\t\tHAMPSHIRE<\/p>\n
Previewed by Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network, supported by Rothesay<\/p>\n
Hampshire return to the Kia Oval following Friday\u2019s Kia Oval T20 classic. The Rose and Crown county sit bottom of Division One, having lost four and winning one of their matches so far.<\/p>\n
Captain:\u00a0Ben Brown<\/p>\n
Head coach:\u00a0Russell Domingo<\/p>\n
2025 finish:\u00a08th<\/p>\n
2025 highest run-scorer:\u00a0Ben Brown (758)<\/p>\n
2025 highest wicket-taker:\u00a0Kyle Abbott (56)<\/p>\n
Key winter moves:\u00a0The biggest shake-up at Utilita Bowl has come off the field with Adi Birrell leaving after seven years, to be replaced as head coach by his prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Russell Domingo. Bowling coach Shane Burger has arrived from Somerset to take over from Graeme Welch. On the pitch, Keith Barker is the only major departure, with highly experienced batter Australian Jake Lehmann arriving as a domestic player after helping South Australia win their second successive Sheffield Shield title.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re looking forward to seeing:\u00a0Players stepping up. The likes of Fletcha Middleton, Toby Albert, Ali Orr, and Scott Currie have been given opportunities and now they need to come of age and support the experienced core of Ben Brown, Liam Dawson, Kyle Abbott and Nick Gubbins. The recruitment of Jake Lehmann should ease some of the batting pressure, while Ben Mayes\u2019 emergence is one to keep a close eye on \u2013 especially after a run-filled winter at the Under 19 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Aiming to catch the Test selectors\u2019 eye:\u00a0Sonny Baker. His international debuts last summer might have been ones to forget but his first injury-free Rothesay County Championship season should be deemed a success. His pace speaks for itself, but he is picking up skills and smarts all the time. He is a knowledge sponge, and having Kyle Abbott nearby will only fast-track his development.<\/p>\n
Final thought:\u00a0From early-season overseas chaos to points deductions, and double white ball final heartache to almost relegation \u2013 but for Durham\u2019s catastrophic final day Hampshire would be in Division Two. 2025 was a year to forget. Simply, 2026 has to be better. The talent is in the squad, but they lack the experience and reliability to be considered title challengers. Improving home form, where they won once last year on largely lifeless pitches, must be a priority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAMPSHIRE Previewed by Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network, supported by Rothesay Hampshire return to the Kia Oval following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-624880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}