County Championship: Somerset bowl Hampshire out for 79 in first innings
- Published
Craig Overton failed with a run-out attempt on Joe Weatherley, but the Somerset bowlers had the better of the Hampshire batsmen on day one
LV= County Championship Group Two, The Ageas Bowl, Southampton (day one): |
Hampshire 79: Weatherley 20; Gregory 4-26, Overton 2-16 |
Somerset 142-5: Abell 52*; Abbott 2-35 |
Somerset (3 pts) lead Hampshire (1 pt) by 63 runs |
Somerset carved out a first-innings lead over Hampshire after the hosts were bowled out for 79 on the opening day at The Ageas Bowl.
Lewis Gregory (4-26) led the charge as Hampshire collapsed in their first innings for the second game running, opener Joe Weatherley (20) top scoring.
Somerset lost both openers early to slip to 11-2, but captain Tom Abell dug in to anchor their innings.
Abell finished unbeaten on 52, guiding his side to 142-5, a lead of 63.
Somerset put Hampshire in on a helpful pitch under cloudy skies, and the hosts were dismissed inside 41 overs less than an hour after lunch.
Following on from last week's 92 all out against Surrey at The Oval, it was the first time since 1969 that Hampshire had posted back-to-back first-innings totals under 100.
Hampshire did well to only lose the in-form Ian Holland, who edged Gregory to slip, inside the opening hour, but the second hour of the day proved to be a disaster.
Five wickets fell for 16 runs inside 11 overs with Tom Alsop, Sam Northeast, James Vince and Liam Dawson all posting single-figure scores.
Gregory mopped up the tail after the lunch, having received excellent support from Craig Overton and Josh Davey, who each picked up two wickets.
The overhead conditions continued to favour the seamers in the afternoon session, and new-ball pairing Keith Barker and Mohammad Abbas dismissed Somerset openers Tom Lammonby and Eddie Byrom inside the first four overs of their reply.
Kyle Abbott (2-35) then trapped James Hildreth lbw for 14 before Abell and George Bartlett posted the first 50 partnership of the match following a short rain delay.
Their stand was broken by Abbott, who tempted Bartlett into playing at a rising delivery and Dawson snared a high catch at second slip.
But Abell and Lewis Goldsworthy held firm against some top-class bowling until the penultimate over of the day, when Holland clattered Goldsworthy's stumps with a full-length ball.
Holland then went from hero to villain when he dropped a regulation catch off nightwatchman Jack Leach, who had edged Barker to third slip.