Hampshire given quick chance to forget Lord’s cup final agony

Two days after losing to Somerset in the Royal London Cup final, Sam Northeast’s men start a County Championship fixture against Yorkshire at Headingley.

Hampshire are almost certain to end the game on top of the table as they currently sit two points behind leaders Somerset who aren’t playing this week.

The county have claimed three big wins already in four matches - hammering Essex by an innings, thrashing Warwickshire by 344 runs and trouncing Nottinghamshire by 244 runs last week.

But their sole defeat so far in 2019 was an innings defeat by Yorkshire at The Ageas Bowl in April.

"The Championship's got to be our focus now," said skipper Sam Northeast.

"The schedule at times is unfair on everyone but we can't make excuses.

"If we want to go on and win the Championship we're going to have to turn up on Monday."

Yorkshire are third in the table, 20 points behind Hampshire but having a game in hand.

Northeast is currently the leading runscorer in the Championship’s top flight with 511 runs from seven innings. Second highest is Yorkshire’s Gary Ballance, with 426 from five knocks - including 148 in the innings win against Hampshire.

Akinkya Rahane, Keith Barker, Oliver Soames and Ian Holland all featured in last week’s win against Notts on the Isle of Wight and are expected to return at Headingley.