Hants Comment: Hampshire vs Leicestershire LVCC

When the rain hit the borough of Eastleigh last Friday it seemed as though it may never stop. It did of course, for a bit, but with only ten overs bowled on days three and four of Hampshire's match against Leicestershire at the Ageas Bowl, there was no chance of a result being reached in Hants 3rd game of the season.

Drawing against Leicester might  have been considered a decent result before a ball was bowled last week but, having restricted the visitors to just 234 in their first innings having been 148/3 earlier in proceedings, as well as reaching a promising 217/4 themselves with the bat, the Royals will wonder what could have been from the match.

The Only Way Is Up

The only way is up for Glamorgan. We could split hairs and admit that, actually, the Dragons aren’t bottom of the table in the embryonic stages of the campaign. But based on three results alone, Things Can Only Get Better – and if you can’t hear D:Ream playing at the back of your mind right now, you’re not trying…

The margins of defeat have been 52 runs, 130 runs and two wickets in that order. It’s tempting to jump in with an ill-conceived rant when things aren’t going well, but you can end up looking stupid. Just ask Tottenham fans when the gap between them and Arsenal was 10 points in their favour not so long ago.

But enough about football. It’s the cricket season, right?

A recurring theme so far this season for Glamorgan has been the inability to put runs on the board. Marcus North is currently the most anticipated Welsh arrival since Brunel brought the railway to town. And I’m pretty sure no-one was saying that as Australia came to the SWALEC Stadium for the 1st Ashes Test in 2009.

The Plunder Games – Week 3 Recap

Have you been too busy studying for your exams to take note of what has been going on in the IPL? Or have you been too engrossed in searching for a job to know who has hit the most ‘DLF Maximums’ over the past week? Maybe all your time is being taken up by stalking your ex-boyfriend; or you could just be some closeted IPL fan who likes to keep up appearances by publicly denouncing the ‘pajama cricket’ but want to know how your favorite IPL team is doing?

Never fear. For the attention-deficit IPL fan in you, I present to you ‘The Plunder Games’ – a weekly recap of all the IPL action. Here, you can catch up with all the past week’s action in just 10 minutes.

Game 22: KXIP vs KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders 127 for 2 (Gambhir 66*) beat Kings XI Punjab 124 for 7 (Gilchrist 40*, Lee 2-26, Narine 2-24) by eight wickets 

Match in 140 characters: Kings XI struggle to 124, as Gambhir and Kallis lead KKR to an easy win

Viagra Performer of the day: It is a wonder why Gambhir hesitates to open the innings more often, considering his success at the top which usually converts to wins for his team; a typical innings ensured no hiccups in a steady chase.

Best tweet of the game: There are so many mosquitoes in the field at mohali. Probably, thats why KXIP players wanted to get ALL OUT!   #ipl (by @coolfunnytshirt)

Game 23: DD vs DC

Delhi Daredevils 162 for 5 (Pietersen 103*, Steyn 2-19) beat Deccan Chargers 157 for 8 (Parthiv 45*, Nadeem 3-16) by five wickets 

Match in 140 characters: Nadeem and Morkel restrict Chargers to 157 after a good start; despite a top order wobble, KP powers DD to win, with some generous help

#TrottsFault: Deccan Chargers would have felt that they were in with a chance, as they left the Daredevils staggering at 65/4. All that changed in the space of a Duminy over, where he conceded 21 runs to hand the momentum back to DD.

The IPL so far

Nearly 30 matches in, and we're finally a third into the IPL. It's great to see that, for once, one or two teams aren't running away with it. How often do we have a six-way tie for anything? Usually, if there are six incompetent teams sharing points, it's the bottom 6. All the better to slate the Deccan Chargers - they really must love that basement. Here are the standings, as I write this. In 15 hours or so, two out of the current top three will share the lead with 10 points.

Teams	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Delhi Daredevils	6	4	2	0	0	8	+0.681
Kolkata Knight Riders	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.432
Pune Warriors	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.290
Rajasthan Royals	8	4	4	0	0	8	+0.190
Chennai Super Kings	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.033
Royal Challengers Bangalore	7	4	3	0	0	8	-0.192
Mumbai Indians	6	3	3	0	0	6	-0.117
Kings XI Punjab	7	3	4	0	0	6	-0.467
Deccan Chargers	5	0	5	0	0	0	-1.032

Surprise packages

By "surprise packages", I don't mean an unexpected parcel delivered to your door, with a clearly audible ticking noise coming from it. Or maybe I do. I'm not sure.

Hampshire Comment: Glamorgan vs Hampshire

Hants (156 & 204/8) beat Glamorgan (103/9 dec & 256) by 2 wickets at SWALEC stadium, Cardiff.
 
In sport, winning is everything but Hampshire will know that it would be folly to gloss over the cracks en route to victory in Cardiff this weekend.
 
Hampshire beat Glamorgan with Hamza Riazuddin scoring the winning runs off the penultimate ball of the match, but one couldn't help feeling that it should have been a lot easier for Hampshire, particularly after a day one in which Hampshire utterly dominated.
 
A young bowling attack has been assembled at the Ageas Bowl for this summer as the likes of Dominic Cork, Simon Jones and Imran Tahir all moved on. A new attack has been built around the likes of Danny Briggs and David Balcombe, with Riazuddin also being given a chance of first team action.
 
And this investment in youth has already paid dividends in the opening two games of this season, with Balcombe in particularly fine fettle. He excelled again in Cardiff, taking 5/33 in Glamorgan's first innings as the home side faltered to 103/9 shortly before close on day one.

David Balcombe's 'Ridiculous' Run of Form

It's not so long ago David Balcombe was merely a peripheral figure in the Hampshire squad, unable to stake a claim for first team action. Having made his debut for Hants in 2007, Balcombe subsequently spent much of the proceeding 3 seasons playing in the lower Surrey leagues, before going on loan to Kent last season.

And it was at Canterbury last year that something finally clicked for the 27 year old, who started his cricketing career playing for Durham UCCE in 2005. His last two games for Kent last season yielded 19 wickets at 13.37 runs a piece, form that made his permanent employers Hampshire welcome him back to the Ageas Bowl with open arms.

Of course relegation for Hants last term meant a summer clear out of playing staff was needed, which worked in favour of players like Balcombe as it meant a guaranteed chance of first team action in Division Two and in Balcombe's case, he has taken it with both hands.