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Advantage Hampshire on day two
Half centuries from Nick Gubbins and Liam Dawson gave Hampshire the upper hand on the second day of this Rothesay County Championship Division One clash against Somerset at Utilita Bowl.
Gubbins (58 not out) shared stands of 80 with Tom Prest (42) and an unbeaten 76 with Dawson (50 not out) as Hampshire surpassed Somerset’s 184 to lead by 10 at the close.
Brad Wheal and James Fuller had ended up with four wickets each, but Migael Pretorius bolstered Somerset’s score with 47 not out in a 48-run partnership with Alfie Ogborne for the 10th wicket.
After a half-hour delay to the start of play, Hampshire were celebrating after 10 deliveries when Craig Overton edged Brad Wheal behind.
Fuller entered soon after to take a wicket in each of his first two overs of the day, with Tom Abell (21) and Jack Leach (20) both trapped leg before as he finished with four for 42.
With Somerset 136 for nine an hour before lunch, Hampshire would have been expecting to be batting before the interval, but Pretorius and 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 had shown good 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 and Gubbins then set about looking to wipe out Somerset’s total. Their partnership was broken when Pretorius trapped Prest in front, but Dawson entered to take his place.
Gubbins reached his half-century in 111 balls, whilst Dawson reached his in 92 balls as Hampshire took the lead.
Bad light ended proceedings seven overs early, with Hampshire having a platform on which to build a first innings lead.
At the close of play, Somerset Bowling Coach, Steve Kirby said: “We’ve shown good discipline at various times today, but when we don’t have that discipline then you’re going to have a partnership build like that.
“A lot of credit has to go to the way Gubbins batted, especially in that partnership with Dawson. He has left particularly well outside off stump.
“I thought the way Overton, Pretorius and Ogborne started was excellent, so we want more of the same tomorrow. We must keep showing that same level of discipline.
“We aren’t out of this game by any way, shape or form. If we take a couple of wickets early tomorrow then the game is very much back in our favour. The tendency is that when you’re slightly behind, you go and search for those wickets and that is one of the biggest things we mustn’t do tomorrow.”
