Match Centre

MATCH REPORT | HAMPSHIRE V MIDDLESEX

Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.

DAY THREE

Liam Dawson completed the greatest LV= Insurance County Championship performance of his career by becoming only the fourth Hampshire player to score a century and take 10 wickets in a match.

Dawson had scored 141 in Hampshire’s only innings – as they thrashed Middlesex by an innings and 61 runs inside three days – before taking six for 40 and six for 90 in an extraordinary outing.

His career-best match figures of 12 for 130 enters him into an exclusive club of just 19th-century players Arthur Ridley and Francis Lacey, and Charlie Llewellyn in 1901. Worcestershire’s Jack Shantry was the last to achieve the feat in the Championship nine years ago.

The victory, which saw Hampshire bowl Middlesex out for 150 and 208, keeps them hanging on in the title race, and further boosts Dawson’s Ashes credentials.

It was Hampshire’s fourth victory of the season, as they took 21 points away, while Middlesex looked destined to drop into the relegation zone with their solitary point.

Kyle Abbott rattled through the Middlesex tail, with the two outstanding first-innings wickets falling within five-morning overs.

Tom Helm shouldered his arms to a delivery which swung then seamed into his off stump before Josh de Caires was the victim of more inwards movement that thudded into his pads.

Middlesex bowled out for 150, 269 behind, asked to follow on, and still without a Championship centurion this year.

Second time around they survived almost 13 overs before collapsing.

Dawson ended the first innings with six for 40, his best at the Ageas Bowl, bettering the six for 61 he had taken against Northamptonshire in the previous Championship match at home.

Having been introduced in the 12th over in the first innings, James Vince threw him the ball in the 11th this time around before striking in the 13th to start a 21-ball avalanche of wickets.

Dawson bookended the spell with Sam Robson leading edging to second slip and Mark Stoneman popping a reverse sweep off his glove to first slip.

In between, Barker had Pieter Malan failing to go through with a shot and toeing to mid-off and Max Holden brashly advancing and edging to first slip. There had also been time for Stoneman to be dropped at short leg as the visitors sagged from 40 without loss to 51 for four.

Ryan Higgins was proactive in dragging his side out of their malaise with regular advances at the spin bowlers and reverse sweeps in his eight boundaries.

He reached a 59-ball fifty in a 78-run stand with John Simpson but fell for 54 when he reversed Dawson to first slip.

Dawson brought up his 10th wicket in the match, for the second time in his career, when Luke Hollman was well caught at wide mid-off by Mohammad Abbas.

It was only the second 10-wicket haul of Dawson’s career, after his 10 for 139 against Essex last season. His 20 wickets this season have come at 17.75, half his career average.

Simpson and Josh de Caires had frustrated Hampshire for just over an hour either side of tea but the unlikely leg-spin of Nick Gubbins produced a delivery Shane Warne would have been proud of to castle de Caires – Gubbins’ maiden Championship wicket.

After Simpson fell for 49 when he strangled Fuller behind, that man Dawson rounded things off Roland-Jones was struck on the pads and Tom Helm was stumped. The six-for was the third in a row for Dawson at the Ageas Bowl, having never previously taken more than five wickets in an innings on his home ground.

DAY TWO

Liam Dawson forcefully put forward his case to play a part in this summer’s Ashes series with a century and six wickets as Hampshire set up a rout on Middlesex in the LV= Insurance County Championship.

Spinning all-rounder Dawson was snubbed by England for the previously retired Moeen Ali when Jack Leach suffered a lower back stress fracture for the first Test against Australia, before teenager Rehan Ahmed jumped ahead of him for the upcoming second Test.

But having been decisive in his 141 with the bat, he tore through Middlesex with his left-arm spin to claim six for 38 – and leave Middlesex 142 for eight at close.

Earlier, Hampshire had been bowled out for 419 with Josh de Caires picking up career-best figures of seven for 144.

Dawson had shrugged off being slighted by England the previous evening, saying: “It doesn’t really affect me. I’ve not expected to play Test cricket for a long time. To me if it happens then brilliant, if not then it doesn’t bother me.”

The clamour behind Dawson has been backed by a strong start to the season with both facets of his game and a deep level of experience.

His 16 wickets is the most for any Championship spinner who is English-qualified and fit – only Leach and South African Simon Harmer have more – while his 384 runs is in the top 30 in the top tier. Add to that 13 Vitality Blast wickets and his finisher runs coming at a 176 strike rate.

He was introduced in the 12th over, after Mohammad Abbas had already nicked off Mark Stoneman, and immediately started with a double wicket maiden.

Pieter Malan was hit on the back pad before Max Holden stumbled in front of a turner.

Sam Robson tried to hang around with 38 off 81 but dangled behind to leave Middlesex in a troubling 66 for four.

After a period of regular lbw shouts and tightness from both ends, Dawson’s bowling took another aspect; he added exaggerated bounce to his turn.

Ryan Higgins was the first to be surprised when he edged behind, two balls later John Simpson fended to short leg and then Luke Hollman stepped back to be pinned in front of his stumped. For Dawson it was three wickets in six balls.

It also handed him his second sixth wicket haul in successive home matches, and left the visitors 88 for seven.

De Caires and Toby Roland-Jones scored 48 swiftly before the latter swung Felix Organ to Dawson at midwicket. De Caires ended a personally successful day unbeaten on 24, but his side in danger of being asked to follow on.

Dawson had begun his day with bat in hand continuing his mammoth fifth wicket stand with Nick Gubbins, with all eyes on the former Middlesex man’s quest to reach three figures.

It eventually came with a steer down the third after 14 more dots to add to his 277-ball vigil – by far the slowest of his 15 first-class centuries.

He eventually fell for a 318-ball 120 when de Caires had him caught at backward point on the reverse sweep, with Dawson caught at slip playing the same shot soon after.

There were scores of 40 for James Fuller and Felix Organ as Hampshire slowly pushed over 400 but other than Hollman having Fuller stumped, it was de Caires’ moment.

De Caires has been seen primarily as a batter growing up but the 21-year-old took the lead with his off-spin – with each wicket celebrated with genuine glee.

His 47.3 overs during the innings was more than the 46 overs combined he had previously managed during his embryonic first-class career, for a single wicket. Keith Barker was lbw to one which stayed low, Kyle Abbott was caught swinging to first slip and Organ holed out to deep midwicket.

His seven-for better his father, former England captain, Michael Atherton’s leg-spinning best of six for 78 – and was the seventh-best away Championship bowling figures at the Ageas Bowl.

DAY ONE

Nick Gubbins marked his first appearance against boyhood club Middlesex by grounding them down with an ultra-patient unbeaten 98 as he and centurion Liam Dawson wrestled control for Hampshire in the LV= Insurance County Championship.

Gubbins batted for six sticky hours and 262 balls on a dry and flat pitch, while Dawson added 111 not out of his own in a slightly sprightlier four hours.

The pair put on 190 to break a 100-year record for the fifth wicket for Hampshire against Middlesex, beating the 149 scored by Lord Tennyson and Tom Jameson in June 1923.

Middlesex, who had been asked to field first, had been in the ascendancy at 94 for nine after Josh de Caires had taken two for 93 but were ground down as Hampshire reached close 284 for four.

Gubbins left Middlesex in 2021, initially on loan, after 152 first-team matches in seven years having come through the age groups.

That departure was made with Gubbins’ keenness to play of more his home cricket on batter-friendly wickets – with Lord’s then towards the bottom of the runs per wickets tally – which, he hoped, would push his case for an England call-up.

He has averaged a smidgeon under 36 since his entrance at the Ageas Bowl – with his twin centuries against a Lancashire attack containing James Anderson and Hasan Ali in 2022 the highlight in two inconsistent years.

Gubbins has often walked to the crease in the formative overs of innings, and Fletcha Middleton’s footwork-less drive at Toby Roland-Jones in the fifth over meant another early arrival.

A frenetic period saw Joe Weatherley dropped at gully, Gubbins almost run out by half the pitch, and Weatherley caught at square leg taking on a shorter Tom Helm delivery – the fast bowler particularly accurate in the morning.

The dry pitch, unblemished blue skies, the heat of the sun and the Kookaburra ball – being trialled in this round of Championship fixtures – means spin is likely to be prevalent in this match.

Offy De Caires, one of four spinners between the two sides, was introduced as early as the 15th over and picked up the wickets of James Vince and Ben Brown.

Vince had picked him up for two sixes in his lively 35 before he was leg before to one which straightened before Brown hard-handedly pushed to short leg. De Caires, on his first Championship appearance of the season, only previously had Shan Masood as a first-class victim.

The slowness of the pitch needed batters to settle in to succeed, Gubbins took on the challenge and thrived.

He only had 32 off the first 100 balls he faced, with his full force and naturally aggressive tendencies shelved for an occupation, which dragged Dawson along with him.

In fact, despite coming to the crease 30 overs later than Gubbins, Dawson reached his half-century first. Dawson, perhaps unfortunate not to be named as Jack Leach’s replacement in the England Ashes squad, was a master at manoeuvring gaps, running hard and cutting.

He reached his third fifty in his last five Championship innings in 87 balls, before Gubbins punched through the covers later in the over to notch up his milestone in 148 deliveries.

Dawson also won the race to three figures, after more careful batting, in 164 balls. It was his 12th first-class century and first at the Ageas Bowl since 2019.

Gubbins – who had only faced his former county in non-competitive or Second XI games – was given a life after a simple chance was shelled at square leg and despite batting almost all day a century evaded his vigil.