Razzaq Returns for Royals Trip to Sabres

A look ahead to Friday's FPt20 fixture against the Somerset Sabres at Taunton.

Somerset Sabres v Hampshire Royals
Friends Provident t20
Friday 9th July 2010 (17.30 start)
Taunton

Hampshire welcome all-rounder Abdul Razzaq back into the squad for Friday’s match, having missed the best part of a month for his county, busy on international duty.

By co-incidence, the last match Razzaq played for his county was a t20 game against Somerset at the Rose Bowl, and it was one which proved quite profitable for him (taking 2 wickets for just 20 runs), even if it wasn’t for the team (who lost by 7 runs.)

The Royals will also have fellow all-rounder Dan Christian available and in contention for a starting place. The Australian has been out for three weeks with a calf injury.

And batsman, Michael Carberry may return to the line-up having been rested for seven matches in this competition. The England Lions star is full of confidence at the moment, having scored a mammoth 150 runs in his first innings against Kent in their County Championship match earlier this week.

The Opposition:

Somerset are also full of confidence at present, having won five of their last six games. Consequently, they look unlikely to make too many changes to a winning formula.

However, they will have a few selection headaches with Craig Kieswetter and Peter Trego expected to return from international duty. That will mean potentially dropping the likes of Murali Kartick and Jos Buttler - the latter, particularly, has been in excellent form of late.

The last time these two met in this competition, the Royals were completely in control until they suffered a batting collapse late on.

However, a Hampshire side that have been performing well of late – recently clinching their first consecutive wins – will be expecting to avoid similar this time around.

Hampshire Squad:

4  Jimmy Adams 5  Abdul Razzaq 7 Sean Ervine 8 Liam Dawson 9  Nic Pothas 10 Simon Jones 12  Dominic Cork

14 James Vince 15  Michael Carberry 19 Danny Briggs 20 Chris Benham 25 Chris Wood 27  Neil McKenzie 28 Dan Christian

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