Hampshire deny Nottinghamshire but lose points

Nottinghamshire 183 and 198 for 6 drew with Hampshire 213 and 171
Scorecard

Samit Patel took a career-best 7 for 68 with his left-arm spin but Nottinghamshire were forced to settle for a draw against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. A few hours after the game ended the home side were docked eight points for a 'poor' pitch.

Nottinghamshire came desperately close to inflicting a sixth defeat of the season on Hampshire after being set 202 to win in 72 overs. They finished four runs short at 198 for 6 with the controversial wicket still offering plenty of assistance to the spin bowlers - 26 wickets fell in two days, most of them to the spinners.

Hampshire began the final day at 86 for 6, a lead of 116 and Patel was made to wait for his next breakthrough. Hampshire added 85 precious runs for the last four wickets with reserve wicketkeeper Michael Bates making 31 and Chris Wood scoring 28 as Hampshire fought to build a lead they could defend.

Bates and Wood put on 53 for the seventh wicket before Patel had Wood caught at the wicket by Chris Read and then another spinner, Graeme White, swiftly sent back Danny Briggs and Imran Tahir.

Patel finished off the Hampshire resistance at 171 when he had the obdurate Bates, who had faced 110 balls, caught in the slips. Patel finished with match figures of 11 for 111 and his seven second-innings wickets were an improvement on his previous best which was 6 for 84.

Nottinghamshire looked in deep trouble when they began their pursuit losing Neil Edwards in the last over before lunch to a slip catch by Neil McKenzie off Tahir.

Worse was to follow soon after the break when David Griffiths bowled Alex Hales with the score at five and Nottinghamshire were reduced to 14 for three when Patel edged Wood to wicketkeeper Bates.

Then Riki Wessels and Adam Voges began to repair the innings with a crucial stand of 130 for the fourth wicket but against some tight bowling and excellent fielding, the partnership occupied 56 overs, putting pressure on the later batsmen.

Wessels batted almost 63 overs for his 43 before he was bowled by Wood and Voges departed at 149 just as Nottinghamshire looked to accelerate. Voges had struck six boundaries and faced 177 balls for his 79 before he turned Tahir to short leg where Sean Ervine held the catch.

Sixth-wicket pair Steven Mullaney and Chris Read attempted to push the score along in a stand of 47 but they found the task beyond them. Nottinghamshire required 42 from the last four overs and 11 from the last and with three balls to go Mullaney, searching for the boundary his team required, was stumped by Bates off Tahir.

Read and Andre Adams needed six runs off the last three balls but could only manage two between them to deprive both sides of victory.