Squad ‘desperate’ to end wait for Hampshire’s third title
Hampshire captain James Vince has revealed the desire amongst his squad to end the county’s long wait for a County Championship title.
It’s now more than half a century since Hampshire won the silverware – 51 years, to be exact – for only the second time in their history.
Today at Durham on the opening day of a new Championship season, Vince is starting his ninth season as captain.
That is a period which has seen success in the shorter formats, including winning the Royal London Cup in
2018 and the Vitality T20 Blast in 2022.
Last season came close to being a historic one; however, they finished third in the Championship, for the second year running, were losing finalists in the One Day Cup (Leicestershire winning a Trent Bridge thriller by just two runs) and losing semi-finalists in the T20 Blast.
Having come so close in 2023, the squad are confident of going further this year.
Vince said: "It is good to be back, there is plenty of optimism around the group.
"The guys that have been here have put in a lot of hard work in the winter to be as prepared as we can be (for Durham).
"We spoke at the end of last season about a couple of areas we thought we could improve that might give us an extra couple of per cent when we need it.
"Fitness is one of those, and the guys have worked really hard."
Vince is aiming to stop Surrey becomig the first county to win a hat-trick of Championship titles since Yorkshire in the 1960s.
The expectation is that it will come down to fine margins if they are to succeed.
Vince said: "They have shown their strength in depth over the last couple of years - the first 11 they put out is extremely strong.
"It can come down to one or two moments in games, we have been poor away at The Oval, and with Surrey being at the top, the points almost count double.
"Getting off to a strong start and not playing catch up and relying on other results would be nice.
"In previous years we have won a lot of games and lost a couple, we are looking to make up 20 or 30 points. That just comes down to one or two games where you turn a loss into a win, or a draw, and you are kind of there or thereabouts.
"It is small margins and I think we have done a lot of stuff right.
"I have the belief in the group that we can go that one better and beat them to the title this year."
There is a very experienced core in the Hampshire squad – seamer Keith Barker is 37, Kyle Abbott 36, Ben Brown 35, Liam Dawson 34, Vince 33 and Nick Gubbins 30.
Those players are very aware of the fact that Hampshire have not won the Championship title since 1973.
Vince said: "This group really enjoys a challenge and we haven't won the County Championship for 51 years as a club, so it's a strong motivator.
"For the guys coming to the back end of their career, it is something we are desperate to achieve as a group. You can certainly feel the hunger and desire to do that and we can't wait to get started. We want to be the group of players that stops that rot and wins the trophy."
While the Championship is a focus, it is by no means the only one, with the shorter formats also a priority.
Vince commented: "We have been strong across all formats. We didn't have much to show for it last year but certainly, from a club point of view, to see teams competitive in all three formats is great.
"We do have players that play one format only, but we don't have a huge squad so I think the results we are producing is fantastic and shows the club is in a good place.
"We obviously want a trophy to show for it."
*Graham Onions believes both he and his boyhood county Durham are “back where we belong” as they prepare for a top-flight return eight years on from their “incredibly harsh” relegation.
Onions was a key part of the side treated with unprecedented severity by the ECB in 2016, demoted to Division Two and hit with a 48-point penalty for the following season after falling into serious financial trouble.
He left for Lancashire in 2017 as the club’s record wicket-taker, part of a talent drain that also saw the likes of Scott Borthwick, Mark Stoneman and Keaton Jennings move on, but returned from Old Trafford at the start of the year as lead bowling coach.
The team he rejoins is finally back at the top table of English cricket, with Onions delighted to be part of Durham’s long-awaited comeback which starts at home to Hampshire today.
“The punishment was extremely harsh. A lot of people would say it was completely wrong and I get that because it wasn’t based on our performances,” he said.
“A lot happened – financial troubles and a lot of uncertainty – and it got messy. Did it leave a chip on the shoulder? Yeah, a little bit.”
Onions was part of Durham’s impressive roll call of fast bowlers to represent England and now has responsibility for overseeing an attack containing two more, Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse.
Potts is nudging his way up the Test pecking order after excelling on the England Lions tour of India and a strong start to his first Division One campaign could make the 25-year-old an irresistible pick.
It is good to be back, there is plenty of optimism around the group