Hampshire remain in control against Somerset

BBC News

19-04-2025

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Utilita Bowl (day two)Somerset 184: Pretorius 47*; Fuller 4-42, Wheal 4-46Hampshire 194-3: Gubbins 58*, Dawson 50*; Pretorius 2-36Hampshire (3 pts) lead Somerset (1 pt) by 10 runsMatch scorecard
Nick Gubbins continued where he left off at the Kia Oval as his unbeaten 58 put Hampshire in the box seat of their County Championship match with Somerset.Top-order batter Gubbins struck a century against Surrey in the previous round to save a draw, having scored 43 in the first innings.He played the anchor in stands of 80 and an unbeaten 76 with Tom Prest (42) and Liam Dawson (50 not out) as Hampshire wiped out Somerset's 184 to take their lead to 10 by close.Brad Wheal and James Fuller had ended up with four wickets each, but Migael Pretorius bolstered Somerset's meagre score with 47 not out in a 48-run partnership for the 10th wicket.After a half-hour delay to the start of play, Hampshire needed just 10 deliveries to continue their day one dominance, as Craig Overton was powerless to not edge a Brad Wheal beauty behind.James Fuller entered soon after to take a wicket in each of his first two overs of the day, with Tom Abell and Jack Leach leg before. They helped Fuller reach eventual figures of 4-42 in his first appearance of the season.With Somerset 136-9 an hour before lunch, Hampshire would have been expecting to be batting before the interval, but Pretorius and Alfie Ogborne hung around and added some much-needed runs.Pretorius was the natural attacker, while Ogborne got his head down and defended. They were abetted by defensive fields and lax fielding in their 48-run salvo off 84 balls in exactly 60 minutes.Ogborne was eventually bowled by Wheal, to give the Scotland international his third four-wicket haul in as many matches, with Pretorius unbeaten on 47 and Somerset bowled out for 184.With the sun and blue skies now making conditions perfect for batting, the hosts' opening batters Mark Stoneman and Fletcha Middleton got through 59 balls with ease, but both fell in quick succession.Ogborne, who is playing his third first-class match for Somerset with all three coming against Hampshire, had shown control before a peach of a delivery was edged behind by Middleton.Four balls later and Middleton was joined back in the dressing room by Stoneman as Pretorius found a huge gap between bat and pad to send the middle stump tumbling.South African Pretorious should have then been on a hat-trick as his pinned Prest with the next delivery, but he turned around to see umpire David Milne's arm raised for a no ball.Prest made hay with Gubbins in continuing to wipe out Somerset's total as they negotiated accurate but flat bowling.Prest picked off the poorer balls with seven boundaries, while Gubbins put his wicket at a huge premium with his defensive strokes impressed onto the eyelids of every spectator at Utilita Bowl.Their partnership was broken when Pretorius had his lbw, but Dawson entered to take his place.Dawson had spits of aggression – best shown with four boundaries, including a pinged pulled six in back-to-back Ogborne overs – but largely battered down with Gubbins.Gubbins reached his half-century in 111 balls, Dawson in 92 balls as Hampshire took the lead.Bad light ended proceedings seven overs early, with Hampshire having a platform to amass a big first-innings lead on day three.ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay