Nathan McCullum to receive honours, Vettori on the move (again)

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has announced a number of honours that are to be bestowed upon Nathan McCullum in recognition of his feat in Florida two weeks ago for the Black Caps. The second 20/20 against Sri Lanka resulted in New Zealand being bowled out for 81 in 17.3 overs, with the Sri Lankans chasing down the target to win by 7 wickets. However, Prime Minister Key felt that McCullum's superb effort to end up not out in the Black Cap innings deserved rightful recognition. May 23rd has been declared a national holiday in New Zealand, whilst a telegram was received from the Queen congratulating McCullum. There has also been rumours of McCullum being added to the New Year's honours list, whilst Ladbrokes have placed the younger brother of Brendon as firm favourite to pick up overseas Sports Personality of the year for 2010. McCullum was obviously quite overjoyed by the news. "Aw it would be a dream come true, to be handed that award by perhaps Gazza or maybe Frank Bruno. It feels quite surreal, all of this, ever since that match it has been like a dream. A knighthood would be the icing on Jesse's (Ryder) cake. I can't take all the plaudits though - I couldn't have done this without the other 10 guys in that match. To end up not out has been the highlight of my career, not many New Zealanders can claim to finish a game not out, let alone do it with a double figure score."

The celebratory events were tarnished, however, by the news that captain Daniel Vettori had resigned with immediate effect from his post as captain following the match. News reports revealed that Vettori had been seen posting a letter of resignation through his own letterbox once the team had returned to New Zealand. Vettori gave a brief press conference soon after, explaining his decision. "I realised not long after I had gotten out in that match that I was no longer up to the required standard to lead this team." Vettori said. "To be the sixth wicket to fall in the match was the lowest point of my career, to not be scrapping it out with the tail feels like a failure, pure and simple. I do however feel that Nath has shown himself to be my rightful heir, and will take over the captaincy immediately." It is reported that Vettori will be attending school matches to look for another wicketkeeper to take his place as a 'specialist' batsman in the team. One of New Zealand's 3 fans, the angry one, welcomed Vettori's resignation. "Look, if he can't carry the whole team on his shoulders, then he really isn't fit to take to the field with them." The fate of Vettori's 'mongoose' bat, as reported about a month ago, has yet to be decided.

After failing to secure a spot in the Australian side last year via his freemantle-made prescription glasses, (read original article here), which broke on the flight to Melbourne after he sat on them, Vettori is once again hoping to revive his career by applying for Australian citizenship through a watch he found in a drawer in his bedside table. "I bought it from a bloke who had family in Canberra, plus I've had the watch for four years now, so I tick all the qualification boxes." When asked if he felt he could get into the Aussie side even if his qualification application was approved, Vettori was firm in his reply; "Yes, easily. Ever since (Nathan) Hauritz mysteriously disappeared during the tour to England, nobody has been able to nail down the spinner's spot, and I may take up a place in a monastery if I'm not batting at eight this time next month for the Baggy Greens - afterall they picked Jason Krejza once, for goodness sake".

What has Greg Lamb been eating???

Currently India are 111-5 against Zimbabwe, and two of the wickets have fallen to Greg Lamb, who has figures of 7-0-28-2. It wasn't so long ago that Lamby was struggling to get into Hampshire's team at all, as he was that bad. We tried hiding him at 7 in the one day team and I alone saw three first ball ducks in one season from him (bowled against Kent, lbw against Worcs, lbw against Sussex) yet here he is scheduled to come in at number 4 for Zim against India (!!). Further to that he captains his home domestic team in Zimbabwe, batting in the middle order and scoring runs for fun. He was impressive in the Champions League and again at the World 20/20. So where has this improvement come from?

When Hampshire told him he no longer had a contract with them, he was the definition of my sort of allrounder - couldn't bat, couldn't bowl. Trusted with the main spin duties for Hampshire he was terrible. To bring on Lamb was seen as an effort to relieve all pressure on the batsmen, whilst his batting, mentioned above, was embarrassing. He was nice as pie, but you just knew what was going to happen when he either came in to bat/waft bat in general direction of ball, or came on to bowl/send down juicy long hops. Perhaps it says something about the level of International cricket at the moment, but I like to think that maybe, just maybe this fairly decent player who became absolutely woeful, has somehow found a bit of umph again. Good on you, Greg, maybe you could come back one day?

Give me an A!!....Give me a J!!....

Give me an A, N, T, H, A, M, E, N, D, I and an S. Please, mark July 1st in your diaries. Not only does my blasted rent start that day but it marks the arrival of the worked-out one. Abdul Razzaq will be wishing he was playing against Hampshire rather than for us. Younis Khan will have a field day. For the rest though, it could well be their worst nightmare. It will be a year since we announced the signing, but in exactly one month time, Mr Mendis will finally put in an appearance at the Rose Bowl. Of course, I'll be on holiday then, so will miss his first few games, but boy am I excited. Even better, rumour has it he'll be available for ALL games following, now isn't that something to smile about? Well yes after the terrible news that Shahid was no longer available at all, and we were looking like having virtually no overseas player all season. Herath has one week left with us, then he's heading home. His bowling has been average at best, but he will be remembered for that vital partnership with McKenzie at Trent Bridge that got us our first win. I'd never seen a Sri Lankan hug a South African on Sky Sports news in the middle of a field before, and I don't expect to see it again anytime soon.

So with Mendis arriving where does that leave Hampshire? Well without him for another 4 weeks but White can start to plan how he is going to resurrect the team further (5 game unbeaten run currently, did you know?), and continue the Hampshire tradition of a late season surge towards respectability.

Nearly undone by an Aussie!

Scotland haven't done bad for overseas players in the past, Rahul Dravid springs to mind, but their current one has an IPL contract and captains an entire island!! George Bailey isn't a bad little batsman and he put Hampshire's 'bowlers' to the sword. 90 off 92 balls, hitting almost half the innings 4s and all of the innings 6s perhaps says just as much about Scotland as it does about his own batting abilities. At one point it looked like Hampshire's fairly meagre 237 wasn't going to be enough as Bailey and that famous Scotsman Omer Hussain took their innings to 123-1, and with Hampshire using four bowlers + Ervine to no great effect I thought we were in for another humiliation. Thankfully Pothas didn't have another brain melt and stuck with Wood and Tomlinson, new ball pair extraordinaires, and soon the predictable collapse came. Wood furthered his one day reputation with 3 wickets and bowled tidily, taking the first and the last two wickets of the Scotland innings. Tommo was his dependable self as he too took three wickets. Herath was in economical wicket taking spell shocker too, as he picked up two important wickets in two overs to end with 2-35 from 8 overs. Tommo got the big fish though as he tickled Bailey's edge and Pothas snaffled the catch.

Earlier in the day Hampshire made hard work of another pretty benign Rose Bowl wicket, Lumb playing a god awful innings and getting out for 0 from 9 balls. Carbs also fell cheaply but from then on Adams, Slug, McKenzie, Pothas and Dawson built an eventually good enough total. Annoyingly Slug couldn't build on a very fluent and aggressive 43, but Cork, seemingly better with bat in hand than with ball in hand, added respectability with a brutal 28 at 2 a ball and with 3 sixes.

Kent now await in the 20/20 slog, and rumour has it that two players will make a return from injury for Hampshire...

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.

Ha!!

Neil McKenzie I love you in a completely manly way. All those doubts I had about you? Decoys, Neil, decoys. A century and a vital 50 run partnership with Rangana Herath (another one I had my doubts over) capped off a fine match for the South African, who also hit a very brisk 50 in the first innings. 7 balls left in the match, 8 wickets down, 6 required to get the very first win in all forms of the season, and what does McKenzie do? Smashes the ball over the ropes for a six.

Benham did a Benham and got 45, whilst none of the others really got anywhere. All the more praise for Neil then, as he rammed the victory down the throats of the previously unbeaten Notts team and their cocky supporters ("Come on boys, let's make it 4 out of 4"). The day started slowly, needing 284 or something to win with all 10 wickets left. Adams and Dawson got the score up to 42, before both fell quickly. McKenzie and Benham then put on the innings defining partnership, before there was a real wobble/ collapse/ business as usual - Benham, Vince, Pothas, Ervine, Cork and Balcombe all got out cheaply to leave McKenzie and Herath in the middle still with over 50 runs to get, and just Tommo left in the hutch. Obviously Tommo would have smashed the 50 needed by himself in 2 overs, but he wanted Herath to finally make a meaningful contribution and didn't it work wonders. The fact that the run rate never went above 3 an over after the second over highlights perhaps the confidence that was missing from the team. However this victory is similar to Ervine's show at May's Bounty against Durham - the finest non-century I think I've ever seen.

Yorkshire are the opponents on Monday, and they'll be smarting from their first loss of the season to Somerset. We on the other hand will be (finally) awaiting the ECB's video highlights with more than a little anticipation.