Neil Carter undermines Hampshire with fine spell of swing bowling

Edgbaston (first day of four: Hampshire won toss): Warwickshire, with nine first innings wickets in hand, are 238 runs behind Hampshire

It is not easy to concentrate amid the cacophony of drills, diggers and cement mixers laying the foundation for the £30m redevelopment of the pavilion end at Edgbaston but Michael Carberry, England’s newest opener, and Sean Ervine, the former Zimbabwe all-rounder, got their heads down to lift Hampshire to a total of 283 against Warwickshire.
Carberry, who had scored a double-century, two hundreds and four fifties in his eight previous championship matches against Warwickshire, again showed his liking for their bowling but when he was out for 74 Hampshire were in trouble at 120 for five.
Warwickshire picked two spinners in Imran Tahir, formerly of Hampshire, and Ant Botha but it was Neil Carter who undermined Hampshire with his left arm swing and went on to finish with four for 59 in 23 demanding overs.
Carter had Jimmy Adams caught behind and claimed Chris Benham and James Vince lbw before Darren Maddy, playing his first championship match for a year, picked up the wicket of Neil McKenzie when he was caught at slip.
Carberry, who made his England debut in the first Test against Bangladesh at Chittagong in March, looked the part, scoring his runs off 127 balls with 11 fours and a six, but then he pulled a long hop from Chris Woakes to mid on and left the field shaking his head in annoyance.
Another wicket then and Warwickshire would have been right on top in this contest between two sides who have both lost their first two matches but they simply did not bowl well enough as Ervine joined Nic Pothas in a sixth wicket stand of 83 in 20 overs.
Pothas had scored 47 when he was brilliantly caught at slip by Rikki Clarke off Jonathan Trott and Ervine went on to make 70 before he gave Clarke a more straightforward catch off Imran Tahir.
Kabir Ali and James Tomlinson gave Ervine some support and when Warwickshire went in with 13 overs remaining Kabir soon claimed Westwood for a duck.
Maddy, who had not played since the corresponding game last season because of knee trouble and a nasty facial injury suffered in pre-season practice in South Africa, stood firm, however, and Ian Bell looked in good touch to take Warwickshire to 45 for one by the close.
Hampshire: First InningsM A Carberry c Westwood b Woakes 74J H K Adams c Ambrose b Carter 4C C Benham lbw b Carter 8N D McKenzie c Trott b Maddy 13J M Vince lbw b Carter 6*†N Pothas c Clarke b Trott 15S M Ervine c Clarke b Tahir 70K Ali c Ambrose b Carter 16J A Tomlinson c Tahir b Woakes 29D R Briggs b Tahir 0D A Griffiths not out 0Extras (b 4, lb 10, nb 2) 16Total (80.5 overs) 283
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-18, 3-61, 4-84, 5-120, 6-203, 7-238, 8-273, 9-273.
Bowling: Woakes 16.5-4-60-2; Carter 23-6-59-4; Maddy 17-3-53-1; Clarke 6-0-32-0; Trott 8-1-29-1, Tahir 8-0-23-2; Botha 2-0-13-0.
Warwickshire: First Innings*I J Westwood lbw b Ali 0D L Maddy not out 21I R Bell not out 17Extras 0Total (1 wkt, 13 overs) 45
I J L Trott, J O Troughton, †T R Ambrose, R Clarke, C R Woakes, N M Carter, A G Botha and Imran Tahir to bat.
Fall of wicket: 1-2.
Bowling: Ali 5-3-9-1; Tomlinson 5-1-15-0; Ervine 1-0-5-0; Griffiths 1-0-7-0; McKenzie 1-0-2-0.
Umpires: M R Benson and P J Hartley.
Source:The Times