It's not enough that my football club has gone down the road the total mediocrity - my cricket club has followed it! Hampshire have only today won their first Championship match of the season at the sixth attempt - by just four runs - and have moved off the bottom of the Division One table. They have also failed to progress from the group stages of the one-day Friends Provident Trophy and look a completely different side without the leadership of Shane Warne. This Wednesday sees the start of the lucrative Twenty20 Cup as Hampshire entertain Middlesex with a rare appearance of Kevin Pietersen in Hampshire colours, albeit for just one match. KP, along with Dmitri Mascarenhas and Chris Tremlett, joins the England team on Thursday for the one-day series against New Zealand. Hampshire have also been deprived of Shane Watson (called up for Australia's test series against the West Indies) but hope to sign fellow Aussie all-rounder Ian Harvey in his place.
An added incentive this year is the fact that the finalists in the Twenty20 Cup will represent England in a Champions League competition worth over £2.5m. However, Hampshire may be banned from competing in such a competition as they plan to field several players who turned out for the rival Indian Cricket League. Without their trio of England players I don't think Hampshire stand a chance of getting that far!
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