‘We need to keep it simple’ - Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores following defeat to Hampshire

Head coach Peter Moores admitted Nottinghamshire were second best in the 244-run defeat to Hampshire in their Division One of the Specsavers County Championship match on the Isle of Wight.
Nottinghamshire head coach Peter MooresNottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores
Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores

Hampshire’s strong seam attack of Fidel Edwards, Keith Barker and Kyle Abbott did the brunt of the work with three wickets apiece, and ended with figures of three for 37, three for 42 and three for 46.

Notts, meanwhile, haven’t won a first-class match since June last year – a run of 12 winless games. They claimed four bonus points from the match to go alongside their draw and two defeats so far in 2019.

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Moores said: “Not the trip we would have wanted. There is no hiding place from it and we have been well beaten.

“Our approach to it was to get stuck in and we did get stuck in but we were beaten by a better side.

“Batting has been a real issue for us all year and the reality of it is that we are a new team. We have young players in there who are finding themselves and they need to do it fast.

“We haven’t batted well since the first game and not doing that makes it hard for us to be competitive.

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“We need to keep it simple. When you get your chance you need to take it; Steven Mullaney showed us that.

“The positive we take is there is a lot of cricket in the next couple of weeks so there is plenty of time for guys to put it right.

“We need to learn lessons from it, we can’t just move on. There are areas to address and talk about and adjusted fast.

“It isn’t the first time the batting unit hasn’t fired but bowling wise there are a couple of bowlers who need to step up.”

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Hampshire started the day needing eight wickets for victory in a minimum of 96 overs, having dismissed both Nottinghamshire openers in a tricky 15 over spell following their declaration the previous evening.

The sun shone again at Newclose, at it had for the majority of four glorious days on the other side of the Solent, on a wicket which had increasingly flattened.

Night-watchman Matt Carter only lasted until the fifth over of the blue skied fourth day before he was lbw to Keith Barker.

Left-armer Barker almost dismissed Joe Clarke for a duck, but Kyle Abbott spilled a chance at mid-on, before Abbott found the edge of Clarke’s bat three balls later, wicketkeeper Tom Alsop completing the catch.

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Chris Nash had shown plenty of fight in the morning session to reach a third Championship half century of the season.

His most sturdy partnership was with Jake Libby, with the pair blocking out 16 overs.

But 10 minutes before lunch Libby departed when Fidel Edwards bounced him and the ball ballooned up to Oli Soames at short leg.

Wickets began to flow much more freely after the interval when Nash was leg before to Abbott for 60 to the sixth ball after lunch before Tom Moores followed in identical style soon after.

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Steven Mullaney was handed a life when he edged Mason Crane to Ajinkya Rahane at first slip only for the ball to slip through his grasp.

Mullaney and Luke Fletcher held up proceedings for just over half an hour before Barker clipped the Nottinghamshire captain’s off-stump.

Stuart Broad edged Edwards to Rahane at first slip before the result was ratified at 3.10pm when Mason Crane found Jake Ball’s leading edge to Aneurin Donald at cover