost opener Mark Stoneman, caught and bowled by Brett Hutton.

Fletcha Middleton was caught behind as a ball from Lyndon James climbed on him sharply enough to prompt a miscued pull but, approaching lunch, Hampshire might have felt they had the foundation for a decent response to Nottinghamshire’s first innings.

But that assessment was blown apart as Abbas returned to the attack from the Stuart Broad End, taking three wickets in as many overs either side of the break, turning 96 for three into 99 for six.

Prest, having struck back-to-back boundaries as Abbas momentarily lost his lines, was leg before as the next ball struck him plumb in front. Ben Brown’s off stump was sent cartwheeling and Toby Albert nicked to second slip.

Hutton beat James Fuller’s defensive prod at 106 for seven, after which, still 227 behind, Hampshire could quickly have found themselves batting for a second time had Abbott’s positive approach not paid off.

The South African hit a half-century from 36 balls as he added 42 for the eighth wicket with Liam Dawson, plus 30 for the ninth with Brad Wheal, last man Sonny Baker keeping him company long enough for the follow-on to be avoided.

Dawson fell to a superb catch by Farhan Ahmed at extra cover as Abbas completed his quintet, Wheal becoming a second victim for James in almost a duplicate of Middleton’s dismissal before lunch.

Abbott, who lofted a straight six off the left-arm spin of Patterson-White and twice cleared the rope hooking Hutton, was ultimately caught at long-on. It gave Ahmed a wicket with his second ball and while Hampshire trailed by 137 runs, it was much fewer than had seemed likely.

Abbott then enhanced the value of the runs he had made by dismissing both Nottinghamshire openers in his first four second-innings overs with no sign of the match’s rapid evolution slowing down.  He bowled Haseeb Hameed, seemingly beaten for pace, and had Ben Slater nicking to slip.

A wicket in the last over before tea and two more shortly afterwards left Nottinghamshire in peril at 59 for five, albeit 196 runs in front.

Joe Clarke was caught behind trying to pull Wheal. Fuller then had first-innings centurion Freddie McCann caught behind off an outside edge and Wheal picking up a second as Kyle Verreynne was bowled by a ball he chose to leave.

Nottinghamshire lost a sixth wicket for 84 as James pulled Sonny Baker’s first delivery to mid-off but, with signs that some of the venom in the pitch might be starting to dissipate, Haynes and Patterson-White put together a partnership so far worth 87 that might have put the game out of Hampshire’s reach.

Day One

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Nottinghamshire batting prodigy Freddie McCann gave more evidence of his considerable potential by posting the third century of his fledgling first-class career to defy Hampshire on day one of their Rothesay County Championship clash at Trent Bridge.

In only his 13th innings in the Championship so far, the 20-year-old England Lions left-hander made 138 as the current Division One leaders posted a respectable 333 after being asked to bat first on a pitch that offered plenty of encouragement to Hampshire’s seam attack, with no other batter passing 33.

South African quick Kyle Abbott took five for 57 and James Fuller three for 56 but Hampshire let themselves down somewhat by dropping five catches.

Hampshire openers Mark Stoneman and Fletcha Middleton had two overs to face at the close, including one from former teammate Mohammad Abbas, the Pakistan fast bowler who is making his debut for Nottinghamshire.

McCann, a Nottingham-born product of the county’s academy pathway, scored 154 against champions Surrey in only his second match after making his first-class debut last August, adding 130 against Warwickshire before the end of the season.

He hit 15 fours and a six and shared partnerships of 78 with Kyle Verreynne, 71 with Lyndon James and 59 with Liam Patterson-White after his side had been 82 for four at lunch.

Four wickets in that opening session had represented a decent return for Hampshire’s decision to put Nottinghamshire in, although it took until the last 35 minutes for the rewards to come.

Until then, Nottinghamshire’s openers had endured a torrid time on a green-tinged pitch against some testing bowling from Abbott and Fuller in particular.

Ben Slater was dropped twice in the slips off Abbott - on one and nine - and needed treatment for a blow on the forearm inflicted by Fuller. Yet somehow, he and skipper Haseeb Hameed pair survived 19 overs for 62.

The picture changed with a double-wicket maiden from Fuller that began with Slater caught at extra cover by a leaping Nick Gubbins and ended with Nottinghamshire 63 for two after a cracking delivery with bounce and late movement had Hameed caught behind.

The last two overs of the session saw Abbott, nought for 14 from seven overs in his first spell, gain the success he was due as Joe Clarke and Jack Haynes were both leg before, beaten past the inside edge playing forward, four wickets having fallen for 20 runs in 48 deliveries.

Nottinghamshire recovered to 195 for five at tea, the only wicket to fall in the middle session that of Verreynne (33), who became a third lbw victim for Abbott, trying to work to leg.

Yet Hampshire continued to count the cost of poor work in the field with James given a life on one when Fuller could not hold on at third slip off Abbott after McCann had survived what looked a hard chance to gully off Fuller on 18.

Nonetheless, Nottinghamshire could congratulate themselves for showing resilience. Abbott always looked dangerous, regularly beating the bat, and in the circumstances it was a superb innings by McCann, back in the side in place of England’s Ben Duckett, who is unavailable.

Hampshire’s catching did not improve after tea, with James dropped again on 29, Tom Prest failing to take a regulation chance at first slip off Brad Wheal. To add insult to injury, the spilled ball rolled into the fielding helmet stowed behind the stumps, adding five penalty runs to the total.

In the event, James could not add heavily to Hampshire’s pain, falling to Liam Dawson on 33, bowled giving himself room to cut.

Patterson-White played well until, having also made 33, he made the unwise decision to shoulder arms to Abbott, with the new ball, who completed the 43rd five-wicket haul of his first-class career when Brett Hutton was caught behind.

Wheal dismissed Farhan Ahmed, caught at first slip, before McCann finally fell to a catch on the square cover boundary off Fuller.