Veteran seamer Kyle Abbott has been named Rothesay County Championship Player of the Round after his spectacular nine-wicket match haul saw relegation-threatened Hampshire upset title challengers Sussex by 118 runs at Hove to pick up a second win of the season.
Abbott took first-innings figures of 6-49 to see Sussex dismissed for 159 in reply to Hampshire’s total of 191. Hampshire then posted 220 to set the home side a target of 253 to win, but they could only manage 134, Abbott taking a miserly 3-6 from a metronomic 12.5 overs.
“The start of the season has not been ideal, so to grab a win like that, everyone is buzzing,” Abbott told ecb.co.uk. “It’s almost a little bit sad that we have to wait two months now to play another four-day game.”
Hampshire defeated Yorkshire in their second Championship match of the season, but other than that, it has been tough going for the Southampton-based side in red-ball cricket.
“Looking back at a few of the games this summer, we lost narrowly to Somerset by two wickets – Tom Abell played really well on the fourth day – and our game away against Essex at Chelmsford, setting them a target of 170, we felt like we were probably one partnership short of setting a very competitive total,” Abbott said.
“We picked up a bit of confidence with the Notts stalemate and the draw at The Oval, so to get a win is great for us and everyone is very pleased.”
The Rothesay County Championship now takes a break again until late August, with the timing both a blessing and a curse for Abbott and Hampshire.
“It’s been a tough couple of months for us as a team on the back of those bad results. You spend some dark times in the field questioning all sorts. From a mental side, it’s come at a good time, but from a momentum point of view, not a great time. But that’s just the way the season’s structured.”
Abbott’s match figures of 9-55 were his second best of the season, having bagged 10-70 against Yorkshire back in April. “The second innings was tough, but we knew if we hung in there and put enough good balls in the right area it was going to do something,” Abbott said.
“My sole job there was to be as stingy as possible and the breakthroughs came from the other end. As a unit we were very good in the field on the last day.”
On his economical return of 3-6 he added: “I didn’t feel like they were taking a huge amount of risk against me. They were looking to just see me out and wait for the two spinners to come on. But it’s a double-edged sword because you end up putting yourselves under more pressure when the scoreboard’s not moving.”
Having turned 39 earlier this month, Abbott feels he’s bowling as well as ever. “My body still feels strong. Recovery is taking maybe a little bit longer but I tend then not to practise as much and save the overs for the games. I’m enjoying it. The young bowlers are certainly giving me quite a bit of energy. That keeps me going.
“I feel like I’ve still got quite a bit of work to do with the team to get them in a good place before I move away from the game one day. The plan at the moment is to play for as long as possible because once I stop, I’m going to stop. I want to make sure I’ve emptied the tank in all regards. Jimmy Anderson is still doing it, so the proof is there that you can go pretty old these days!”
Abbott received the maximum three votes for his nine-wicket return.
Elsewhere, Liam Patterson-White scored the maximum for his 9-109 match-return in Notts’ thumping innings win over Essex, who had topped the table at the start of the match, Rehan Ahmed gave the selectors another nudge as he hit 128 and took a couple of wickets in bottom-side Leicestershire’s similarly dominant innings victory over Yorkshire.
Glamorgan’s Mason Crane topped the poll in Glamorgan’s epochal victory over serial winners Surrey at Cardiff for his maiden first-class century (and three wickets), the leggie having posted a 99 earlier in the season; and finally in Division One, Thomas Rew picked up the three points for the second successive game, in Somerset’s draw with Warwickshire, having hit 184 runs in the match to follow his 195 aggregate against Notts. He is catching big brother James fast on the overall scoreboard despite only having played three matches.
In Division Two, Matt Milnes’ magnificent final day effort of 5-31 against Middlesex that propelled Kent to second place won him the votes. Ben Aitchison, with seven wickets and 75 from number nine, was another to make it two maximums this season as Derbyshire swept Lancs aside.
Matthew Waite got three votes as Worcestershire overcame Gloucestershire, his first innings 63 and then a spell of 3-14 in 16 overs doing the job and finally David Bedingham’s final-day masterclass was rewarded with the maximum votes as his unbeaten hundred helped leaders Durham chase down the 296 set by Northants with just 16 balls to spare.
Leaderboard
12: Matthew Potts (Durham)
10: Craig Overton (Somerset)
8: Leus du Plooy (Middlesex), Matt Milnes (Kent), Ben Raine (Durham)
7: Kyle Abbott (Hampshire), Tom Abell (Somerset), Ben Aitchison (Derbyshire), Ethan Bamber (Warwickshire), James Rew (Somerset), Matthew Waite (Worcestershire)
6: Mason Crane (Glamorgan), Matt Critchley (Essex), Jake Lehmann (Hampshire), Thomas Rew (Somerset)
5: Ed Barnard (Warwickshire), David Bedingham (Durham), Kiran Carlson (Glamorgan), Sam Cook (Essex), Dan Lawrence (Surrey), Ryan Higgins (Middlesex), Tawanda Muyeye (Kent), Tom Norton (Glamorgan), James Sales (Northamptonshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey)
Round Nine votes
Division One
Essex v Nottinghamshire: 3 – Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), 2 – Jack Haynes (Nottinghamshire), 1 – Fergus O’Neill (Nottinghamshire).
Leicestershire v Yorkshire: 3 – Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), 2 – Nick Kelly (Leicestershire), 1 – Alex Green (Leicestershire).
Glamorgan v Surrey: 3 – Mason Crane (Glamorgan), 2 – Chris Cooke (Glamorgan), 1 – Tom Norton (Glamorgan).
Sussex v Hampshire: 3 – Kyle Abbott (Hampshire), 2 – Delano Potgieter (Hampshire), 1 – Eddie Jack (Hampshire).
Somerset v Warwickshire: 3 – Thomas Rew (Somerset), 2 – Craig Overton (Somerset), 1 – Manav Suthar (Warwickshire).
Division Two
Kent v Middlesex: 3 – Matt Milnes (Kent), 2 - Zafar Gohar (Middlesex), 1 – Keith Dudgeon (Kent).
Derbyshire v Lancashire: 3 - Ben Aitchison (Derbyshire), 2 - Matt Montgomery (Derbyshire), 1 – Anuj Dal (Derbyshire).
Worcestershire v Gloucestershire: 3 – Matthew Waite (Worcestershire), 2 – Graeme van Buuren (Gloucestershire), 1 – Miles Hammond (Gloucestershire).
Durham v Northamptonshire: 3 – David Bedingham (Durham), 2 – Matthew Potts (Durham), 1 – Ricardo Vasconcelos (Northamptonshire).