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Our first away day of the 2022 Vitality Blast is upon us, and club historian Dave Allen looks back at our previous outings against the 2019 Vitality Blast champions
Over 19 seasons of T20 cricket Hampshire have tied six of their 230 matches and three of the six were against Essex. Otherwise we have won 15, two more than them, while eight others failed to reach a conclusion.
When the T20 was launched in 2003 there were just five matches including one at home with Essex. The following year we visited Chelmsford for the first time and while ‘Dimi’ took 3-22, Napier (3-13) and Bopara (3-18) won it for Essex as we were dismissed for 95 – still our lowest score in these encounters. We had home & away fixtures against them in 2005 but Chelmsford was abandoned after Greg Lamb’s 67 took us to 151-9
On our visit in 2006, Chris Benham posted 59 (Napier 3-19) but Ronnie Irani hit 81* from 48 balls and Essex won, while our visit in 2007 was another abandoned match with Hampshire struggling on 107-5. They beat us easily in 2008 with Danish Kaneria taking 4-22 in our 105 all out, despite Chris Tremlett recording figures of 4-25, our best ever v Essex, but in 2009 we did the double, including a six wicket win at Chelmsford, which took us to a quarter-final at Northampton, a few days after beating Sussex in the Lord’s Final. Sadly, we went no further.
In 2010, we lost again at Chelmsford, despite 59 from Nic Pothas, but both sides reached Finals Day at the Rose Bowl, and we beat them in the semi-final, chasing down 157 with four balls to spare; we then beat Somerset to win the trophy for the first time. In 2011 at Chelmsford a half-century from James Vince was not enough to save us from defeat but the following year, our 176-4 at the same venue (Maxwell 60*) was our highest to that date against Essex, on our way to victory, another Finals Day (in Cardiff) and our second T20 Trophy.
There were just 13 balls at Chelmsford in 2013 before the rain arrived, while in 2014, Carberry (57) and Matt Coles (54) saw us home by five wickets. Essex had their revenge at Chelmsford in 2015 scoring 212-5, their highest against us, built upon Jesse Ryder’s 107*, at the time the second highest T20 innings against Hampshire which gave them a 78 runs victory. We lost again at Chelmsford in 2016 despite 3-24 from Liam Dawson. In 2017, Bopara with 4-19, returned the best ever figures for Essex v Hants, giving them victory at their headquarters, but while 2018 was not a happy campaign for Hampshire, there was a thriller there, which ended in a tie. Sam Northeast with 73* took Hampshire to 170-5 and Bopara was run out by Munro going for the winning run from the final ball.
On our visit in 2019 they reached 81-1, but we bowled them out in the 17th over for just 133 (Crane 3-24), after which Vince hit 87* from 54 balls to take us to an easy victory by seven wickets with 26 balls to spare. Despite this reverse, Essex reached their first Final which they won in a thrilling finish but defending their title they were the only side we beat in the first nine matches of 2020; Crane 3-18 and Harry Munsey with 32 helping us to a penultimate ball win by five wickets. We won there again in 2021 with Weatherley’s 42 taking us to 155-6 and victory in the final over by 13 runs.
