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Carberry guides Hampshire's start

Michael Carberry doubts that his Test career will extend beyond the single cap he earned with England in Bangladesh in March but his current form may persuade the selectors to prove his pessimism to be misplaced

Jon Culley
09-Aug-2010
Hampshire 217 for 5 v Somerset
Scorecard
Michael Carberry doubts that his Test career will extend beyond the single cap he earned with England in Bangladesh in March but his current form may persuade the selectors to prove his pessimism to be misplaced. Hampshire's 29-year-old opening batsman made a hundred in each innings against Durham at Basingstoke last week but played down his prospects of a recall by declaring: "That ship's sailed."
Elaborating, he continued: "I'm not ruling it out altogether but the way things have panned out, I don't think I'll be in an England shirt for the time being. Opportunities might come round again but I'm relying on injuries."
Carberry was overlooked when Eoin Morgan was chosen for the opening Test of the summer against Bangladesh in May and it was that snub that persuaded the left-hander to take the gloomy view that he must be too far down the pecking order to make a recall likely in the immediate future.
Yet he was one of the players England selector James Whitaker wanted to monitor on day one here and, while he fell short of adding a sixth century of the season to his recent record, Carberry continued to provide food for thought after another failure for Alastair Cook at Edgbaston.
He was foxed in the end by Somerset's in-form Murali Kartik, whose arm ball he nicked into the gloves of Craig Kieswetter after playing back in anticipation of turn, but had made 71 to help Hampshire battle to 130-2 after being put in on a green pitch.
His 68-run partnership with Michael Lumb for the second wicket followed a 62-run alliance with Jimmy Adams for the first, although his co-opener had led something of a charmed life, surviving a chance to second slip off Charl Willoughby only four balls into the day and another at square leg on five two overs later, when Jos Buttler made a rare drop.
Buttler had to pull on the wicketkeeper's gloves for half an hour when Craig Kieswetter went off for treatment on a hamstring problem but England's Twenty20 wicketkeeper was deemed fit enough to continue and held a catch off Peter Trego as Adams ran out of luck soon after resuming.
Lumb looked rather more secure in reaching 42 but then gave a return catch to the impressive Kartik off a leading edge, sparking a mini-collapse for Hampshire from 180 for 2 to 186 for 5.
Kartik had 19-year-old Vince groping about in the crease as three deliveries in a row beat the bat before striking with another that went straight on - a beautiful piece of bowling that illustrated that the youngster still has much to learn, for all the fanfares that have accompanied his recent progress.
Alfonso Thomas was then rewarded for some penetrative but until then luckless pace bowling when Neil McKenzie was given out lbw despite being well forward, leaving Sean Ervine and Dan Christian to set about rebuilding before heavy rain forced an early finish at a cost of 18 overs.
These sides may meet again in the Twenty20 Cup final on Saturday but Kevin Pietersen will almost certainly not feature, despite being made available by England coach Andy Flower.
The England batsman regained some form with his 80 in the second Test at Edgbaston but Giles White, the Hampshire coach, confirmed that Pietersen, who has already announced that he will leave the county at the end of the season because he wants to be closer to his home in Chelsea, is unlikely to be picked.
Hampshire passed up on picking Pietersen when England released him for a Clydesdale Bank 40 match against Kent last month, explaining that they would rather work on the development of other players with international prospects, such as Lumb, Carberry, Adams and Vince.
"I suspect there will be no change in our policy," White said.
Somerset, who have won four of their last six First Division matches to raise their hopes of landing the title for the first time in their history, will overtake Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire at the top of the table with a win in this match.

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