Notts V Hants: T20 Quarter Final 3/8

Sunday 3rd August 2014: T20 Quarter Final

This was one of the best days supporting Hampshire.

We travelled up to Nottingham with at least in my opinion pretty low expectations as Notts are a very good T20 side and had not lost in 10 games. However, you can never write Hampshire off and in a one off knockout game an upset was very possible.

Trent Bridge is a great ground and there was a big crowd in to see this game. James Taylor the Notts captain won the toss and choose to bat on a good batting pitch.

Alex Hales and Ex Hampshire Man Michael Lumb started brightly hitting Chris Wood and Kyle Abbott for boundaries before Matt Coles bowling the 4th over got Lumb caught by Ervine for 22 with the score on 38. In form Ricky Wessels joined Hales and they continued to go well scoring at ten an over. Hales reached his 50 in the 11th over from 39 balls but fell soon after to Matt Coles for 51.

Samit Patel joined Wessels and the run rate stayed at roughly ten an over for the duration of the innings. Wessels reached his 50 from 27 balls and Patel did the same from an even quicker 23 balls. Notts closed their innings 197-2. 198 looked a big ask but due to the nature of the pitch this was not impossible

Luke Fletcher bowled a tight first over for just 5 and I feared that 198 was just too much but James Vince in the second over got after Harry Gurney hitting him for four boundaries and we were off to a flier. In the next over Vince was dropped by Hales off the bowling of Ajmal Shahzad. Vince was on 20 at this point and I hoped that this would be the luck that we would need if we were going to win this.

Hampshire progressed to 70 without loss at the start of the 8th over when Samit Patel was introduced into the attack and he struck first ball with Carberry walking past a ball and Chris Read the Notts keeper taking the bails off. Even with Carberry gone the run rate did not slow for long and at the halfway stage Hampshire were well placed at 97-1. I still thought we would fall short but Claire to her credit said that we would do it in the last over.

Suddenly Shahzad returning took two wickets with the first two balls of the 11th over getting Maxwell and Adams and feared that it was my prediction that would prove to be correct. Luckily Ervine joining Vince did not panic and they started building a partnership that was to get Hampshire close to the target. This again was not without luck as Ervine was dropped by Patel on the boundary on 11 with the score at 139-3.

By the time Ervine fell for 39 to Fletcher Hampshire were just 20 runs from victory with 3 overs to go. Will Smith came in and he didn’t help our nerves by playing out 3 dot balls before he could get off strike. Vince hit a boundary off the last ball of the 18th over and the target was 13 off 12 balls.

Smith made up for his first few balls by crashing consecutive 4s off Fletcher and Hampshire were almost home needing 5 off 10 before Smith was out for 9. Matt Coles came in to finish the job and thanks to four byes and a single Hampshire were there with an over to go.

James Vince scored an unbeaten 93 which was a T20 career best that was although fortunate with being dropped by Hales was a class innings and one I will remember for years to come. He has been out of form for a while and as the captain what a time to return to form.

Whilst plenty of people will say Notts bowled poorly Hampshire still had to get the runs and 198 is not easy especially in such a big game. The result means Hampshire are going to their fifth finals day in a row. Lancashire will be the opponents with Surrey V Warwickshire the other semi. We have a good chance here despite Edgbaston not being our lucky ground so far in finals day but after this result I am not ruling out it being third time lucky.

Ian

PS.
This game was the last this season for Glenn Maxwell and Kyle Abbott. Maxwell unfortunately has not performed how he or we would have liked which is a shame but these things can happen especially as he has played non stop cricket for the best part of a year. Abbott has been outstanding and has been the main reason why Hampshire are in the Div 2 promotion race. He has the ability to turn games with spells of brilliance and the victories vs Gloucs and Essex were brought about by him. I hope to see him in Hampshire colours again soon.

Hants V Sussex

Friday 18th July 2014

An important game for Hampshire as victory meant they would qualify for the 1/4 finals with a game to spare.

Hampshire changed the line up after losing 3 out of the last 4 games and brought back Liam Dawson from injury and replaced Bates with Adam Wheater. The toss was won and Hampshire chose to bat.

The run rate was slow to start with and Vince fell early for 2 and this brought Maxwell in at no 3 in a change of tactics for Hampshire and hopefully a change of luck with the bat for Maxwell. Unfortunately his poor run continued and he was dismissed for 1 off 6 balls.

Adams and Carberry then steadied the ship and put together a 111 run partnership from 12.4 overs with both men passing 50. Adams was out for 52 and in came Ervine to finish off the innings with Carberry. They got Hampshire up to 177-3 with some big hitting Ervine 32* off 22 balls and Carberry was 87* from 79 balls. This was our best batting performance for a while and at the break I was hopeful that it would be enough as long as we bowled well.

The start of the Sussex innings did not go to plan as the powerplay was all Sussex. Chris Nash and Luke Wright blasted everything that came their way Their powerplay was 69-1 compared to Hampshire’s 33-2. Despite Chris Nash falling it looked at this stage that Sussex would chase this easily.

Luckily the slow bowlers came into the attack and managed to start pinning down the Sussex men. Sussex went from 69-0 to 122-6 as Dawson, Briggs and Smith all did well. None of the Sussex batsman could get into double figures that came out to bat with Wright. However due to the blistering start and Luke Wright still in the game was still in the balance. Steve Magoffin stuck with Wright and managed to give lots of the strike to Wright with him reaching his 100 in the 18th over off 57 balls

The key over was the 19th bowled by Matt Coles with Sussex needing 21 from the last two he conceded just 4 runs and this meant that Sussex needed 17 from the last over. Wood managed to keep it to 11 and Hampshire took the victory by 6 runs.

A very enjoyable game and glad Hampshire won. Special mention to Luke Wright with his 116 nearly single-handedly won it for Sussex. Only Chris Nash reached double figures as well and if anyone else had given him some more support then Sussex would have won.

The win means Hampshire are in the 1/4 finals for the 6th year in a row. A great turnaround from the first 6 years of T20 when they managed only one 1/4 final. The 1/4 final will probably be away from home so it will not be easy to finals day for a fifth year in a row. However the two years we won the cup this was the route we took.

This was the last T20 group game at the Ageas this summer and the Friday nights have worked really well. We have been fortunate with the weather and an average of around 6000 have attended the games. The atmosphere has been good and this game with Sussex was as good an atmosphere as you will get anywhere around the country. Due to moving further away from Southampton I doubt we will be able to attend many of these games next summer which is a shame as we have really enjoyed Friday night cricket even when Hampshire haven’t played well.

Ian

Hampshire V Somerset T20

6th July 2014

Family Day at the Ageas Bowl meant the ground was swamped with kids and families but this was no bad thing, it was great to see so many people enjoying the cricket. Ian and I were also confident that we were going to witness a win as Somerset hasn’t had the best of seasons so far. Unfortunately however, Hampshire gave us another poor performance.

RAF avoiding the traffic!

 

Somerset won the toss and elected to bat first and although boundaries become more regular as the innings developed, Hampshire’s fielding on the whole was tight. At half time predictions I guessed Somerset would achieve 156 whereas Ian thought more and pumped for 170. Somerset ended their session 155-4 =1 point to me!

Second innings began badly with Vince going for a duck at LBW to Trego leaving Hampshire 1-1 and the wickets continued to fall thereafter. Adams got caught out for 7 (11-2), Smith went for 16 (33-3), Maxwell and Carberry soon following both got run out leaving the score 33-4 and 36-5 respectively. Ervine got stumped for 2 (41-6) by which point all optimism for a win had evaporated so at half time predictions Ian guessed Hampshire would make 120 whereas I, in anticipation that in panic Hampshire might have a smash round to increase the score, went for 130. But this was soon obvious that was an ambitious hope as Coles got caught for 25 (83-7), Wood flicked himself out for 14 (88-8), Abbott got caught for 16 (115-9) and on the final ball Bates got caught for 15 leaving Hampshire reeling at a disappointing 116-10 =1 point to Ian!

Having a drink with Balcombe & Tomlinson

On the whole Hampshire got balls to the boundary on several occasions and in their defence took every opportunity for runs but some silly mistakes kept them from the win.

Claire

Hants V Surrey T20

A rare poor Hampshire display saw them smashed by Surrey on Friday night at the Oval.

I guess this game was never going to be our night after train delays around Waterloo meant that it was an ordeal to make it to the Oval in time for play. We got there just as it started and as a result never felt settled.

Surrey won the toss and asked Hampshire to bat. Hampshire just didn’t get going and scoring was difficult on what looked a two paced pitch. The powerplay ended 36-3 which was very poor by Hampshire’s usual standards with Vince, Adams and Carberry all back in the pavillion cheaply. Things did not get any better as Ervine, Maxwell and Coles all came and went leaving the score 57-6. Will Smith re-built the innings as best as he could along with Chris Wood but Surrey were always on top.

Further regular wickets fell and Hampshire limped to a score of 133-9 from 20 overs. I thought that at this stage that we would be in the pub early and so it proved with Surrey and Jason Roy in particular making a mockery of Hampshire’s earlier batting efforts. He hit 9 fours and 3 sixes in an innings of 63 heavily outscoring Dilshan. Roy is the second highest run-scorer in the Blast and has produced consistent scores for a while and will be worth a place in the England T20 squad.

With the ball only Danny Briggs could really take any credit with 1-19 of his overs whilst the other bowlers took plenty of punishment from Roy, KP and Wilson. The game was won by a six at the end of the 14th over from Gary Wilson.

The defeat meant Hampshire stay second in the table behind Essex with Surrey gaining points to go third. Surrey on this evidence looked strong and as they were finalists last year I expect them to feature in the knockout rounds.

Hampshire should still qualify as hopefully this was just a bad night at the office. There are issues that need to be addressed though if we are to do well in the later stages. The bowling is not as strong as it could be and we are missing Liam Dawson. When the bowlers are struggling Vince does not have anywhere to turn to bowl a few overs. Ervine and Maxwell who you would hope could perform this role have struggled when asked to bowl.

The lower middle order are struggling too and are not capitalising on good starts by Carberry, Vince and Adams. When these three fail the result is what happened at the Oval. Dawson to come back from injury soon and room needs to be made for Owais Shah.

Half way predictions during both innings were tough, despite Hampshire’s poor play I guessed we would achieve 135 wheras Claire wasn’t as optimistic and went for 115. Fortunately Hampshire just about pulled through and I took the first point. Both knowing that Surrey were going to take the victory, it was a case of when so I went for the 14th over and Claire 15th… I again took the point which was a relief as Claire was 2 points ahead from the previous game we attended so we’re now equal!

 

Ian and Claire

Hants V Gloucestershire T20

A lovely evening and perfect conditions to watch a game of cricket. Hampshire went into the game after having lost their last T20 at Taunton by just one run second in the table looking to get back to winning in this format.

Hampshire won the toss and decided to bat first on a good pitch with a short boundary towards the Ingleby-Mckenzie stand. Owais Shah was left out for Danny Briggs who missed the last game due to paternity leave.

First over Carberry played out a maiden to David Payne and struggled to get going and was out for just 5. James Vince at the other end left on from his 240 at Essex started blasting it and along with Jimmy Adams they took Hampshire up to 52 before Vince fell trying one big hit too many on the last ball of the power-play.

Maxwell joined Adams and they kept the momentum going with Maxwell hitting two huge sixes into the hotel end. Maxwell was bowled by Tom Smith for 30 off just 18 balls when the score was 120-3. Ervine, Wheater, Smith and Wood all came in and helped the Adams to get the total up to 180-6 at the innings break. Adams top scored with 69 of 61 balls and special mention should go to his aggressive running between the wickets. He turned ones into twos and twos into threes. This was to prove invaluable later on as 180 was an ok score but not an impossible one for Glos to reach

The reply started well and Alex Gidman and Michael Klinger gave the innings a good platform getting to 61 in the 9th over. The innings changed here with Will Smith getting two wickers in an over. The innings went nowhere and for the next five overs Hampshire were well on top.

Matt Coles struck twice in the 12th over and with Smith getting his third wicket followed by a run out in the 15th over. Gloucestershire needed 74 runs to win with just 30 balls to go. Here Hampshire old boy Benny Howell with Tom Smith gave Hampshire a real fright. 46 runs were blasted off three overs from Briggs, Wood and Abbott and the target became 28 off two overs. A decent Wood over conceding 8 in the 19th meant 21 were needed off the last over.

I felt that this would be easy enough but when three consecutive 4s were hit to make it 8 off 3, I and the rest of the 7000 crowd felt we had thrown it away. Fortunately the next ball was just a single and the following ball the batsman attempted to steal but Howell was ran out. This meant the new man in McCarter had to hit the last ball of the match for 6 to win. He failed and they ran three giving Hampshire an exciting 2 run victory

The victory meant Hampshire stayed second in the south group as Essex had their own narrow victory over Middlesex last night. For a T20 game that was a very good game and shows that it’s never quite over no matter the situation.

Ian

Hants V Kent T20

Friday 5^th June: Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat first.

It was a disappointing start with Vince getting caught out for a meagre 5 runs and Carberry also started slow, mostly allowing Adam’s to hold strike but as the innings progressed so did his strike rate.

Predictions at 10 overs saw Ian guess Hampshire would complete the first innings achieving 165, I was slightly more optimistic and pumped for 175 as I felt Hampshire’s confidence at the crease was strengthening and a smash round towards the end wasn’t unlikely.

Carbs scored his 50 at 14 overs and went on to eventually get 73. During the game Ian tried to teach me how to fill in a score card but during the first innings I made a bit of a hash of it to be honest, I can multitask (like any woman can!) but in this situation trying to concentrate on the game and fill in a score card proved too much, ha!

Hampshire finished 171-8 =1 point to me!

The second innings proved a little frustrating with both Vince and Ervine dropping crucial catches and the umpires requested a review to determine Darren Stevens’ dismissal.

Predictions saw us both say Hampshire will win Ian guessing Kent will only achieve 164 and me 145, the final score saw Kent get 149-4 = me taking both points for the evening! Boom!

Hampshire won but on 15 overs of the Kent innings they looked like they were in complete control but thanks to some excellent death bowling Kent fell well short.

 

Claire and Ian

Hants V Essex T20

On Friday 30th May we ventured down to the Ageas Bowl for another evening of T20 cricket!

In our last T20 post (Hants V Glamorgan) I mentioned the competition that Ian and I take part in each season and before tonight the score board had us at 1 point each so let’s see how we did after today’s play!
Hampshire won the toss and elected to bowl and Hampshire started well by gaining an early wicket with Briggs taking the catch off the bowling of Wood leaving the score at 4-1. At 10 overs 2 further players had been bowled by Briggs and Smith making the score 64-3 so for predictions, Ian punted for Essex achieving 150, I went a bit lower based on the early wickets and logged a score of 135. Hampshire throughout the 1st innings missed several core catches but the following 10 overs still saw wickets fall and on the final ball Essex smacked a 6 completing their innings at 145-5 which for me was incredibly frustrating as I was in line for the point and at the last moment it went to Ian! Goddammit!

After the innings break, we were in for early disappointment as Carberry went for a 4th ball duck leaving Hampshire 0-1. However, despite Essex’s tight fielding we were only to see a further wicket fall in the remainder of the innings with Adams being caught out for 32. Vince, although almost being caught achieved his 50 without being at his best and finishing the innings at 57 not out! Owais Shah played well starting his innings slowly then accelerating towards the end. Shah smashed a six to reach 50 and win the game. The way Shah played reminded me of Neil Mckenzie and his ability to fulfil this role is great news for Hampshire.

At half time predictions, Ian reckoned Hampshire were going to win the game and would achieve this at the 19th over, I felt the same but went for the 18th over instead and success was to be mine! Hampshire won the game by 8 wickets finishing at 146-2! Ian and I are also at 2 points each respectively.

Tonight’s T20 was also a special night for one of the Hampshire players, Sean Ervine who marks his 100th T20 match! Now I will admit that I have a bit of a soft spot for Ervine… Ian will say because I like him (wink wink), I will say however that he was merely one of the first Hampshire players I got familiar with and therefore I have felt myself gravitate towards a natural awareness of his presence and progress over the others. Much like Bairstow for England, he got selected for the team at around the same time I got introduced to cricket so I naturally took an interest in him and followed his progress closely. You know what folks, believe what you like but I made sure that prior to the game he knew he was my top player and I was rooting for him! 😉

Claire meeting Ervine last summer

Unfortunately for Ervine, he never made it out to the crease. This in some respects is good as it meant we didn’t lose enough wickets to need him to bat… but this fundamentally also meant that he didn’t have a bat on what was a milestone game for him.

That win means three wins out of four for Hampshire this season in T20 and with the arrival of Glenn Maxwell next week for the Kent game it is a great time to be supporting Hampshire.

 

Claire and Ian

Hants V Glamorgan T20

The new revamped T20 competition began on Friday and also it was a rather different Hampshire line up than we had been used to. Hampshire had been in the last four finals day winning two of them so naturally we’re the favourites with bookies to win this year! However due to losing key players it is going to be far from straightforward to be at finals day again.

Dimi Mascarenhas’ retirement and Neil Mckenzie not returning from SA were cornerstones of the success. Dimi bowling his 4 overs in the powerplay left opposition teams failing to make the most of the early overs meaning that low totals were often posted against us. Whilst Neil Mckenzie was a cornerstone especially when chasing, his calm nature and ability to score singles accelerate saw us home in many tight situations.

The game with Glamorgan meant we could have done with both of these players still in the ranks as Glamorgan scored well in the powerplay and posted a reasonable score which I felt at halfway we could chase down. However the Hampshire innings never really got going but did show signs that they would win at times especially when Matt Coles, promoted to number 6, blasted three massive sixes. The innings fell away and Hampshire finished ten runs short. There was a further blow as Liam Dawson retired hurt and was later reported that he will be out for the next six weeks. Owais Shah has been signed to bolster batting although we will miss Dawson’s bowling and Glenn Maxwell will still not be here until at least the start of June as Kings XI look likely to make the latter stages of the IPL.

This means ultimately that expectations for T20 this year are not high but as long as we keep performing well in 4 day cricket all won’t be lost.

A fun thing Ian and I do each year is between us have a little competition where the aim is to guess the score and overall outcome of one day games, the winner achieving the most points by the end of the season wins a prize! The process is simples, at halfway during the first innings we each take a guess at what the team currently batting will score. At the same point in the second innings, we each take a guess at whether the initial score will be beaten and if so by how much. Alternatively, you can guess that the set score won’t be beaten.

Friday’s T20 was the first game kicking off the competition, at 10 overs during the first innings Ian guessed Glamorgan would finish on 180, I guessed 195… Ian won the point as Glamorgan finished 161-7. Despite my great loyalty towards Hampshire, when it came to deciding the next prediction during the second innings, I had to go with my gut and say they were going to lose. Ian guessed they would just about win but only achieving this during the final over…. I to my great delight won the point as Hampshire managed only 151-6 before play was over. Of course I am gutted for Hampshire but a 2-0 loss to Ian would have been worse!

So after Friday’s match it’s a point each and very much all to play for! Game on!

 

Ian and Claire