Home-grown hero was man of match when Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl staged its first ever Test match

England captain Andrew Strauss (left) and man of the match Chris Tremlett pose with the npower series trophy at Hampshire's Ageas Bowl after England had completed a 1-0 series victory in June 2011. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire.

Here, The News looks back at the previous three …

2011 - England v Sri Lanka

A Hampshire-born player won the man of the match award when the first ever Test match was held in the county.

Chris Tremlett returned to his former home ground to take a Test-best 6-48 in a drawn encounter marred by bad weather in July 2011.

Tremlett, born in Southampton, started his career at Hampshire but had joined Surrey the previous year.

James Anderson had the honour of taking The Ageas Bowl’s first Test wicket when he had Lahira Thirimanne caught by Andrew Strauss.

But only 38 overs were possible on the first day and only 23.2 overs on day two due to rain.

Ian Bell scored the first Test century on the ground, an unbeaten 119.

Tremlett was to win 12 Test caps, and take 53 wickets at 27.00. His 6-48 remain the best Test figures at the ground.

This was the third and final Test of the series, which England won 1-0 thanks to an innings success in Cardiff in the first match.

Scorecard: Sri Lanka 184 (C Tremlett 6-48) & 334-5 (K Sangakarra 119, T Samaraweera 87no), England 377-8 dec (I Bell 119 no, K Pietersen 85, E Morgan 71). Drawn

2014 - England v India

Ian Bell continued his love affair with The Ageas Bowl by hitting the highest Test score in the stadium’s short history.

He compiled 167 in the first innings of the third Test as England rattled up a huge 569-7 declared en route to levelling the series.

It was Bell’s fourth international hundred at the venue - in addition to a ton against Sri Lanka three years earlier, he also scored ODI centuries in 2007 and 2012.

Gary Ballance scored the highest of his four Test hundreds, 156, while Alistair Cook fell five runs short of becoming the innings’ third centurion.

Jos Buttler, in his first Test innings, belted 85.

Having levelled the series, England ran out 3-1 winners thanks to innings victories in the last two Tests.

Scorecard: England 569-7 dec (I Bell 167, G Ballance 156, A Cook 95, J Buttler 85) & 205-4 (A Cook 70 no, J Root 56), India 330 (J Anderson 5-53) & 178 (M Ali 6-67). England won by 226 runs.

2018 - England v India

England completed a series victory by beating India at The Ageas Bowl for the second time in five years.

Moeen Ali’s man of the match performance - nine wickets - saw his side open up an unassailable 3-1 lead with one game left of the five-match series.

But England started badly, slipping to 86-6 in their first innings before No 8 Sam Curran struck 78 in only his fourth Test - still his highest Test score.

Scorecard: England 246 (S Curran 78) & 271 (J Buttler 69), India 273 (C Pujara 132 no, M Ali 5-63) & 184 (M Ali 4-71). England won by 60 runs.