Hoggard back to his best form

10:39am Friday 25th April 2008

Yorkshire v Hampshire (LV County Championship) : Day Two

Matthew Hoggard tore through Hampshire's top order to give Yorkshire a real chance of opening their County Championship season with a victory at Headingley, the seamer steamrolled Hampshire's top five batsmen on his way to five for 51 from his 15 overs.

When he was dropped for England's recent tour of New Zealand former coach Duncan Fletcher remarked that Hoggard had "lost his nip", but there was no evidence to support that theory as he mercilessly ripped through the visitors.

Yorkshire's head of cricket Martin Moxon is convinced that he's still an exceptional bowler.

"I don't think he's lost anything," he said. "He looked better and better as his spell went on, he needs overs under his belt and after tea he bowled beautifully so hopefully he's getting back to what he's capable of."

Yorkshire's chances of using Hoggard for any substantial length of time will doubtless be looking slim if he continues to perform as well as he did on day two, but Moxon wants what's best for the player.

"I hope he's not playing for us for long," he said. "Obviously that would mean he's bowling well for Yorkshire and has then got himself back in the England team."

Hoggard began his demolition job before Hampshire had reached double figures. Just seven runs were on the board when he dismissed Michael Brown for a duck, thanks in no small part to the safe hands of Andrew Gale, who had already weighed in with a superb 138 earlier in the day before sealing Brown's demise at short leg.

Having been marooned on 99 not out overnight Gale looked nervous and faced 14 balls while one shy of his century.

Incredibly he then nearly brought up the ton with a six as he swept James Tomlinson over third man, the umpire signalling for a maximum before eventually correcting himself and confirming it as just four.

Hoggard got some luck when Jimmy Adams played on for seven and he then did for Michael Carberry, Tim Bresnan continuing Yorkshire's brilliance in the field with an outstanding full length dive at fourth slip.

After tea Hoggard looked hungry to put the visitors to the sword and he didn't disappoint with a further two scalps. First he ended John Crawley's short-lived resistance for 25 with a sublime ball that seamed into the right-hander, thumping into off-stump.

He finished off a fantastic day by trapping Michael Lumb for 11, the former Yorkshire batsmen caught him plum in front.

Earlier Gale's brilliance and another excellent display with the bat from Ajmal Shahzad, with 35, saw Yorkshire fall just two runs short of maximum batting points, Deon Kruis the last man out with the home side on 398.

SCORECARD
Yorkshire v Hampshire
At Headingley Carnegie.
Overnight: Yorkshire 270-6 (A W Gale 99 no,
J A Rudolph 59).
Yorkshire First Innings
A W Gale b Tomlinson 138
T T Bresnan c Pothas b Tremlett 21
A Shahzad c Sub b Lamb 35
M J Hoggard not out 19
G J Kruis c Lumb b Tomlinson 8
Extras (lb10 w7 nb16 pens 0) 33
Total (126 overs) 398
Fall: 1-31 2-39 3-54 4-163 5-199 6-265 7-293
8-371 9-371
Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 4 Hampshire 3
Bowling: Bond 19-2-82-2. Tremlett 32-9-79-
2. Mascarenhas 19-5-33-2. Tomlinson 29-2-
112-2. Adams 2-0-13-0. Lamb 25-9-69-2.
Hampshire First Innings Close
M A Carberry c Bresnan b Hoggard 13
M J Brown c Gale b Hoggard 0
J H Adams b Hoggard 7
J P Crawley b Hoggard 25
M J Lumb lbw b Hoggard 11
N Pothas not out 36
A D Mascarenhas not out 13
Extras (lb2 nb8 pens 0) 10
Total 5 wkts (44 overs) 115
Fall: 1-7 2-21 3-32 4-53 5-82
To Bat: G A Lamb, C T Tremlett, S E Bond,
J A Tomlinson.
Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 4 Hampshire 3
Bowling: Hoggard 15-1-51-5. Kruis 12-3-33-
0. Shahzad 6-3-9-0. Bresnan 8-4-10-0. A U
Rashid 3-0-10-0.