Alsop’s hundred allows Hampshire to be optimistic

Hampshire 213 for 3 (Alsop 117*) trail Surrey 329 (Burns 101, Wheal 4-100) by 116 runs Scorecard

If Hampshire do go down, which they so easily could have done last year and have looked like doing for most of this one, all is not lost. Unlike various sides around them, their direction of travel in Division One – even if it turns out to be too little, too late – is upward; at times in mid-season, they looked one of the weaker sides in recent top-flight memory, a collection of waifs and strays. Now, they look a team with plenty to be optimistic about. 

Chief among the causes for optimism is 20-year-old Tom Alsop, an organised and stylish batsman, who scored a magnificent maiden first-class century to keep their hopes of survival alive. Hampshire have won twice this season, both against Nottinghamshire; in the first, at the Ageas Bowl, Alsop made his first Championship 50 to anchor the first innings, while at Trent Bridge in August, he made his previous highest score, 93. This innings gives them a mighty fine chance of claiming a third, season-saving win.

Conditions for batting – much of the day was baked in sun, and the typically Ovalish pitch seemed to flatten as the ball came on nicely – were much improved. On day one, Surrey’s eventual 329, topped off before lunch by a roistering unbeaten 41 from Gareth Batty, looked a very fine score. But by the close of the second, Alsop had run Surrey – who largely bowled extremely well – ragged; not only was he dropped twice – at second slip on 72, and at square-leg on 91 – but he was the beneficiary of four overthrows late in the day, too.

Alsop came to the crease in trying circumstances, …

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