Glamorgan take 15 wickets to close on win over Hants

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Utilita Bowl (day three)

Glamorgan 536-7 dec: Carlson 209, Ul Hassan 143; Prest 2-37

Hampshire 214 & 118-5: Albert 36; Van der Gugten 2-31

Hampshire (1 pt) trail Glamorgan (7 pts) by 204 runs with five wickets remaining

Advertisement

Match scorecard

Mason Crane returned to haunt Hampshire as Glamorgan strode towards their first County Championship Division One victory in 21 years.

Bottom-placed Hampshire were rolled for 214 and, having been asked to follow on, crumpled again to end the day on 118-5.

Leg-spinner Crane, who was involved at the Utilita Bowl from 2012 to 2024, was exemplary in three first-innings wickets before picking up another in the second.

Fast bowler Timm van der Gugten also picked up six wickets in the day, as teenager Ben Mayes' first Championship half-century was a rare positive in a horror day for the hosts.

Advertisement

Toby Albert and Nick Gubbins had made batting look as easy as Glamorgan had earlier in the match, during their 16 on-and-off overs on day two.

But day three proved a nightmare from beginning to end for Hampshire, as they capitulated in five hours of batting misery.

Albert was leg before to the third ball of the day, to set the tone, with Gubbins edging behind having only added one to his overnight score – both falling to the metronomically accurate Van der Gugten.

Zain ul Hassan – flying high after his maiden professional century – struck next when he pinned Fletcha Middleton in front before Crane entered with three overs to go before lunch, and turned a good morning into a great one.

Advertisement

He had left the ground the previous evening smiling while watching his beloved Arsenal on his phone.

It appeared Bukayo Saka's magic had rubbed off on him as he shot out Tom Prest and Ben Brown before the interval and then Kyle Abbott afterwards.

Crane took 86 first-class wickets for Hampshire but left to pursue greater opportunities at Glamorgan in 2024.

Carlson hits 209 for Glamorgan against Hants

Glamorgan pair in big stand against Hampshire

Prest's dismissal, lbw going back, was Crane's first red ball wicket at the Utilita Bowl for 1,080 days, his second followed seven balls later when Brown – who had already been dropped – edged to slip.

Before Crane's googly could see off Abbott, Van der Gugten ploughed through Felix Organ and Scott Currie – Hampshire losing five wickets in 54 balls either side of lunch.

Advertisement

It fell on 18-year-old Mayes to give the innings some respectability, scoring a fine maiden first-class fifty with flowing strokes.

He added 43 with Codi Yusuf but could not haul Hampshire anywhere near the follow-on target as Ul Hassan and one-ball, one-wicket hero Kiran Carlson rounded things out.

It all had a sense of deja vu for Hampshire. They only claimed 12 batting points in 2025 – the joint lowest in the country – and only have one in four matches this season.

It also did not help that leading scorer Jake Lehmann had returned to Australia for personal reasons and the highly-experienced Liam Dawson missed this match with an abdominal injury.

Advertisement

Hampshire were immediately asked to bat again, with their 322-run deficit, and got as far as the second over before Gubbins shouldered arms at Jamie McIlroy and was bowled.

Van der Gugten added his fifth and sixth of the day when Prest edged behind and Mayes chopped on, while Albert fell into Ryan Hadley's trap to hook to deep square.

Crane joined the second-innings party as another wrong-un pinned Middleton leg-before to complete a 15-wicket day for Glamorgan.

Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.

Notifications, social media and more with BBC Sport

Glamorgan bowler Mason Crane, playing against his former side, said: "It was a pretty amazing day really with 15 wickets in the day. It was a massive shift in the field and an amazing effort from the guys. Everyone put their hand up and delivered today. It is not far off the perfect day.

Advertisement

"It is always nice to do well full stop, but I haven't played a lot here since I left. It was nice to get some wickets. I feel like I've bowled pretty well for a couple of games now. I was unlucky last week so to get a few rewards is great, plus to contribute to a day like that is pretty cool.

"It is quite a while ago since I left here. I am so settled in at Glamorgan now. I am just chuffed we've had a good few days and can finish it off tomorrow. We have played some really good cricket and we deserve to be in this position.

"We have to be prepared to win this game right at the end. We'll be happy to go all day tomorrow if that is what it takes. Hopefully we'll have another day like today where we are as relentless and we can come away with the win."

Click here to read article