Hampshire’s first home game of the new era – played out in front of a crowd of 600-odd on a sunny day at the Utilita Bowl – ended in a surprise 50-run win against trophy-favourites Surrey.
On a good batting track, with new England coach Charlotte Edwards looking on from the top of the Rod Bramsgrove Pavilion, this was the ideal chance for any number of England squaddies / hopefuls to stick up a hand.
But while Em Arlott hit a match-winning century over in Chelmsford, and Eve Jones struck 97 for Lancs down in the West Country, none of the half-centurions at Southampton managed to make quite such a definitive contribution.
Maia Bouchier’s gorgeous lofted drives and well-placed pulls will have pleased Edwards, and Bouchier herself labelled her 69-ball 61 as “really important” after a difficult Ashes series.
“All I can do is learn and grow from that, and try and improve in every possible way,” Bouchier said. “We [the England players] have got six games, and we’ll make the most of those six games. It’s really competitive at the moment and that’s what we want.”
But Bouchier was eventually lured into a well-signalled trap by ADR, who followed up her first bouncer by immediately bowling a second; Bouchier tried to hook this one, and only succeeded in edging to Kira Chathli behind the stumps.
Alice Capsey – presumably also desperate to impress Edwards – picked up a couple of cheap wickets with her off-spin, and then scratched out her own 81-ball fifty.
But Capsey was also involved in the unfortunate run-out of Paige Scholfield, who came three-quarters of the way down the track despite Capsey never leaving her ground, as Surrey collapsed to 93 for five.
To be fair, Surrey had earlier had to contend with a major disruption to their bowling plans: their opening bowler Phoebe Franklin left the field nursing an injury after just 10 balls, leaving Bryony Smith to step into the breach.
Hampshire initially made hay while the sun shone (literally), as openers Bouchier and Ella McCaughan put on a century stand in just 20 overs.
That should have laid the foundation for a 300+ total. Instead, a middle-over collapse of 3 for 11 saw the run-rate plummet, although some timely cameos from Abi Norgrove and Nancy Harman eventually pushed the total above 250.
Surrey boast the most England experience of any Tier 1 top order, so a target of 260 should have been well within their grasp. But some reckless slogging from Smith and Danni Wyatt-Hodge against Hampshire’s new-ball pair Lauren Bell and Freya Davies cost them two early wickets.
Sophia Dunkley then made a mess of trying to defend a fuller, straighter ball from Bell and was bowled, leaving Surrey three down at the end of the powerplay.
Two weeks ago, Surrey convincingly defeated Hampshire on this same ground in their pre-season warm-up after Alice Monaghan smashed a quickfire 71. But in the real thing, Monaghan’s deft, run-a-ball 40 – despite being struck with a fluency which put the top order to shame – couldn’t quite make up for the disastrous start.
Hampshire clearly felt the pressure as Monaghan’s 64-run partnership with Capsey progressed, dropping several catches and botching a couple of run-out chances. But the reintroduction of Linsey Smith in the 32nd over eventually did the trick, her sharp c&b seeing off Monaghan before fellow left-armer Bex Tyson wrapped things up with the final two Surrey wickets.
There’s still a long way to go, but for now, a Surrey team which everyone predicted would dominate this new competition are (alongside Essex) bringing up the rear of the Tier 1 points table.
CRICKETher 