Dave Allen: 20 Years Of Middlesex At The Ageas Bowl

We have enjoyed the better of our encounters with Middlesex in the T20, winning 20 to their 13 overall, with another five reaching no conclusion. We started our home encounters with a victory by 30 runs in 2004 as Mascarenhas hit 52 and took 1-13 in four overs (Tremlett 3-20). In 2006, on the day that St Paul’s Cathedral held a memorial service for Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, Michael Carberry and Mitchell Stokes posted a century opening partnership at the Rose Bowl in a winning record score of 225-2. It was Hampshire’s highest T20 score against any side, until 249-8 in the 2017 quarter-final at Derby.

The home match in 2007 was washed out, while 2008 produced a curiosity at the Rose Bowl with Kevin Pietersen taking 3-33 and adding 43, but we were unable to beat Middlesex, for whom a familiar off-spinner, Shaun Udal, took 3-21. Middlesex returned to our ground to win the Final that year against Kent, while we could only watch.

In 2009 Michael Lumb’s 93 at the Rose Bowl was our highest innings against Middlesex and we won again, by 28 runs. In 2010, at the Rose Bowl our 99 all out remains the lowest Hampshire score v Middlesex and we lost by eight wickets as their opening batsman David Warner top-scored for the winners. The 2011 Rose Bowl game was rained-off and we won one each in 2012 on the way to our second T20 Trophy. At home, we lost as Roland-Jones’ 4-25, negated Vince’s 64*, then Stirling hit 71. In 2013 we set 190-3 and won by eight runs (Ervine 60*, Wood 3-31).

In 2014, Middlesex won at the The Ageas Bowl by 50 runs (Stirling 64), while in 2015, Shah 58* and Carberry 57 starred in our victory by 19 runs.  In 2016, a partnership of 114 by our former batsman George Bailey & John Simpson at the The Ageas Bowl won the game by 43 runs, with the best Middlesex partnership against Hampshire. In that same match at the The Ageas Bowl, their sixth bowler Ryan Higgins took 5-13 which was the best for anyone v Hampshire – but only for two years. In 2017 at home, Hampshire won by 29 runs (Carberry 77, Crane 3-15), then in 2018 at the The Ageas Bowl the future Hampshire bowler James Fuller came on as their eighth choice and with 6-28 beat the best T20 figures by anyone against Hampshire, despite which Munro’s 63 and 2-20 took us to victory by 21 runs.

In 2019, we won by a convincing eight wickets, with nine balls to spare, thanks principally to openers Vince with 66*, and Donald 51, then in COVID-struck 2020 we lost six consecutive matches, including our encounter at Lord’s. Our final match of that season, at the The Ageas Bowl produced an extraordinary victory however after we had posted 141-9. Middlesex struggled throughout but reached 121-6 with 16 balls to go at which point Shaheen Shah Afridi who went into this game with season’s figures of 1-191, added to two earlier wickets with four-in-four, a Hampshire record and we won by twenty runs – sadly the only spectators were a few people booked in to the Hotel balcony rooms. In 2021 we lost away and the return at home fell victim to the weather.