Hampshire opened their season in fine style with a seven-wicket victory against Worcestershire
David Lloyd at The Rose Bowl17-Apr-2009Hampshire 216 and 107 for 3 (Carberry 58) beat Worcestershire 132 (Cork 4-10) and 189 (Solanki 73, Tomlinson 3-53) by seven wickets
ScorecardMichael Carberry helped Hampshire to their target with a half century•Getty Images
It may have taken Hampshire a little longer than had seemed likely on the second day, and they stumbled just short of the finishing line, but their seven-wicket victory over Worcestershire was still emphatic enough to delight acting captain Nic Pothas.”This was a clinical performance and comes on the back of a very good pre-season,” said Pothas after his team completed their task with four sessions to spare. “There are obviously areas which we need to touch up on but it’s early and we are still getting into the swing of things. But I’m ecstatic to win.”Needing 106 to polish off Worcestershire, Hampshire might have wobbled if Daryl Mitchell had managed to hold one of two difficult slip chances which came his way, off the bowling of Kabir Ali, when Michael Carberry had made four and 15. Neither stuck, however, and despite losing James Adams (8) – lbw, playing down the wrong line against spinner Gareth Batty – Hampshire were never seriously troubled.Carberry went on to score 58 and should have completed the job with John Crawley. Instead, he played on against medium-pacer Mitchell, who then made it two wickets in five balls with Michael Lumb spooning a gentle catch to backward square leg. That completed a pair for Lumb but, at 99 for three, Hampshire were almost home and dry.The hosts have power to add, too, with Australia’s Marcus North arriving next week, captain Dimitri Mascarenhas returning after the Indian Premier League and last season’s leading bowler, Imran Tahir, due to replace North as overseas recruit come June. As for Worcestershire, they can only hope their Australian – just arrived fast bowler Ashley Noffke – can make a difference, but it is their batting, without the retired Graeme Hick, which looks thin.”It will take time to replace Graeme but I’m happy with the look of the top six,” insisted beaten captain Vikram Solanki. “But we have to work harder to ensure we bounce back from this defeat.”The efforts of Solanki and Chris Whelan, who added 97 for the eighth wicket on the second evening, underlined just how poorly most of their top order colleagues had performed while Worcestershire were crumpling to 53 for seven. And the defiance continued on Friday once light drizzle relented after an hour’s delay.Indeed, it all looked rather comfortable for 20 minutes, not only when Solanki was facing but also for his latest partner, No 10 Matt Mason, as Chris Tremlett and James Tomlinson huffed and puffed without seriously threatening to blow anyone down. No wonder, then, that Solanki berated himself after gifting Hampshire his wicket.The visiting captain moved to 73 – the top score of the match – with the help of a crashing off drive and a scything pull against Tomlinson. But when the left-arm paceman served up a short, wide offering outside off stump, Solanki cut it straight and true to Michael Carberry at point. Still, at least Worcestershire’s No 3 had put some fight back into his team with that 159-ball innings, and last man Imran Arif battled on with Matt Mason until, almost inevitably, Dominic Cork struck with the final delivery before lunch.Cork, always willing to try something different, bounced Mason. It was an outrageously slow slower ball, though, that ended the innings, bowling a bemused Mason for 25. Cork looked mighty pleased with himself – and why not after a highly successful debut which contributed six wickets and 25 handy runs to Hampshire’s cause. Plenty more of both are likely to follow.