8:30am Sunday 21st June 2009
By Simon Walter
Hampshire beat Lancashire in the LV County Championship for the first time in 17 years – despite the threat of Andrew Flintoff.
Not since winning at Old Trafford in 1992 under Mark Nicholas have Hampshire vanquished Lancashire in the longest form of the game.
Last season, Hampshire were agonisingly close in a thriller. They should have bounced back from successive home defeats by beating Lancashire at Old Trafford, but fell agonisingly short of the 225 target on 215-7 – with Dimi Mascarenhas unbeaten on 25.
This time Mascarenhas’s sensational 108, and Imran Tahir’s 6-108, proved the difference in a comprehensive ten-wicket win.
There was a sense of déjà vu at Liverpool’s Aigburth ground, as Hampshire arrived in the north west once again looking to bounce back from successive defeats, against Durham and Nottinghamshire.
Last July, a Tahir-inspired Hampshire began a seven-match unbeaten run at Lancashire.
The South Africa-qualified leg-spinner took a record 12-189 on debut in the corresponding fixture last season and he shone in Lancashire’s second innings on Saturday after the hosts resumed on 144-2, a lead of seven.
A draw looked the most likely result when the final day began (the entire first day had been lost to rain) but Tahir claimed four wickets before lunch as the hosts were bowled out for 254 in their second innings.
Facing a first-innings deficit of 137, Lancashire lost their last eight wickets for 78 in 28 overs.
Needing just 118 to win, Hampshire reached their target in just 23.1 overs. Michael Carberry led the way with 62 not out (73 balls), including seven fours and a six, while Jimmy Adams (46*) continued his fine form.
Mal Loye (55) top scored for the hosts but was Tahir's first victim on Friday evening. After resuming on 36, Flintoff reached 54 before he was caught by Michael Lumb after top edging a pull against Mascarenhas in th eighth over of the final day.
Flintoff swept Tahir for six and cut him for four to reach his first first-class fifty (79 balls, nine fours, one six) since his 62 in the drawn second Test against India in December.
He did not look overly happy with Peter Willey's decision to give him out when the ball looped over the head of wicketkeeper Nic Pothas to Lumb running round from slip.
Flintoff's 86-ball 54 was his first Championship half century for a year. But after he departed, it was a procession until just after lunch as Lancashire subsided from 176-2 to 254 all out.
VVS Laxman was run out by Jimmy Adams attempting a needless second run to square leg before Kyle Hogg (16), Steven Croft (0) and Francois du Plessis (15) all departed to Tahir.
Croft and Du Plessis were caught at short leg and Hogg at first slip. Luke Sutton (17) was the next to go as he presented a catch to Chris Benham at third slip off the bowling of Chris Tremlett and Sajid Mahmood (0) was caught behind off Tahir just before lunch.
Tahir now has 18 wickets in two matches against Lancashire but Glen Chapple swept him for two sixes in his first two overs after lunch as he added an unbeaten 34 off 52 balls before Gary Keedy was caught at first slip by Dominic Cork to end the innings.
Lancashire gave the new ball to Flintoff (3-0-12-0) from the River End and brought their left-arm spinner Keedy into the attack from the Pavilion End in the fifth over.
But Carberry and Adams (46* off 66 balls) knocked off the runs in confident fashion to secure Hampshire’s first win in 18 Championship matches against Lancashire – and leapfrog their hosts to go fourth in the table.
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