Hampshire v Yorkshire: Yorkshire toil but unable to rise above tedious

Normally, Championship cricket provides rich entertainment, the sort of rip-snorting, edge-of-the-seat stuff that the one-day game, in contrast, often fails to provide.

Yorkshire, in fact, have had some captivating contests in the Championship this summer.

We have been spoiled by more twists and turns than you could shake a Wisden at – although Yorkshire, of course, have been on the wrong end of most of them.

This game with Hampshire, however, has been a splendid advert only for Twenty20.

At stumps on day three, Hampshire were 291-2 in reply to Yorkshire’s first innings 532, and the game was going nowhere in particular.

Barring some collusion from the captains, the match will finish in a soporific draw, with Yorkshire unlikely to want to give Hampshire the slightest sniff.

The pitch is as flat as a Fenland landscape and offers little to bowlers of any description.

Hampshire, of course, had their fingers burnt in their previous Championship match at the Rose Bowl, when they were docked eight points for preparing a poor pitch against Nottinghamshire.

It is tempting to wonder whether, in an effort to ensure they did not fall foul of the England and Wales Cricket Board for a second time, they have gone too far the other way on this occasion.

Certainly this match has been enjoyed only by those who delight in the utter dominance of bat over ball.

Not even heavy overnight and morning rain failed to juice up the surface yesterday, with play not getting under way until 3pm.

Forty-five overs were lost to the elements and there was no success for Yorkshire in the 52 that were possible.

The visitors, however, did not help themselves. Although they huffed and puffed, they never looked like blowing Hampshire’s house down.

The bowling was generally workmanlike and, at times, frustratingly wayward as Michael Carberry (37 not out overnight) and Neil McKenzie (30) extended their third-wicket stand beneath clouded skies.

Carberry progressed to 140, his first Championship hundred of the season following a long absence caused by blood clots on the lung.

McKenzie moved to within five runs of his own century before bad light ended play with ten minutes remaining.

The pair have so far added 232 in 66 overs with extraordinary comfort.

Hampshire’s Imran Tahir has been the only bowler to get any real joy, the leg-spinner twirling his way to 6-132.

Yorkshire’s spinners, in contrast, have been less effective.

Adil Rashid and David Wainwright did their best to achieve a breakthrough yesterday, but never really looked like making one.

The odd delivery beat the bat, but it was an odd delivery indeed that troubled Carberry or McKenzie.

Carberry set the tone for a truncated day of Hampshire dominance when he turned the opening ball from Ryan Sidebottom to the fine-leg boundary in front of a sparsely-populated pavilion.

Before long, the left-hander was pushing Ajmal Shahzad through mid-off for three runs to register his half-century, reached from 65 balls with nine fours.

Carberry once again helped himself when he cut Sidebottom for four and turned him to the fine-leg rope, the left-arm pace bowler getting nothing from the surface.

McKenzie went to his fifty by clipping a full-toss from Rashid wide of mid-on for four as the wrist-spinner struggled for line and length.

After reaching tea on 215-2, Hampshire inflicted steady punishment during the evening session.

Carberry, 92 at the break, pushed a single before going to 99 with a lofted six over mid-wicket off Wainwright.

Carberry, who played one Test for England against Bangladesh in Chittagong in March last year, cut Shahzad to the boundary to bring up his hundred from 155 balls.

The milestone clearly meant a great deal to the 30-year-old, who took off his helmet and threw his arms skyward.

After reaching three figures, Carberry was not in the mood to step off the gas.

He struck successive fours off Rashid - rocking back to hammer a rank long-hop through the offside before driving the next ball practically through Joe Sayers at cover, the fielder deceived by a dodgy bounce.

Carberry passed 8,000 first-class runs during the course of his innings, while McKenzie is within 34 runs of reaching 15,000.

Statistics are probably the only thing to play for.

England lifted as Swann gets all-clear for Edgbaston

Graeme Swann has declared himself fit for England’s third Test against India at Edgbaston which starts netx Wednesday.

The second match of the series at Trent Bridge was littered with injuries and, while the tourists have confirmed Yuvraj Singh (broken finger) and Harbhajan Singh (abdominal strain) have been ruled out of the series, Swann has provided England with some good news.

The spin bowler was struck on the left hand while batting and initial scans suggested there might be a break.

But further assessment has shown no major damage and he will be available for duty as the hosts look to take a 3-0 lead in Birmingham.

Swann said: “I’ve had another X-ray on the hand just to check and it’s not serious. There’s a little bother in there but nothing to affect my preparations.

“It might affect my batting in the nets beforehand but that will just stop me facing a few bouncers from our boys.”

Jonathan Trott is England’s only other fitness doubt and is expected to recover from a shoulder problem sustained in Nottingham.

England name their squad on Sunday and are likely to name the same 12 for the third match in a row, with Chris Tremlett rejoining last week’s winning side.

England great Andrew Flintoff believes the current Test side are better than the one he played in and has tipped them to “dominate for a long time”.

The retired all-rounder was the talisman of the 2005 Ashes-winning side and also played a role in regaining the urn in 2009.

If England win the third Test and take a 3-0 series lead they will hit the top of the Test rankings for the first time and Flintoff said: “This is a better side than the one we had in 2005. The strength of it and the depth is incredible. In 2005, we had 11 players who had a memorable few weeks but we never played together again.

“With this England squad, we’ve seen them replace players without blinking and it has made no difference to the performance and that has been happening for a while now.”