Udal and Morris bowl Hampshire to victory

Hampshire marked their first appearance at their new ground with a resounding 124-run victory over Worcestershire in an extraordinary day's cricket in which 20 wickets fell.

Hampshire began the day in a powerful position 89 runs ahead at 16 without loss in their second innings but fell away in overcast conditions to 159 all out midway between lunch and tea.

All the Worcestershire pace bowlers got among the wickets with Alamgir Sheriyar finishing as the most successful for the second time in the match with figures of four for 30. This gave him match figures of eight for 115, reflecting his accuracy and hostility .

For Hampshire, opening batsman Derek Kenway grafted 28 overs for his 30 but it was not until bright sunshine replaced the clouds that the home side concocted some resistence. Adrian Aymes, a man who loves just such situations, batted two and a half hours for his unbeaten 37 and sharing in an important stand of 41 for the ninth wicket with Alex Morris.

Worcestershire were left with more than four sessions to get the 233 they needed to win but they never looked like doing so. Phil Weston, Graeme Hick importantly, Vikram Singh and David Leatherdale were all dismissed for single-figure scores and at 33 for four there was no way back.

Spinner Shaun Udal ran through the middle order and the only prolonged resistence came in contrasting ways from opener Anurag Singh and Australian Andy Bichel. Singh took 90 balls to reach 33 while Bichel went on the attack, hitting five fours in his 30.

It did not last. Worcestershire lost their last five batsmen for nine runs, Udal taking four for 32 and Morris four for 27.

The umpires, Barrie Leadbeater and John Steele, were happy enough with the new batting strip, attaching no blame to the groundstaff but they did deprive Worcestershire 0.25 of a point under new regulations for not bowling the required 16 overs an hour throughout the match.