Hants stumble despite Carberry's grit

On this evening of triple-centuries, important meetings and enough ballyhoo to fill a Piers Morgan tabloid, it might be worth remembering that more than one England player seemingly ended his career at Sydney last January. Barely 16 months ago, Michael Carberry was an England cricketer. And watching him bat against Yorkshire on the second afternoon of this game, it was not difficult to believe.

Then again, seeing him carelessly lose his wicket in the last hour of the day when only three runs short of a century he deserved, it was also tempting to reach the conclusion that Carberry is a cricketer who may never quite gain the rewards from the game that his talent suggests he should harvest. The Hampshire batsman later admitted that his dismissal, caught at deep square leg by Cheteshwar Pujara when sweeping Adil Rashid, was his "worst piece of cricket" in a 15-year career. Certainly it marked a vital shift in this game as Hampshire declined from a position of parity on 195 for 4 to 223 for 8 at the close, with Rashid taking three of the wickets.

Carberry can still claim with rather more justice than most that he was dealt a tough hand by international cricket. Many would say that he deserved more opportunities, at least in the limited-overs formats. Yet he is still a polished performer in the four-day game. For most of the second afternoon at Headingley he played Yorkshire's high-quality attack with great skill and enviable composure.

Having arrived at the crease when Sean Terry was lbw to Tim Bresnan in the fifth over of the innings, Carberry partnered Liam Dawson in a 75-run second-wicket partnership. In the course of that stand, Dawson, having already been dropped by Jack Leaning and Adam Lyth in the slips, was also nearly run out by Jack Brooks when the bowler missed the stumps from around 15 yards. If Hampshire were to enjoy that kind of good fortune, reasoned the travelling supporters, they had some hope of matching Yorkshire's first-innings total of 370.

It didn't last, of course. When he had batted almost two hours and made 40 valuable runs, Dawson edged a ball from Will Rhodes straight to Leaning at slip. Perhaps a few Yorkshire zealots observed that since he was already in his fourth innings, the batsman had little to complain about. For his part, Carberry continued imperturbably, driving Bresnan through the covers as powerfully as could be desired and pulling Rashid whenever the legspinner pitched short. Which, early in his spell, was rather too frequently for Andrew Gale's satisfaction.

In mid-afternoon Yorkshire seized the initiative when Brooks had James Vince leg before when playing no shot and then Will Smith caught by Lyth at slip when the batsman was attempting to withdraw his bat from his first ball. Yet from a perilous 109 for 4, Hampshire recovered with Carberry and Sean Ervine adding 86 together. Then came Carberry's sweep to Pujara, a fielder who had failed even to pick up a couple of previous pulls.

Having lost their best batsman for a 208-ball 97, which included 17 fours, Hampshire's batsmen lost their way. In the next over Ervine, who had batted with calm assurance for 48, top-edged a pull off Brooks straight to Steve Patterson at long leg. And in his final two overs of the day Rashid had Gareth Berg caught at slip by Lyth and Andre Adams taken at point by Gale when Hampshire's No. 9 attempted to slog the ball to Morley.

So for all their resolution over the first six sessions of this game, Vince's men have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid defeat. This is hard on many of their cricketers, particularly James Tomlinson, who picked up two of Yorkshire's final three first-innings wickets, including that of Leaning, who was leg before for 82. Leaning, it might be noted, has now scored 749 runs in his first 20 County Championship innings, which is more than Adam Lyth, Alex Lees, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow or Gary Ballance managed.

Some are already suggesting that Leaning may play Test cricket one day. If he does, he may hope for a little more luck than Michael Carberry, who will probably never play for England again. Then again, the same might be said of Kevin Pietersen.