Nottinghamshire v Hampshire County Championship Div 1 at Trent Bridge May 9-12
Neil Whitaker reports
Day 1May 10, 2025 10:23 am
SOUTH African Kyle Abbott took 5 for 57, his 43rd first-class five wicket haul and should have had more as the slip cordon put down three catches off him.
Nottinghamshire’s Ben Slater was put down twice and Lyndon James was the other. The drops started in Abbott’s second over. When Slater edged him and Toby Albert at second slip put him down. On nine he edged a drive off Abbott which went in and out Tom Prest’s hands at first slip. James was dropped on one when he edged Abbott to James Fuller at third slip who couldn’t hold on to the hardest chance to go down.
After seeing two chances go down Abbott decided that he couldn’t rely on the slips and he had to take the wickets himself. Abbott finally got his reward for his efforts when he trapped Joe Clarke leg before on the crease with one that kept low. On the stroke of lunch Abbott got his second wicket when Jack Haynes tried to whip him to mid-wicket but got an inside edge and the ball flew to Fuller at third slip so took the catch above his head.
Abbott said: “We were unlucky this morning and we let ourselves down in the field. I think that if we had got them out for 250/260 that would have been a true reflection of the day’s play. It can be tough if you win the toss and don’t get a wicket in the first hour but you’ve got to stick at it and we got the wickets when the batters felt relaxed.
At lunch the guys were down about dropping the chances but it’s a hard ground to see the ball even Ben Brown said it was hard to keep wicket here. The guys have taken some excellent catches already this season.
I felt pretty good today and I was hitting the right areas and the ball we had today was one of the better balls we’ve had this season.”
Kyle Verreynne became Abbott’s third victim when moved across his stumps, played across a straight ball and was leg before. after adding 78 in 26 overs with Freddie McCann.
Liam Patterson-White shouldered arms to him and was bowled. Brett Hutton top edged a slash and Brown took an easy catch.
Nottingham born 20-year-old McCann hit his third Rothesay Championship century and was the last man out when he cut Fuller to Fletcha Middleton on the deep backward point boundary. It was his second highest Championship score and his 138 came from 217 balls in 295 minutes with 15 fours and a six. It was his third Championship century, all three have been made at Trent Bridge and he became the third Nottinghamshire player to hit a Championship century this season. He reached his century when he reversed swept Liam Dawson to the third man boundary. During his innings he shared in three 50 partnerships.
He said: “I feel very proud to get three hundreds at my home and my parents have been here to see all of them. I just tried to be as calm as possible which is something I pride myself on.
I thought they bowled well but we just stuck and built partnerships which were crucial because we bat all the way down to number 11. The ball did more than we thought it would but to score 333 we would have taken that at the beginning of the day.”
With Verreynne they added 78 in 26 overs, with James the pair added 71 in 19 overs and with Patterson-White they put 59.
McCann had a torrid time against rad Wheal. First Wheal got one to rise at him from an awkward length, after that McCann couldn’t get his bat on the ball. After getting that one to rise at McCann, Wheal got one that kept low to Verreyenne.
Put into bat Nottinghamshire nearly lost their captain Haseeb Hameed to the first ball of the match when he edged Abbott but luckily for Haseeb Hameed it fell just short of Tom Prest at first slip.
On 25 Haseeb Hameed survived a strong leg before appeal from Wheal. Maybe umpire Rob White thought the bounce in the pitch at the Stuart Broad end would have taken the ball over.
Without adding to the score Slater drove loosely at James Fuller and chipped it to Nick Gubbins in the covers who tot the catch above his head. Four balls later Fuller squared Haseeb Hameed up and found his edge and Brown took the catch diving forward.
In the sixth over after tea on 29 James was dropped again. This time it was Prest again who dropped a comfortable slip catch at waiste height. Hampshire finally got rid of James when he tried to cut a ball that was too close to him from Dawson and was bowled.
Wheal got his first wicket of the innings when Farhan Ahmed gloved a bouncer and the ball looped to Prest at first slip. He should have got two in two balls when Muhammad Abbas edged his first ball inches wide of Albert at second slip.
Day 2
MUHAMMED Abbas became the third Nottinghamshire bowler this season to take five wickets on his Rothesay Championship debut.
Playing against his old team Hampshire, who he played for them from 2021 until 2024, he took five for 31. His debut came five years after he first signed for Nottinghamshire in 2020 but he didn’t play because of Covid. He got his first wicket for Nottinghamshire when he got one to rise and took the edge of Nick Gubbins bat and Lyndon James at fourth slip dived to his right and took a low catch.
After being hit for consecutive fours, Muhammed Abbas trapped Tom Prest on his crease who was leg before. In Muhammed Abbas’ next over he sent Ben Brown’s off stump cartwheeling out of the ground. Suspicious of the ball keeping low Brown played forward but not forward enough.
Without adding to the score Toby Albert pushed at Muhammed Abbas and Freddie McCann at second slip took a boot high catch. Hampshire slumped from 96 for three to 106 for seven in 31 balls either side of lunch.
Muhammed Abbas said: “I was just trying to get the ball in the right areas and it was moving about a bit so I altered my lengths and angles. It’s a nice feeling getting off to a great start for my new team. I’ve got wickets so I am happy I have played before at Trent Bridge and taken 12 wickets in two games.
We have got a good total but we were under pressure when we lost six wickets. Now I think that we have got enough runs. It was my 193rd game so I wasn’t nervous. Hampshire bowled better in the second innings than they did in the first.”
The bright spot of the Hampshire innings was an eighth wicket partnership of 42 in five overs between Kyle Abbott and Liam Dawson who decided to have some fun by taking quick singles to draw the Nottinghamshire fielders in, when they did the ball was blasted to the boundary. Abbott took a couple of steps down the pitch to Brett Hutton and lofted him over the long-on boundary. But as the partnership lived by the sword it died by the sword when Dawson cut Muhammed Abbas into the covers and Farhan Ahmed took a great catch diving to his right.
Abbott pulled Hutton over the square leg boundary for his second six. He brought up his 50 which came from 36 balls and included two sixes and seven fours when he cut Hutton to the point boundary.
He blasted Hutton straight for a four and pulled the next ball over square leg for his third six. Going for a fourth six he holed out to McCann on the long-on boundary of Farman Ahmed’s second ball.
Nottinghamshire got an early breakthrough on the second morning when Mark Stoneman pushed at Hutton who stuck out his left hand and caught at the second attempt. Earlier he nearly ran out his partner Fletcha Middleton when he dropped Hutton into the covers and set off for a single. If Haseem Hameed’s throw had hit Middleton would have been run out by a yard.
Prest drilled James straight to the long-on boundary for the shot of the morning. He clipped Hutton off his legs to the fine leg boundary. Prest got on his toes and lofted him over backward point for another boundary.
Middleton looked to pull James but the ball wasn’t there to be pulled. The ball got big on him and top edged it and stumper Kyle Verreyenne took a steapling catch.
Hutton got his second wicket when James Fuller pushed forward at him but not far enough and when the ball jagged back he was leg before. Brad Wheal fended off a short ball from James which got big on him and Verreynne took another steapling catch.
With 46 overs left in the day and a first innings lead of 137 Nottinghamshire slumped to 59 for five in the 18th over the match was on a knife edge. Nottinghamshire had to take their lead past 250 with losing as few wickets as possible for Hampshire they had to stop Nottinghamshire getting that 250 lead.
Buoyed by the momentum from his innings Abbott took two early wickets could they snatch victory. Nottinghamshire captain Haseeb Hamed was the first to go when he tried to get forward to Abbott. He was still moving when the ball passed him. and saw his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground. He was soon joined in the hutch by Ben Slater who played Abbott away from his body, edged it and Albert at second slip took a low tumbling catch.
Joe Clarke hooked a bouncer from Wheal on the penultimate ball before tea but only helped it to stumper Brown. McCann feathered the second ball after tea from Fuller, bowling around the wicket, to Brown. Verreynne left one from Wheal that came back at him and he lost his off stump.
Jack Haynes hit three consecutive fours off Fuller: the first two to the mid-wicket boundary and the final one to the cover boundary. James pulled Baker’s first ball in a spell to Dawson at wide mid-on.
At the close Nottinghamshire’s lead was 308 with four wickets standing.
Hampshire head coach Adi Birrell said: “We have had two bad days but I think the main difference is the innings by McCann who batted well so credit where credit is due. When we got them six down everything was looking good for us but tonight they got another 80 runs more than they should have. But as we found out our innings Abbott batted well so we’re not giving up.”
Day 3
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE beat Hampshire by 366 runs with over a day and 14.3 overs to spare.
The run’s margin was Nottinghamshire’s second largest in the Rothesay County Championship and it was Hampshire’s fourth heaviest defeat. Needing to bat for 4.5 sessions Hampshire were blown apart by Lyndon James and Brett Hutton who took nine wickets between them in 13 overs either side of tea,with the only resistance coming from Sonny and Kyle Abbott with a 10th wicket partnership of 34 in seven overs.
James said: “It was crazy, I didn’t think that we would win today. We had a great start to the day with both Liam Patterson-White and Jack Haynes batting beautifully and I am very pleased for them. Patterson-White deserved to get his first century at Trent Bridge.
Nearly every game this season someone has scored a century or taken five wickets which has put us in with a chance of a win. In the last couple of years it has been frustrating but this season we hit the ground running.
Today Hampshire were under pressure straight away and Hutton showed why he’s one of the best bowlers in the country. Muhammed Abbas showed he’s a class bowler taking five wickets in their first innings to put us in a great position.
Hopefully we can carry this forward but I don’t like to look too far ahead. I just like to keep it simple.”
Hampshire openers Mark Stoneman and Fletcha Middleton had to see Hampshire to tea without loss but in the ninth over Hutton forced Middleton back on to his crease and trapped him leg before. Hutton got his second wicket when Stoneman should have left a wide delivery but edged it to Kyle Verreynne.
On the stroke of tea Tom Prest top edged a cut off James and Verreynne took a simple catch. In the first full over after tea Captain Ben Brown played an horrible loose pull shot to Hutton and the ball looped to Farhan Ahmed at mid-wicket. Nick Gubbins drilled James to Haseeb Hameed at mid-off.
Liam Dawson went down the pitch to Hutton and pulled him over the long-leg boundary for a six. He tried repeating the shot to Hutton a couple of overs later but this time found Muhammed Abbas on the long-leg boundary.
On four Toby Albert flashed hard and edged James but Joe Clarke at first slip couldn’t hold on to the chance despite getting both hands to it.
James Fuller clipped James off his legs straight to Liam Patterson-White at mid-wicket. Three balls later Albert edged James and Haynes at third slip took a brilliant one-handed catch low down.
Brad Wheal chipped James to Muhammed Abbas at mid-off and it was time to start the car but Baker and Abbott had other ideas. Baker hit consecutive sixes off Patterson-White over the mid-wicket boundary.
Patterson-White got the final wicket when Baker tried to slog/sweep him but got a leading edge the ball looped to Farhan Ahmed at short third.
Nottinghamshire started the day 308 ahead and even the most ardent Nottinghamshire fans thought their innings would be over by noon or that they would declare with a lead 350 but neither Patterson-White or Haynes looked in any trouble. By 11.30 the life of the Hampshire players had been drained from them.
Patterson-White hit his highest Rothesay Championship score of 135 and shared in the joint second highest seventh wicket partnership for Championship cricket for Nottinghamshire with Haynes.
When the pair came together at 5.21 on Saturday you would have got long odds on them equaling that. The partnership was broken when Haynes clipped Abbott to mid-wicket where he found Baker. Going for a second Haynes hesitated and couldn’t beat Baker’s throw to Brown who whipped off the bails.
On 80 Haynes chipped Abbott to Prest at deep square leg who dropped another chance. Haynes drove Baker to the cover boundary to bring up the 250 partnership with Patterson-White. He glanced Baker for a single to long leg to bring up his second ton for Nottinghamshire, his seventh in total, and it came from 137 balls with 16 fours.
Patterson-White became the sixth different Nottinghamshire batter to reach a century this season. It’s his second Rothesay Championship century but his first at Trent Bridge. His last century was against Somerat at Taunton in 2021. He reached his century, which included 16 fours and two sixes and came from 139 balls, when he pulled Baker for a six.
He brought his 50 up when he clipped Wheal off his legs for a single. His 50 came from 89 balls with five fours and a six. His first 50 for three years.
With everyone wondering when the declaration would Patterson-White had a big swing at Baker, missed the ball and had his middle stump knocked out of the ground.
After Haynes’ dismissal Hutton feathered Abbott to Brown who took a good low catch diving to his left. On nine Farman Ahmed edged Abbott and despite Brown getting his fingertips to it and wouldn’t stick and Farman Ahmed got a single. But the first ball of the next over,Farman Ahmed, was yorked by Fuller.
Hampshire head coach Adi Birrell said: “It was a very difficult game. We had chances in the first session but full credit to them they were ruthless, got us down and didn’t let us get off the ground. It was a poor performance by us all round, it’s very disappointing but we have no excuses. The pitch flattened out and we got ourselves out
This is a tough place to come to, we haven't had a defeat like this for a long time. We've got an opportunity on Friday to try and turn things around. We have to show a lot of character to get over this. We need to be better. We’ve just had a review with the team and we spoke harshly. We’ll let the dust settle and see where we go from here.”