Shaun Udal hailed the debut of Liam Dawson on his return to the Hampshire Hawks line up.

Nic Pothas captained the Hawks at Northants in the Pro40 defeat yesterday in the absence of Shane Warne and was backed up well by Udal and John Crawley.

But all eyes were on 17-year-old Dawson, who became Hampshire's youngest debutant since Alan Wassell, another slow left armer, made his bow against Cambridge University in June 1957.

More significantly, Dawson is Hampshire's youngest debutant against county opposition since Leo Harrison played his first game a few weeks before the outbreak of the second World War.

The Swindon-born England U19 all rounder responded with a composed 32 from 31 balls and after being introduced to the attack with Northants 107-2 after 22 overs, his four overs cost 29.

Dawson was let down by some poor fielding and had the disadvantage of bowling with a short leg-side boundary, but looked some player for someone who left school only last year.

Udal said: "Liam played really well, he nurdled the spinners around and took calculated risks. He hit the boundaries, ran hard and he and Carbs had an excellent partnership.

"It's more difficult to get rid of nerves when bowling than batting, but conditions were difficult for him".

Full story: See today's Daily Echo.