Hampshire hoping for vintage Cork

Dominc Cork celebrates the wicket of Daryl Mitchell on debut with team-mates James Tomlinson and Liam Dawson

When Dominic Cork joined Hampshire for the 2009 season, opinion on the south coast was divided.

Plenty of veteran players have made the move to the county, and most have failed to deliver.

Ed Giddins, Wasim Akram and further back David Gower all arrived with high expectations, and all were largely disappointing.

But Cork, who has revealed that the chance to claim some silverware was a major factor in his decision to join Hampshire, could prove to be different.

Known for his determination in the face of adversity, Cork’s early showings for Hampshire have been impressive with 4-10 on debut helping his new county to victory over Worcestershire in Division One of the LV= County Championship.

The former England seamer has enjoyed a long county career with Derbyshire and Lancashire but has only one winners medal to show - from the 1993 Benson & Hedges Cup win when Cork scored an unbeaten 92 to help Derbyshire see off Lancashire.

Twice at Lancashire he came desperately close - in the 2006 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final he was left stranded on 35 not out as Lancashire fell 15 runs short of Sussex’s 172, and then on the final day of the 2007 championship Division One season he was last man out for 47 as Lancashire fell an agonising 24 runs short of a mammoth 488 against Surrey that would have seen them crowned champions.

So it’s understandable that, having been told he was surplus to requirements at Old Trafford, Cork is keen to bolster his trophy cabinet before the 37-year-old is forced to hang up his boots.

“I think we can win trophies and that was the one reason I wanted to come,” said Cork.

“I’m a very passionate cricketer who wants to win every game we can and to be involved in a winning team and that’s exactly what I’m doing. So it was a very easy decision in the end.

“When I spoke to Rod [Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman] at the end of last season it was quite an easy decision. Yes, there were other counties that were in but you look at what is happening at this club and what happened towards the end of last season.

Cork, released by Lancashire, has no doubt Hampshire "can win trophies and that was the one reason I wanted to come"

“I first played them at the beginning of the season and they looked like they were going to go down - I think that shows the character in the side. I think the fact they brought in a good coaching set-up with Giles [White] and the fact they’ve developed around the outside of the ground and it’s a club that is really going forward.”

Cork played 37 Tests and 32 one-day internationals for England but has occasionally drawn criticism as an abrasive character, but his former England colleague and new Hampshire teammate John Crawley disagrees.

“He’ll prove to be a very good signing for us,” Crawley told ecb.co.uk.

“He’s added that little bit of aggression on the field plus quite a lot of fun in the dressing room as well. He’s got a wealth of experience and with seasons getting longer and every trophy becoming as important as the other one, it’s hard work now for the bowlers to play virtually every game so having experienced guys starting or maybe resting is crucial.”

And Hampshire’s wicketkeeper Nic Pothas is convinced Cork can prove to be the difference between the near misses Hampshire have tended to endure in recent years and landing some silverware at the Rose Bowl.

Pothas said: “We had a fifty-fifty sort of season, the second half was phenomenal. But there’s a long six months in between, and we’d like to think we’re stronger than where we were at because we’ve signed the old man [Cork].

“It’s been a great signing for us. Obviously we haven’t got Imran [Tahir] at the beginning of the year, so we could do with it raining a little bit more and the wickets being a bit green at the start.”

Hampshire have seen plenty of veteran signings backfire over the years, but Cork doesn’t look like adding to the list if his early showings and attitude are anything to go by.

And if he brings only a third championship title to Hampshire, the members will certainly be united in their thoughts.