Adams Hits a Century As Royals Hit Top Gear

Hamphire beat Surrey Lions by 10 runs in the Friends Provident t20 Cup.

A magnificent century from Hampshire opener Jimmy Adams set up a 10 run victory against the Surrey Lions in the Friends Provident t20 Cup.

Sean Ervine also contributed a superb 54 as the pair shared a 144 run partnership and Hampshire scored 201.

Mark Ramprakash replied with 61 it but proved to be in vain as Hampshire were always in control. 

The Royals' second victory in the competition completed an excellent day at The Rose Bowl where the sun shined, the runs piled up and the crowds flocked to see Kevin Pietersen back in action for their club.

The excitement surrounding KP’s return was at fever pitch before the game and the home crowd got to see him in action after just three overs as Michael Lumb departed for a short but sweet 18.

Pietersen marked his return in excellent fashion as he smashed three fours off four balls, ensuring the home side reached 45-1 at the end of the six overs of powerplay. 

After a fine array of shots, his innings ended as he attempted a huge drive to long on only to be well caught on the boundary for 15 off just 10 balls.

This Hampshire innings, however, really belonged to the 144-run partnership between Adams and Sean Ervine as they managed to guide the Royals to a massive 201-2 off their 20 overs. Adams smashed his century - his first in the t20 competition - off just 65 balls while his partner assisted with a fantastic 54 from just 34 balls.

Adams’ 101 included a flurry of boundaries including seven fours and four maximums, while Ervine’s half century included four fours and two huge sixes; the home side smashing a total of 23 boundaries.

The crowds flocked to see Pietersen in a Hampshire Royals shirt for the first time

The defence started brightly with some sharp fielding which saw Surrey falter to 21-2 after three overs. Hamilton-Brown was tamely caught and bowled by Wood for 13 while Batty was brilliantly run out on his first ball by Lumb.

Davies made 24 before being caught by Pietersen. The wicket also marked Dan Christian’s first Twenty20 wicket for Hampshire.

Ramprakash and Symonds then offered the stability in the middle order, and at the halfway stage Surrey were 87-3; down on the required run rate, but ahead of Hampshire at that stage in the match.

Christian - having taken an unbelievable catch at Glamorgan last week - took a hat-trick of catches again today, including a magnificent diving catch at cover to dispatch Symonds for 26 ending a partnership worth 64.

Chris Wood enjoyed another fantastic match, taking 3 for 30.

Ramprakash reached his 50 in 34 balls, hitting three 6s and four 4s as he took the attack to Hampshire, trying to increase the run rate with six overs left.

But then Hampshire found the big break through - Ramprakash caught in the deep by a brilliant diving catch from Adams. The crowd went wild and you could sense Hampshire knew it was going to be the key wicket.

Younus Khan was then bowled by Cork trying to hit through the line for 19 and Christian took another splendid catch to dismiss Spriegel.

Adams then ran out Nel for eight and Schofield lofted a catch to Christian for Wood’s third wicket.

Surrey were awarded six penalty points for Hampshire’s slow run rate but the visitors fell eleven runs short of the win, finishing on 191-9 after an excellent all-round performance from Hampshire. 

Words by Ryan Day and Glenn Noble

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