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Southern Premier League pair excel for Uni's
Mike Vimpany - 15 April 2002
St Cross Symondians left-hander Jimmy Adams and South Wilts left-arm pace bowler James Tomlinson - two of Hampshire's rising young cricket stars - produced stunning performances for their respective university sides in the season's opening county warm-up matches this weekend.
Adams hit a century in each innings to help Loughborough UCCE to force a draw against Kent at Canterbury, while left-arm pace bowler Tomlinson took seven Somerset wickets in his debut appearance for Cardiff.
The Hampshire youngsters were playing for the first time for their respective University Cricket Centres of Excellence and will return to the Rose Bowl after completing their first year examinations in mid-June.
Adams, 21, made scores of 103 and 113 in the three-day drawn match against Kent. "It was quite an amazing way to start the season," said Adams, who began his human biology degree course at Loughborough last autumn.
Adams scored a cussed first innings century after Kent had piled up a towering 443-6.
But his 103, which included 12 fours, contributed almost half the Loughborough total of 213.
"I had a bit of luck and was dropped a couple of times - once when I was 97 - but I felt I batted with much more fluidity when we followed on," he said.
Indeed he did, Adams cracking 18 fours in a superb second innings 113 - a performance which dented any prospect Kent had of going into Friday's County Championship opener against Hampshire with a victory under their belts.
Loughborough's second innings response of 331-8 owed much to a century second-wicket partnership between Adams and Hampshire 2nd XI team-mate John Francis, who made 48.
Adams, who played for England Under-19s in 2000, reckons that the winter break he took away from cricket did him the power of good.
"I'd spent the previous two winters in Australia, but being away at university enabled me to take a step back and gradually prepare myself , both fitness and practice-wise, for the English season.
"I've obviously got a lot of studying to do, but it was nice to get a break and step back from effectively playing five or six days a week," he explained.
Tomlinson, like Adams a member of Hampshire's Second XI Championship winning team last summer, grabbed five wickets - and seven in all - in his first left-arm bowl for Cardiff UCCE against Somerset at Millfield School, near Street.
He clean bowled four of his six victims and had the other two caught behind. "I got both Piran Holloway and Ian Blackwell twice in the match, and also dismissed their skipper Michael Burns and Keith Dutch, which was nice," said Tomlinson, 19, relishing first innings figures of 5-104.
"I've been working on bowling around the wicket a lot more and it paid dividends with a few of the wickets."
But Tomlinson, whose development as a left-arm pace bowler has been evidenced in the past two years of Southern Electric Premier League cricket at South Wilts, was more interested in talking about his batting.
"I scored 30 not out in our first innings - and that's a career best for me by a mile," he joked.
Tomlinson reckons he will dine out on four first innings boundaries.
"I hit three to the cover boundary and another over the top - and can't wait to tell the story to the Hampshire lads ... who may take a bit of convincing," he chuckled after Cardiff's eventual 221-run defeat.
Hampshire 2nd XI coach Tony Middleton said : "They were magnificent performances. I'm thrilled to bits for both the lads.
"The two Jimmys have both worked very hard on developing their game and, hopefully, what they've achieved in these opening UCCE matches will give them plenty of confidence for the season ahead."
© Michael Vimpany
| Teams | England. |
| Players/Umpires | James Adams, James Tomlinson. |
| Tournaments | Southern Electric Premier League |
| Season | English Domestic Season |