Abbas shows his class to set it perfectly for Hampshire’s batsman on Day Two against Middlesex

Mohammad Abbas has made an instant impact on his full Hampshire debut, taking 6-11 on Day Two of Hampshire’s County Championship match at the Ageas Bowl against Middlesex.

The Pakistan fast bowler made his debut in the team’s innings victory over Leicestershire last week but he struggled to make as much of an impact with the ball, picking up three wickets in the win over the Foxes.

However, after a few days off to prepare for the visit of Middlesex, the 31-year-old was able to have his feet up for the entirety of the first day with his side batting throughout all three sessions on the opening day of the game.

His batting was then called into action early this morning following the fall of fellow seamer, Kyle Abbott (58) but Abbas, who isn’t known for his play with the blade fell quickly for just four to see the side bowled out for 319 just before the end of the first hour of play.

This allowed Abbas and Abbott to share the new ball with the Pakistan star looking the more threatening and it didn’t take him long to cause havoc in the visitors’ line-up, taking a hat-trick with the wickets of Max Holden, Nick Gubbins and captain Stevie Eskinazi with his fifth, sixth and seventh deliveries of the match.

Abbas’ hat-trick reduced the London side to 8-3 in the fourth over with the Pakistan bowler causing mayhem, swinging the ball round corners to put his side firmly in the driving seat.

It didn’t take long for him to get back in on the act, collecting the scalps of Robbie White and Martin Andersson – both for ducks to leave the away side reeling at 14-5 in the sixth over.

At this point, the seamer had figures of 5-3 in just three overs and it felt as though he would take a wicket with every ball that he bowled, he beat the inside edge of both Sam Robson and Middlesex wicket keeper John Simpson on several occasions but the pair survived through to lunch with their side still in trouble at 23-5, trailing by 296 runs.

The 31-year-old didn’t waste much time after lunch to pick up another scalp, this time he dismissed opener Robson for 18, caught at third slip by Weatherley, as the away side slipped to 31-6.

After bowling an eleven over spell either side of lunch, he was afforded a break with leg spinner Mason Crane replacing the Pakistan star with the ball.

Abbas has made 23 Test Match appearances for Pakistan since making his debut in 27 – taking 84 wickets in the process at an average of 22.80, so brings real quality to an already impressive Hampshire bowling attack.

Brad Wheal then cleaned up the final three wickets of the innings to save Abbas from needing to bowl again and with Hampshire electing to not enforce the follow on, it gave the 31-year-old seamer the chance to rest up and allow the batters to pile on the runs in the afternoon and into the evening.

This all meant that Abbas finished with figures of 6-11 from his 11 overs which included six maidens in a breathtaking spell of seam bowling.

Many were surprised that Vince elected not to enforce the follow on with a lead of 240 in the first innings but it gave the bowlers an opportunity to rest themselves further ahead of the final two days of the match.

The Hampshire overseas star is available for the first two months of the County Championship season which gives him a further five matches to play in on top of this game and the win against Leicestershire last week.

The home side ended the day in complete control on 204-2 with Ian Holland (90*) and Sam Northeast (99*) and will go into the penultimate day of the game with a commanding lead of 444 runs over Middlesex with eight second innings wickets remaining.

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