Cricket / County Championship: McCague in eight-wicket demolition

Hampshire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288 and 70

Kent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252-6 dec and 109-1

Kent win by 9 wickets

UP FROM Down Under, Martin McCague's career-best 8 for 26 saw Hampshire buried for the lowest score in the Championship this summer and Kent achieve the easiest and most timely of victories here yesterday. Bowled out in a shade under two hours, poor Hampshire hardly knew what hit them and by three o'clock they had been given the last rites.

McCague, born in Larne 23 years ago, may not be one of your sultans of swing, but he is big, fast and uncomplicated. He looks the sort you see breaking down doors in Westerns, not to mention Western Australia, for whom he went on to play. His accent is pure Oz, but then he left Northern Ireland as a babe; as a bowler, the accent is on destruction.

Hampshire quickly discovered what the 6ft 5in McCague had in store for them when his first ball of the morning slammed into Sean Morris's off stump. The first ball of his second over resulted in Kevan James edging to the keeper and the fourth ball of his third bowled Julian Wood all ends up.

The sequence was broken when Mark Nicholas fell to a bat-pad catch off the slow left-arm of Richard Davis. But Tony Middleton, who had been surveying the carnage from the other end, immediately got one from McCague that kept low and was leg before for 17. That seemed a rather useful score considering Hampshire were then five down for 29 with McCague having taken 4 for 9 in 7 overs.

What a desperate plight, Hampshire's lead of 43 overnight hardly figuring in the calculations. There had been rain in the dark hours, but the darkest hour was yet to come. Hampshire had suffered similar distress when they were rolled over for 80 by Essex in June at Bournemouth. Here, on a moisturised St Lawrence Ground, they were to supercede the summer's previous low held by Derbyshire, 74 against Yorkshire.

McCague continued to make dramatic inroads, Malcolm Marshall sending up a return catch off a full toss. Jon Ayling, who topscored with 20, went next caught behind driving, while Shaun Udal and Ian Turner were whistled out off successive deliveries - the third and fourth ducks of the innings and three wickets having fallen in five balls while the score rested on 16.

Adrian Aymes denied McCague a hat-trick - which he last pocketed only a fortnight ago in the Sunday League game at Glamorgan - and Cardigan Connor spoiled his chance of a nine-wicket haul by running himself out. Still, McCague's final figures were 12.2- 5-26-8, bad enough reading for Hampshire in all respects seeing that their own Kevin Shine (8-47) and Udal (8-66) had been sitting on the best returns of the season.

To really rub things in, Kent now knocked off the 107 needed for the loss of a single wicket. It all appeared so easy, Trevor Ward the one opener to depart the scene but not before he had scored 63. Kent, with 22 points from the encounter, move up to third in the table.