Hants enjoy upper hand
Abbas out of quarantine to make debut
Mohammad Abbas emerged from quarantine as Hampshire enjoyed the upper hand in their two-day friendly with Sussex at The Ageas Bowl.
The 30-year-old had been self-isolating after arriving in England last month, but served the final day of his 10-day period on the first day when Hampshire scored 352-8.
Handed the new ball yesterday with fellow overseas signing Kyle Abbott, the Pakistan international started with three successive maidens in his first game since a one-day game at the end of January.
Tom Haines took three fours off Abbas’ fourth over - easily the most expensive of the 10 he sent down as Sussex were bowled out for 277.
Hampshire skipper James Vince will certainly have been encouraged that most of the team contributed during the two days.
After four batsmen - including the captain himself - scored half-centuries on day one, six of the eight bowlers used yesterday were among the wickets.
Ironically, the two who missed out were Abbott (13-6-24-0) and Abbas (10-428-0) as Sussex took 23 overs to put 60 on the board.
Mason Crane, the seventh bowler Vince turned down, was the most successful - his 3-43 off 12.4 overs including the last two wickets in successive balls. Elsewhere, Crane’s fellow spinner Liam Dawson bagged 2-44 while there was a wicket apiece for Brad Wheal (1-33), Scott Currie (1-39) and Ian Holland (1-52).
The final wicket-taker was Felix Organ, who had spent the first day playing for Hampshire 2nds in a friendly against Exeter University.
The youngster only bowled two overs but trapped Delray Rawlins (47) leg before to finish with 1-1.
Hampshire lift the curtain on their 2021 Championship season with a trip to Leicestershire starting on Thursday.
In-depth preview of Hampshire’s season: See next week’s editions of The News.