Hants plan to honour Warne
APPLAUSE FOR SPIN LEGEND IN FIRST GAME
HAMPSHIRE are set to pay tribute to former player Shane Warne at the lunch break during today’s County Championship opener against Somerset.
Members, spectators, players and officials will join on the field of play to remember the Australia spin legend, who died last month.
The occasion, weather permitting, will be marked by a video tribute to his seven years at the
Ageas Bowl between 2000-07, before a minute’s applause.
Hampshire captain
James Vince believes a strong start against Division One contenders Somerset will be key to their title challenge.
He said: “We always have good games against Somerset and it seems to bring out a little bit extra in the lads.
“It stems back to a few years ago when we beat them here, which put them on the back foot in their title race, so I expect quite a feisty opener.”
In most years, the start of the County Championship in April has been the return of an unchanging and familiar old friend, but a season of uncertainty and potential upheaval lies ahead. The return to a 10-team first and eight-team second divisional structure is a return to familiar ground with promotion and relegation. There will be more red-ball cricket in the summer months too with two extra rounds, making five scheduled in June and July.
And there is also a return to something approaching normality with regard to Covid restrictions, with just the use of saliva banned, but umpires will again be able to hold jumpers, while substitutes – not abandonments – will be used should anyone test positive mid-game.
Yet uncertainty stalks the season too, not least for Yorkshire. The white rose county stayed in the top division by the skin of their teeth, but could yet face a points deduction across multiple formats from the cricket disciplinary committee over their handling of the racism inquiry at Headingley. ECB sources admit no timescale has been put on the outcome of their deliberations.
England’s disastrous winter at Test level has also prompted interim director of cricket Andrew Strauss’s high-performance review into red-ball cricket, which has yet to start but could deliver structural change by the end of the season.