Hellos, Goodbyes and Thank Yous

Giles White reviews 2009 and looks forward to 2010 with Jane Cable.

Having taken over the running of Hampshire’s First XI part way through the 2008 season, 2009 was Giles White’s first full year in charge – and it was a pretty successful one. Winning the Friends Provident Trophy, reaching the quarter finals of the Twenty20 Cup and remaining in the top flight of the LV County Championship mean that Hampshire fans can look back on the summer with a fair amount of pride.

But what are Giles’ memories? “It was a very long season but the highlight was the Friends Provident win, which was a really good team effort. What stood out most about that competition was that everyone contributed and the final summed it up really; a convincing win against a very good side. There were only four trophies and the fact we won one was a credit to the guys and a testament to all their hard work. I’m very conscious that the FP win was a beginning, and we’ve got to progress from there.

“The Championship was a very good effort too. A lot of fighting qualities were shown towards the end of the season. There’s areas for improvement and we suffered a little bit with injury and retirement.  Carbs broke a finger at a crucial stage but I thought the guys who came in really held their own. Young players like Vince, Briggs and Dawson had to step up and they did so. They got a lot out of the intensity of the cricket and it will hold them in good stead for the future.”

In fact, Liam Dawson moved up the order to open the batting in Michael Carberry’s place. Although he had opened regularly in the Seconds, this seemed like something of a departure. “We see him as a future top order player” Giles explained. “The strong areas of his game are suited to batting higher up the order when there’s some pace on the ball and we had confidence in him doing the job. It’s different opening the batting; there are a lot more gaps and you can get away and score some runs when the new ball comes onto the bat. The quicker bowlers and more attacking fields suit Liam.”

Hampshire’s opening partnerships have probably been the highlight of the season for the fans; both Adams and Carberry in the LV County Championship, and more spectacularly Adams and Lumb in the shorter forms of the game. “They did work well, didn’t they?” Giles agrees. “Hopefully that continues! Michael Lumb and Jimmy formed a very good partnership in one day cricket and Jimmy and Carbs in the four day game. Looking back on the year the opening partnerships set us up well and were our strength in all competitions. I’m sure the guys will be working very hard to continue that next year.”

The team – including the coaching team – also benefitted from the presence of Duncan Fletcher over the summer. “We enjoyed having Duncan around. It’s something we’re hoping to do again at some stage next year. He fitted in very well and he had a lot to offer both the players and the coaches. I enjoyed his company and learnt a lot from him. He enjoys the environment of cricket and I think he very much enjoyed Hampshire. He had a fresh angle and it’s good to have new ideas coming in during the season. It was a very long year and having someone like Duncan coming in for a short period and adding a new voice worked very well.”

Another major source of excitement last season was seeing so many of Hampshire’s own young players break through and establish themselves. “Daws, Vince and Briggsy all held their own in the first division of the Championship. During the most pressurised period of the campaign, the relegation battle we found ourselves in, we had two teenagers in the top four and they held their own in a very good standard of cricket. And Briggs came in and showed what a composed character he is; he bowled as well in the Championship as he does for the Academy – phlegmatic, I think the word is.”

As well as the youngsters coming through, it was time to say goodbye to two established players in Billy Taylor and John Crawley. “I want to go on record and say what a fantastic player John’s been for the club” Giles told me. “We always felt that if we were going to compete in the Championship we needed John fit and for Imran to recreate what he had last year. Unfortunately with the wickets we played on and John’s injury it became tougher to achieve that. But John’s input over the years has been really good and we’ll all miss him. I’ll certainly miss him; he’s been a great help to me in the changing room and I thought he was very dignified the way he went about his exit. I wish him well in everything he does.”

Having picked over the highlights of 2009, it was time to look forward to the coming year. “It’s not going to let up – next year we’ve got even more cricket, which to me is absolutely crazy but it is what it is and we have to manage it the best we can. Changing the competition structure would have been a great opportunity to tone down the amount of cricket. It’s not realistic to expect players to play this amount of cricket and to be 100% there every day of the season – it’s very tough unless you have an extremely deep squad so you can rotate players and keep them fresh.

“We rotated the seamers a bit this year; we rested Tremlett and Cork, but the players that play in both forms of the game – if they don’t get injured – are so tired by the end of the season it’s far from ideal.” It is probably no co-incidence that Durham, with their depth of bowling, have won the LV County Championship two years running and I wondered if this was what was behind strengthening Hampshire’s bowling squad.

“It is” Giles told me. “But also we didn’t bowl sides out this year. A lot of that reflects the flat wickets we’ve been playing on, but we’re always looking to strengthen the squad, whether batting or bowling, if the right people come up. They’ve got to be very good players and good individuals who fit in with our group dynamic. That’s all part of our selection process, profiling them to make sure the players fit the current group. We won’t be in for any player who comes up; we’ll be in for the right players, if they come up.”

As well as signing Simon Jones, Hampshire have contracted Sri Lankan spinner Ajantha Mendis as overseas player for next year. The recent announcement that Imran Tahir has signed for Warwickshire for 2010 left some Hampshire supporters – me included – confused over his future with the club. Giles was keen to set the record straight.

“When we signed Mendis we postponed the second year of Imran’s contract to 2011. At the time there were visa issues and we weren’t sure that he was going to be able to come back. Things have changed now, but the other issue was that if he got picked for South Africa he wouldn’t be here until half way through the season which wouldn’t really have suited us. So we agreed with Immi that we would be pro-active in trying to sign Mendis. In an ideal world we wouldn’t want him playing for another County, but we wish him well at Warwickshire and he’ll be back here for 2011.”
 

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