6:56pm Thursday 2nd September 2010
By Simon Walter
Where would Hampshire be without Jimmy Adams this season?
Probably still floundering in the LV= County Championship’s relegation zone and certainly not Friends Provident t20 champions.
At Liverpool yesterday, Adams scored a second Championship hundred in as many matches to take Hampshire’s match against Lancashire into a fourth day and give his teammates a sniff of three valuable first division points.
Having begun the penultimate day on 15-0, still 223 behind Lancashire’s 398, Hampshire closed on 275-5 - a lead of 37 - thanks to Adams’ skill and immense powers of concentration.
After resuming on 11, Adams batted all day for his third Championship ton of the season.
By the close he was a chanceless 110 not out, having faced 283 balls in more than six hours at the crease.
Lancashire’s attack was shorn of Glenn Chapple (calf) but that should not detract from an epic hundred by Adams, who must now be certainty for some form of England recognition this winter.
It looked as though Hampshire might succumb to scoreboard pressure when two left-handers with Test experience - Michael Carberry and Phil Hughes - succumbed during the morning session.
Carberry (17) top edged a pull against Kyle Hogg, who continued his outstanding match with a miserly opening spell.
Much was expected from Hughes, who scored three hundreds in as many Championship matches for Middlesex at the beginning of last season and earlier in the day was recalled to Australia’s squad for their Test series in India later this month.
But unlike Adams, he did not deliver. The 21-year-old was caught at first slip after inside edging an attempted cut against slow left armer Gary Keedy on to his pad.
Neil McKenzie (31) was determined to make his last Championship innings of the season a good one and he helped Adams add 73 for the third wicket before he was caught behind trying to pull, the first of three wickets for the outstanding Tom Smith.
Smith (3-56) was a threat all day with his bounce and accuracy and he claimed two more big middle-order wickets.
James Vince (0) departed in the same over, his loose drive beaten by late movement from Smith, who was ecstatic at the sight of the middle stump cartwheeling towards Liverpool CC’s pavilion.
But still Adams stood firm.
Sean Ervine took the pressure off his fellow southpaw by contributing 48 to a fifth wicket stand of 78. Two balls after surviving a huge appeal for a catch down the leg side, Ervine nicked Smith to first slip.
But Michael Bates ensured only one wicket was lost during the final session.
Bates was 26 not out at stumps. Stout defence and a couple of tasty boundaries - cover driven and pulled - from the teenager gave Hampshire real hope of escaping Liverpool with their unbeaten run intact.
Read Jimmy Adams' reaction in Friday's Daily Echo
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