Adams steps down as Hampshire captain

Hampshire, bottom of Division One, have announced that Jimmy Adams has stepped down as captain of their Championship side to find form with the bat.

The decision has been made with six matches remaining in the 2015 season and Hampshire 22 points adrift of the two sides above them - Worcestershire and Sussex.

James Vince, Hampshire's one-day captain, will now take over in all competitions for the rest of the season. He succeeded Adams as captain in 50-over cricket in April and in the T20 format last year.

Adams is only averaging 29.15 in Division One - and, although Vince can claim to have a higher average it is only by one-hundredth of a run. His own batting returns have also been vastly disappointing considering that he is regularly presented as one of England's brightest young batting talents.

Hampshire's director of cricket, Giles White, said: "Jimmy feels that the most important thing right now is for him to focus on his batting and to get back to scoring runs at the top of the order. While this is the case Vincey will lead the team."

Hampshire's promotion under Adams last season, as Division Two champions, was their fifth trophy in as many seasons. The county's first official Hampshire-born captain since the war is the most popular of beneficiaries, although this is also bound to have taken its toll, as is a run of defeats and the birth of a second child earlier in the summer.