Middlesex Maraud as Royals Come Under Seige

Middlesex beat Hampshire by 8 wickets in the Friends Provident t20 Cup.

Hampshire Royals v Middlesex Panthers
Friends Provident t20
Friday 16th July 2010
The Rose Bowl

Summary
Middlesex beat Hampshire by 8 wickets
Hampshire Royals: 99 ao (17.5 ov)
Middlesex Panthers: 100-2 (14.2 ov)

Hampshire suffered a disappointing eight wicket loss to Middlesex in the Friends Provident t20 Cup and will now have to wait until Sunday to learn of their fate in the competition.

Despite Carberry’s 34, Hampshire were bowled out for 99 inside 18 overs with Thomas Smith stealing the show with figures of 3-26.

Warner then shone with the bat hitting 7 fours in 43 as Middlesex cruised to victory in 14.2 overs with only the loss of two wickets.

The result leaves the Royals still in the 4th and final knock-out round qualifying spot, but level on points with Middlesex and Surrey, and needing a win against local rivals Sussex on Sunday to stand a good chance of going through.

See a full scorecard by clicking here

Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat first knowing a win against their counterparts would give them an excellent chance of progressing into the quarter-final stages of the competition.

The hosts took advantage of the powerplay as they raced to 43-2 after the six overs. Jimmy Adams (1) and James Vince (9) were the two batsmen who lost their wickets as Hampshire looked to make a speedy start.

Runs began to dry up for the home side thanks to some tight bowling from the visitors as they restricted the Royals to 62-4 after eleven overs of the innings with Carberry (34) and McKenzie (7) adding the runs for the home side.
 
Hampshire then began to lose important wickets quickly as Sean Ervine (13), Abdul Razzaq (6), Neil McKenzie (7) and Dan Christian (2) left the home side struggling on 76-7 after 15 overs.

Even a huge six from Nic Pothas (16) couldn’t help the Royals reach a century as they finished their innings after 17.5 overs with Briggs the last man to fall as he was caught superbly by Tom Smith leaving the visitors to chase a modest 100 for the victory.

Michael Carberry top scored for the Royals with 34 - including this, one of two 6s.

Middlesex started their reply well with Warner finding the boundary four times as in as many overs. Dexter supported him well rotating the strike and the visitors found themselves in a very healthy position on 33 without the loss of any wickets.

Warner then added another three fours in Ervine’s first over leaving the score on 53-0 at the end of the powerplay, the pair having constructed a well worked half century.

The much-needed breakthrough came when Briggs had Dexter (11) trapped LBW In the following over Christian turned the screw as Warner (43) skied the ball to Razzaq at mid-wicket.  The Australian looked in top form making his 43 from only 30 balls which included seven 4s.

The new bats of Shah and Malan looked fairly comfortable and closed down the 99 run target in the 15th over with a partnership worth 40, Middlesex finishing on 100-2, Shah (15*) and Malan (27*).

The Royals will now need as much home support as they can get to help them bounce back and book their place in the quarter finals in Sunday’s do-or-die South coast derby with Sussex Sharks at The Rose Bowl. (Read a preview by clicking here. Book tickets by clicking here.)

Words: Ryan Day and Glenn Noble; Images: LMI Photography / Getty Images

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