Nottinghamshire’s next LV= County Championship fixture begins on Sunday when they face Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
Neither county has managed to secure a win yet in the new campaign, with Notts having drawn against Middlesex at Lord’s and at home to Yorkshire.
Hampshire lost their opener to Sussex before sharing the spoils in a draw with Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Head To Head
Nottinghamshire and Hampshire have met on 135 previous occasions in first class cricket. Notts have slightly the better record, winning 39 of the matches, to Hampshire’s 34. A further 62 contests have been drawn.
68 of the contests have been hosted by Hampshire with matches played in Portsmouth, Basingstoke, three different venues in Southampton and the 1957 fixture was played in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Hampshire have won 20 of their home matches, most recently in 2006. On their travels Notts have been successful on 22 occasions, with their last win coming in 2010.
The most recent meeting, in 2011, was the 18th time the two counties had drawn in Hampshire. It was the only one of the 8 meetings at the current venue not to have a positive result, where Notts have won 4 times.
Last Meeting
The most recent meeting took place in Southampton in July 2011 and ended in controversy with Hampshire being docked 8 points for producing a sub-standard pitch.
That didn’t prevent the contest reaching a dramatic climax as Notts tried to chase down a victory target of 202 from 70 overs.
The equation was reduced to 75 needed from 16 overs, 11 from the final over and four from the last ball but Adam Voges was unable to find the ropes and the match was drawn.
Hampshire made 213 in their first innings, with Neil McKenzie registering an unbeaten 97.
Notts, looking for a fourth straight win on the ground, responded with only 183.
Second time around, the hosts made 171, in an innings that will forever be remembered by Samit Patel. The slow left arm spinner returned career-best figures of 28-5-68-7. Having taken 4 wickets in Hampshire’s first innings Patel ended with match figures of 11-111.
In pursuit of 202, Notts lost the wickets of Neil Edwards, Alex Hales and Patel with only 14 on the board but Voges’ unbeaten 79, plus 43 from Riki Wessels, got them to within a whisker of the finishing line.
The ECB Pitch Panel, consisting of Tony Pigott and Mike Denness, then decided that the surface had demonstrated excessive turn and penalised the hosts.
History
Highlights from previous first class meetings between Nottinghamshire and Hampshire include:
1930 at Southampton:
The final day was never going to give much value for the admission price as the home side needed just one more run for victory. Notts took to the field in lounge suits, rather than in traditional whites, Fred Barratt and Bill Voce even wearing their overcoats. The second delivery, bowled by Arthur Carr, was hit away for four by Alex Kennedy, enabling the visitors to make a speedy getaway for their long journey home.
1966 at Trent Bridge:
Nottinghamshire’s first championship match to include Sunday play also produced one of the most bizarre endings. Chasing 238 on the final day, Hampshire were 236-5 with one ball remaining. Henry Horton played the ball forward and set off for the run but appeared to deliberately kick the ball away from the fielders as he completed the single. Reports indicated it was a clear case of obstructing the field. After half an hour of deliberations, Notts captain Brian Bolus confirmed that his side had not made an appeal for such a dismissal. Hampshire, having ended the match with the scores level, were thereby awarded five extra points. Sunday’s play – day two of the match – saw spectators admitted to the ground without charge provided a scorecard was bought at the increased price of one shilling.
1981 at Bournemouth:
Gaining experience of English conditions, one of the umpires appointed was Shakoor Rana, the Pakistan official who became embroiled in a finger-wagging row with Mike Gatting, the England captain, six years later.
1999 at Trent Bridge:
Nottinghamshire were dismissed for 324 on the first day of their PPP Healthcare County Championship match against Hampshire at Trent Bridge. Nothing particularly unusual about that – except the top scorer in the innings was extras with 73. Made up of 25 byes, 18 leg-byes, six no-balls and 24 wides, the contribution was the most ever recorded in a single innings against Notts.
2004 at Trent Bridge:
For the first time, a championship match at Trent Bridge saw both teams pass 600 in their first innings. Hampshire made 641-4 declared, thanks to an unbeaten 301 from John Crawley and a century from Australia’s Michael Clarke. Nottinghamshire’s response was equally emphatic with David Hussey (170), Mark Ealham (113 not out) and Darren Bicknell (103) scoring tons of their own in a total of 612. Needless to say, the match was drawn.
2010 at Southampton:
Steven Mullaney scored a century on his Nottinghamshire debut, scoring an unbeaten 100 in his side’s victory.
2011 at Trent Bridge:
Notts made the most sporting of gestures when visiting wicketkeeper Nic Pothas had injured himself and was unfit for the second day of the match. The home side offered and allowed their academy keeper Adeel Shafique to keep for the opposition. With approval by both umpires and the ECB, the 17-year-old kept impeccably for Hampshire for the entire morning session until replacement Michael Bates arrived.
Played For Them Both
Nottinghamshire are likely to renew acquaintances this weekend with one of their former team-mates, county legend Andre Adams.
Adams left Trent Bridge at the end of last season, having made 85 first class appearances for Notts which produced 344 wickets, 1894 runs and 56 catches.
The former New Zealand international has taken more wickets than anyone else since the beginning of the 2010 season, a campaign which ended with him taking the crucial wicket of Lancashire’s Shivnarine Chanderpaul which clinched the championship title for Notts.
Now 39, the all-rounder made his Hampshire debut in this week’s drawn match with Warwickshire at Edgbaston, collecting figures of 2-54 and 1-59, as well as making a typical statement with the bat by hitting the first ball he received for six.
Others to have represented both counties include current Outlaw Michael Lumb, as well as Mike Taylor, Richard Logan, Bilal Shafayat, Kevin Pietersen and Adam Voges.
Stats (for all first class matches between Notts & Hampshire)
Highest Team Total
Notts: 612 (Trent Bridge 2004)
Hants: 714-5 dec (Southampton 2005)
Highest Individual Score
Notts: 239* CB Harris (Trent Bridge 1950)
Hants: 311* JP Crawley (Southampton 2005)
Best Bowling
Notts: 9-21 TL Richmond (Trent Bridge 1922)
Hants: 8-36 CJ Knott (Bournemouth 1953)
Hat-Tricks
Notts: HJ Butler (Trent Bridge 1939)
Hants: CT Tremlett (Trent Bridge 2005)
Milestones
James Taylor will be playing his 50th first class match for Nottinghamshire and has scored 2935 runs for the county.
Riki Wessels has scored 2978 first class runs for Notts.
Will Gidman has taken 195 first class wickets.
Tickets
Admission prices for this fixture can be found on the official Hampshire County Cricket Club website www.ageasbowl.com
Coverage
There will be on-line ball-by-ball commentary of this and every other Nottinghamshire match this season, provided by BBC Radio Nottingham. Access the link via the BBC Sport website.
For text updates, ball-by-ball scorecard and a preview from Andre Adams himself, visit Trent Bridge Live.