Reeve keeps players on toes

Anyone daft enough to venture on to a cricket ground on days like yesterday deserves more entertainment than these sides could provide. Then again, it cannot have been too comfortable for the players, either. Just as well for numb fingers in the slips that there was very little flying off the edge.

Not than Warwickshire were complaining after a satisfac- tory opening to their Championship fixture. By the standards they have set, it was more workmanlike than spectacular - though effective, none the less - in steadily whittling away one Hampshire batsman after another, whose attempts to make profitable use of winning the toss never progressed past first gear.

The spectators included Raymond Illingworth, the chairman of selectors, whose presence might have been better served had Nick Knight or Dominic Ostler batted. He did see Robin Smith, captain in the absence of the injured John Stephenson, although it is likely he was more impressed with Dermot Reeve.

Amid the debate on who should be England's all-rounder in the Texaco Trophy matches - Chris Lewis, Adam Hollioake or Ronnie Irani, perhaps - Reeve's own claims, as the incumbent, have been largely overlooked.

Yet Reeve made 168 in the last Championship round and chipped in with a couple of timely wickets yesterday, including that of Smith, whose dismissal he secured in typical manner with a dramatic appeal for a catch behind. Umpire Kevin Lyons, after a long look, upheld Reeve's claim.

Reeve's captaincy was equally influential, never allowing the game to drift on a day when others might have thrust their hands deep into pockets and mused upon being elsewhere. Reeve's ever-rotating attack kept everyone on their toes, batsmen and bowlers alike.

Most of the Hampshire batsmen played themselves in, but all bar Jason Laney, the 23-year-old opener, departed without making significant runs. Laney's near-four-hour stay was just long enough to equal his highest Championship score.

There was one passage in which Laney went 50 minutes without a run, raising the thought that Tony Middleton may have a worthy successor.