The definition of a thumping

They say things come in threes, but sadly today wasn't our third win in a row, but only the second (maybe the Yorkshire game will be the third?). It was nice to see the South's usual nice summer weather spread North a bit for once, as Edgbaston was sweltering on a glorious May day. Hampshire batted first, and Lumb was jinxed by the pre-match talk as he fell in the second over to Rankin for 5. It turned out that this was in fact an anti - blessing in disguise, as Michael Carberry joined Jimmy Adams at the crease. The wicket was firm, it was true and most importantly it was easy for the Hampshire batsmen to score off. And boy did they score off them. Carbs' 50 came off 31 balls, and he eventually fell for 103, hitting 16 fours and 3 sixes in his innings. At the other end Adams was a bit more circumspect (relative to Carbs), but still was finding the boundaries with ease.

They didn't do too badly, these two...

Ervine was next man in and he only lasted 20 odd balls. Thankfully though he was scoring at a strike rate of nearly 200 and departed for 48. Predictably the innings faltered a bit as it often does after a few monster partnerships, as Vince then Pothas quickly fell without doing much damage. Corky was sent in ahead of Dawson to up the rate (like it really needed it to be honest), and proceeded to hit a 4 and a 6 in a late blitz. Adams succumbed in the 40th over for 131, a fine innings. Adams is particularly strong on the pull and straight down the ground, so it would have been a folly for him to fail on a wicket that offered such even and fair bounce. Dawson came in to face the last few balls, hitting a four to end the innings on 4 from two balls, and Hampshire's own score at 341-6 with the full 40 overs completed.

The dangerous Carter thankfully did not last too long, thankfully, and fell for 20 in Warwickshire's reply. England regulars Trott and Bell then gave a good impression of looking like they would chase the target, especially after carting Corky for 22 in the 8th over. However, Slug was having none of it as he induced a careless stroke from Bell to pick out the fielder at square leg and so depart for a very quick 41. From there the innings subsided horribly (fantastic!), as Trott couldn't keep up the pace and fell for 60. It was a bit like beating up kittens as the rest of the order crumbled under the *ahem* lethal bowling of Slug, Herath and teenager Wood. Keith Barker slogged a few but Rankin spooned Wood to Lumb at deep mid off to signal the end of the Warwickshire innings as Hampshire won by 130 runs. Slug finished with 4-39, and Carberry picked up the man of the match, though Adams and Ervine could easily have won it too. All in all a right Royal thumping.