Hampshire v Lancashire LVCC Day 3 13th July

Flintoff (Photo - Barry Zee)

Flintoff boosts England recall chances

(ECB Match Report)

Andrew Flintoff boosted his hopes of an England recall by contributing two wickets as Lancashire edged towards victory over Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

Flintoff, eager to prove form and fitness before England choose their team for the second Test at Headingley Carnegie next week, got through two lively spells of bowling in a total of 11 overs and removed Sean Ervine and Nic Pothas in his first spell.

Lancashire require only another 129 runs tomorrow for their third win of the season after Hampshire's feeble batting was swept aside.

Hampshire began their second innings with a handy first innings lead of 32 but were shot out for 130 when they batted again leaving Lancashire a target of 163.

Opening batsmen Lou Vincent and Paul Horton knocked off 34 of those in the 11 overs remaining of the third day's play.

Lancashire began that day at 229 for five and their last five wickets added a further 66, the brakes being applied by the Hampshire captain Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Mascarenhas ran through the tail to finish with figures of 6-67, his best in the championship for two years.

The main Lancashire resistance came from wicketkeeper Luke Sutton who hit eight fours in his 55 before he was last out, to Chris Tremlett at 295.

Mascarenhas, extracting life and movement from a slow pitch, took 3-5 in seven balls, dismissing Glen Chapple, Dominic Cork and Sajid Mahmood in a devastating burst.

When Hampshire batted again they were soon in trouble, being reduced to nine for two in the first four overs, Michael Carberry being out to the third ball he had faced for the second time in the match without scoring.

John Crawley swiftly followed to a catch by Flintoff in the slips and Hampshire never recovered.

Ervine was unlucky in edging Flintoff to second slip where Stuart Law failed to clutch the catch but the rebound was snapped up by Horton.

Pothas, top scorer in the first innings with 62, made only eight this time before losing his middle stump to a superb Flintoff delivery.

Flintoff came back for a further spell of five overs without taking a wicket and was unable to produce the bounce he extracted in the first.

During that spell he twice struck Michael Lumb painful blows on the forearm and right hand and also rapped Greg Lamb on the hand.

Lumb, held back in the batting order to number seven because of a back strain, was one of the few Hampshire batsmen to offer any prolonged resistance.

Last man James Tomlinson, as he had done in the first innings, offered solid support in a stand of 37 in 15 overs for the last wicket.

When Tomlinson was caught behind off Steven Croft, Lumb was 49 not out in an innings which included six fours.

But it was unlikely to save Hampshire from their second successive home defeat.

Chapple, who took three wickets in the first innings, followed that with 3-22 to give him match figures of 6-55 and there were two wickets also for Mahmood who dismissed Lamb and the wasteful Mascarenhas who casually cut to third man where Vincent held a catch coming in from the boundary.

Hampshire 327 & 130
Lancashire 295 & 32/0 (9.1 ov)

Day 4 the match starts at 11:00am on Monday. Tickets are half price for the conclusion to the match. Pay on the day priced at £7.50 per Adult, £5 for Seniors/Students and £2.50 for Juniors (Under 16's)

Scorecard