Jake Ball has clocked up nearly 600 miles switching from his Test call-up from England to a couple of days county cricket at the Ageas Bowl – and there might not even be a Test debut at the end of it
Vithushan Ehantharajah at the Ageas Bowl23-May-2016
ScorecardThe Ageas Bowl possesses artificial charm•Getty Images
As a Hampshire fan, you’d be hard pressed to recall a better day this season. Not only did they get to celebrate the brilliance of one of their own, as academy product and Rowde native Tom Alsop scored his maiden Championship fifty. But they also pegged back a Nottinghamshire attack that, for all their sharp work with the ball, were found wanting with the bat.It’s a strangely built ground, the Ageas Bowl: it has the approach of a service station and the feel of a picturesque novelty ground. While it’s not quite Paul Getty’s Wormsley estate, there is an artificial charm to Rod Bransgrove’s passion project. Many years ago, he stood at the top of the Pavilion and claimed that, from his vantage point, you could see three-quarters of the county. The new hotel has put a dent in that fraction somewhat.But it is all part of a wider business plan to make Hampshire a more viable consumer product. Rod Stewart is set to play to 20,000 here on June 10. Cricket has twice come close to replicating that figure when Australia have been in town for limited overs matches: a far cry from today, in (Maggie) May, where spectators sat in clusters but knowing every seat was up for grabs.There is an appreciation among them that everything here is a work in progress, especially their worth as a Division One side. Avoiding relegation last year was a feat that would be eclipsed by another seventh-placed finish this season. They currently sit bottom of the pile but, for parts of the day, they would have fooled you into thinking that they were the established force and Nottinghamshire were the ones elbowing for room to eat at the high table.Nothing summed that up quite like the battle between Tino Best and Michael Lumb, which provided the match with its first real bit of theatre. Both sized each other up like a pair of boxers: Best with the hot head but the longer reach – Lumb with ice in his veins and a gait that reeks of the satisfaction that only success can bring. The crowd, too, played their part.Best, around the wicket, hit Lumb early in the fifth over and immediately asked for a short leg. Will Smith, acting as Best’s corner man in the absence of James Vince, told him no. Lumb then used the unguarded area to literally punch two sharp deliveries into that region. Best implored further after each one. Finally, Smith obliged, to a cacophony of sarcastic cheers from those sat behind the slips. Lumb, desperate to get out of the corner and with the leg side plugged, tried to fashion a run out of a drop behind point. Michael Carberry was lurking and, though Jake Libby responded positively from the nonstriker’s end, a direct hit left him short of his ground. In celebration, Carberry stood where he was, arms aloft, in awe of his genius. Best, meanwhile, roared and punched the air. It is in the book as no work of his, but all who were here know that the wicket belong to him.Best’s questionable comments, often made public over Twitter, and a previous lifestyle that might have met Rod’s (Stewart, that is) approval but few others, may always leave him short of wider adulation. But it is days like this that you truly get why his first class career is in its 15th season.Hampshire’s 270 was below par but it was made to look anything but when Best removed Steven Mullaney with the third ball of the Nottinghamshire reply, that flew off the bat face to Ryan McLaren at gully, who took an exceptional catch to his left. The run out followed to leave the visitors reeling on eight for two before McLaren, with Best’s yelps still reverberating around the ground, take a wicket with the first ball of an eight-over spell that decimated Notts’ engine room.Lumb (32), Brendan Taylor (28 – his highest score of the season so far) and Samit Patel (2) were all undone by movement off the pitch. Taylor, who perhaps got the best ball of the lot – one that left a picture-perfect forward defence to take a sliver of an edge through to the keeper – had looked in good order up till his demise.As with any long-term project, those with vested interests need to see elements of the future now. In Alsop, a 20-year-old batsman who made his first class debut against Kent in 2014, there is enough to appease. His 72 set up the afternoon’s entertainment: a knock that started in impish defiance and ended with him leaving with the disappointment of a middle order stalwart. He was on the way to running out of partners: Sean Ervine was bowled by an excellent inswinger from Luke Fletcher, before Jake Ball found an inside edge off Adam Wheater, which was brilliantly caught by a diving Chris Read. Harry Gurney, who took four of the last five wickets, looked to have curbed any home enthusiasm.What is left to come for Notts should learn from Alsop’s innings. He respected the good balls but made damn sure the bad balls went to the fence. And, when he was confident enough, he went after the good ones too. Jake Ball, currently on his way back to Nottingham with his parents before he drives to Chester-le-Street tomorrow, will be replaced by Brett Hutton who is a far superior batsman.Anything he and the remaining Notts batsmen can offer for the last five wickets will be the difference on a pitch that is starting to act up a touch.
