Vince rues frustrating start to Hampshire season

James Vince admitted his disappointment after Hampshire made a frustrating start to the new campaign.
Liam Dawson with Hampshire skipper James Vince. Picture: Neil MarshallLiam Dawson with Hampshire skipper James Vince. Picture: Neil Marshall
Liam Dawson with Hampshire skipper James Vince. Picture: Neil Marshall

The Ageas Bowl skipper saw his team hand the advantage to Yorkshire on the opening day of their curtain-raising County Championship division one clash at Headingley.

A top-order collapse in the final session of the day undid all the good work of Vince’s bowling attack and left his Hampshire outfit staring down the barrel.

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The visitors reduced Yorkshire to 152 for seven before a ton from Gary Balance (120) helped his side to a first-innings total of 273.

Then Ben Coad took five for 18 as Hampshire, who had earlier asked their hosts to bat first, crumbled to 58 for five at the close.

Vince acknowledged the collapse of his top order had left the team with a mountain to climb.

However, he also rued a lack of ruthlessness with the ball.

Vince said: ‘We did a lot of good stuff for two thirds of the day but that session at the end has put us right on the back foot.

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‘We’re going to have to fight hard to find a way back into the game.

‘If we’re being hyper-critical, we could have hit our areas a bit more consistently.

‘But after the new ball the wicket did seem to flatten out a bit and Gary Ballance played really well.

‘We said after bowling we would have taken that at the start of the day.

‘But we could have pushed and maybe bowled them out for 220 or 230.’