Jake Lehmann's Unbeaten 115 Revives Hampshire's Hopes
Jake Lehmann walked off Trent Bridge with his bat raised and Hampshire’s season still breathing.
On a day when their brittle batting order threatened to fold again, the left-hander carved out an unbeaten 115 that dragged his side from familiar trouble to something far more competitive: 267-7, 110 behind Nottinghamshire’s 377, and still alive in this Division One contest.
Lehmann stands tall in fragile line-up
Hampshire’s numbers this season tell their own story. Only Lancashire have scored fewer runs per wicket, and Hampshire’s average of 24.50 per dismissal has left their bowlers constantly firefighting. Lehmann has been the glaring exception.
The South Australian, playing on a British passport, now sits with the joint-second highest run aggregate in the top flight, 922, and this innings was a reminder of why. He moved with a flair that echoed his father Darren: nimble feet, bold intent, and a willingness to disrupt the bowlers’ rhythm rather than simply endure it.
He arrived with the score fragile and left with it still standing. By the close, he had faced 160 balls, pierced every corner of the ground, and turned what could have been another Hampshire collapse into a platform.
Notts strike early, then stall
For Nottinghamshire, the day began perfectly. It took just one ball.
Olly Stone steamed in, full and straight, and Felix Organ’s defensive push only feathered the edge. Caught behind for six. Hampshire 12-1, and the champions were up and running.
What followed, though, was a long stretch of frustration. From there, the reply moved calmly through 18 overs. Toby Albert and Nick Gubbins looked settled, the ball softened, and the scoreboard ticked along without alarm.
Then the game flipped in four balls.
Tom Giles, the fourth seamer in only his second match, found Albert playing around a full one. LBW for 31. Almost immediately, Dillon Pennington came round the wicket to the left-handed Gubbins and nailed essentially the same dismissal. Gubbins trapped for 35. From comfort to jeopardy in minutes, and suddenly two new batters were exposed.
Lehmann chose attack. By lunch he had 33 from 29 balls, Hampshire 114-3, and the tone of his day was set.
Collapse threatened, resistance arrived
Hampshire reached 141 before the familiar slide loomed again. Joe Weatherley misjudged a straight one and offered no shot, becoming the third LBW of the innings for 25 as Stone returned with purpose.
Liam Patterson-White took over at the Stuart Broad End and turned the screw. His left-arm spin pinned Hampshire down, over after over, as only 50 runs came from the 30 overs leading into tea. Pressure built. Mistakes followed.
Ben Brown, who had worked hard to bed in, suddenly flashed at a wide one and carved a cut straight to first slip. Not long after, Fraser Sheat struck again, 18-year-old Ben Mayes edging out for just one. Tea arrived with Hampshire 190-6, the innings again teetering.
This is where the match could have broken open for Notts. Instead, Lehmann found the partner he needed.
Currie digs in, Lehmann drives on
Scott Currie, better known for his bowling and with only one first-class hundred to his name from a loan spell at Leicestershire two years ago, chose defiance. He dug in, blocked, left, and absorbed. Over after over, he denied Notts the breakthrough they craved.
Their seventh-wicket stand stretched to 97 and lasted 38 overs. Lehmann kept scoring, Currie kept surviving. The field tightened, the ball aged, and Nottinghamshire’s bowlers began to feel the weight of missed chances.
Patterson-White embodied that frustration. His spell read 21 overs, none for 28. Immaculate control, relentless pressure, but no reward. When he finally gave way with the second new ball taken at 216-6, Notts expected the breakthrough to follow. It didn’t. Not for a long time.
Lehmann’s hundred arrived from 160 balls, a calm raise of the bat amid the tension. His previous best in England, 116 for Yorkshire in 2016, suddenly looked well within reach.
Only with 31 balls left in the day did Nottinghamshire finally crack the partnership. Sheat produced a beauty to Currie, one that straightened and crashed into the stumps. Currie’s 35 from 143 balls will not make many headlines, but it changed the shape of this match.
Lehmann, unbeaten, closed on 115, one run shy of that English best. Hampshire, from 165-6, had clawed their way to 267-7 and, crucially, kept Notts waiting.
Bonus points and bigger questions
For Nottinghamshire, champions and yet without a win since beating Surrey 18 days ago, the equation on the third morning is clear. Two wickets in ten overs are needed to secure maximum bowling bonus points before they can properly chase victory.
They have the attack to do it. They have the new ball. They also have a man in Lehmann who has already shown he is in no mood to leave quietly.
The next passage at Trent Bridge will decide whether this is the day Nottinghamshire reassert their grip on the title race, or the day Jake Lehmann’s lone hand turns into something far more damaging.
