Ervine Returns for Saltires Match

A look ahead to Saturday's CB40 match against the Scottish Saltires at Citylets Mannofield.

Scottish Saltires v Hampshire Royals
Clydesdale Bank 40
Saturday 21st August 2010 (13.45 start)
Citylets Mannofield

Sean Ervine returns to the Hampshire squad for Saturday’s match against Scotland. The Zimbabwean all-rounder was rested for the Royals’ CB40 victory over the Leicestershire Foxes on Tuesday.

He will replace youngster, Benny Howell who was given his debut in that match and took his first wicket for the club before playing for the second team against Ireland A between Wednesday and Friday.

Hampshire go into the game third in Group C and on the up. A win against the group’s bottom side would see Hampshire record their sixth consecutive victory in the competition and extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 11 games.

Although qualification for the semi-finals still remains a distant hope, Royals manager Giles White will be hoping for a positive result to keep up, what he’s called, the “winning habit” the team have developed of late.

The Opposition:

After eight games, the Saltires remain routed to the bottom of the group with just the one solitary win in the competition.

However, a relatively good run in the recent ICC World Cricket League, in which they came runners up, will have given them some confidence.

Nevertheless, the Royals will still be firm favourites to win this game, particularly having beaten Saturday’s opponents reasonably comfortably (by 31 runs) at The Rose Bowl.

The Saltires best hopes of shock victory rest on the return to form of George Bailey. The Tasmanian scored 90 in that reverse fixture earlier in the season but has scored just 7 runs in his last three games, including two ducks.

Royals Squad:

4  Jimmy Adams 7  Sean Ervine 8  Liam Dawson 12  Dominic Cork 14  James Vince 15  Michael Carberry 16  Michael Bates

19  Danny Briggs 20  Chris Benham 21  James Tomlinson 25  Chris Wood 27  Neil McKenzie 38  Hamza Riazzudin 84  David Balcombe

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