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Club historian Dave Allen has looked back on our previous meetings on the road against Somerset
Our last meeting with Somerset was sadly one of those proverbial ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory games’ in last year’s semi-final at Edgbaston and it left our record against them as seven victories against 13 defeats, with one tie and one rained-off no result.
Like the other western counties Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, we did not meet Somerset in the T20 until 2010 and then played them three times in a season, including a rather special day at the Rose Bowl when we won our first T20 Final on the final ball. We had already played them at home losing a low-scoring match by seven runs – plus the further indignity of a points fine the following season. The return at Taunton was completely the opposite with our best against Somerset of 216-5 (McKenzie 73) yet it was not sufficient to prevent another Somerset victory by six wickets and their highest score against us of 220. It was nonetheless, third time lucky in the Final.
In 2011, while Taunton was washed-out it was another three-match season with a semi-final meeting at Edgbaston. Shahid Afridi hit 80 in our 138-4 but rain intervened with four overs and one ball remaining. Somerset had a revised D/L target of 95 but ended one run short, so the two sides contested a ‘super over’ which Somerset won easily – without doubt, the first couple of years against Somerset had been full of incident and excitement.
The reduced programme in 2012 meant we were not scheduled to meet them again – except we did, when we reached another Finals Day and had our revenge in the semi-final at Cardiff (Mascarenhas 2-11) before going on to beat Yorkshire in the Final. Then we had a break from each other until June 2014, when Somerset won a thriller at Taunton by one run, 176-4 against 175-7 with Trego and Kieswetter hitting half-centuries. Six Hampshire batters passed 20 but none reached 40. In 2015, we posted a respectable 167-3 but could not withstand a ‘Gayle-force’ assault as the West Indian star hit 85 from 49 balls, and another fifty from Trego took Somerset to victory by 8 wickets.
2016 was not a successful T20 year for us, and Somerset won again at Taunton by six wickets, with Jamie Overton taking 4-22 and Waller 4-33 followed by another fifty by Gayle. In 2017, Somerset posted 204-9 at Taunton and while four men got to 30 nobody went on and we lost by 14 runs. We reached (and lost) another semi-final in 2017 but 2018 was less successful, with Somerset’s 197-7 too good for Hampshire despite Chris Wood’s 5-32. Dawson (82) and Vince (74) scored over 85% of our 181-9, but no one else reached double figures. In 2019, Babar’s 95* powered them to 172-3 at Taunton but Dawson (47*) saw us home with three balls to spare.
We were scheduled to play them in 2020 until the pandemic intervened, while in 2021 we lost by seven runs at Taunton despite Scott Currie’s 4-31 and de Grandhomme’s 66. Weatherley went better at Edgbaston with 71 and Somerset, chasing 151 to win seemed out of it with seven down, needing 48 in 20 balls – in fact they used just 18 of them.
Fans enjoying a summer’s afternoon or evening of Vitality Blast action at The Ageas Bowl can look forward to free family-friendly activities, live music and a whole host of off-pitch entertainment as well as the best food and drink in English cricket – that’s in addition to all the edge-of-your-seat cricketing action that T20 promises.
Vitality Blast Passports have now sold out after a record number of fans secured their seven-match passes for the 2022 season. Individual match tickets are on sale for this summer’s Vitality Blast at the discounted Advance rate until 11:59pm the day before each match. Click the link below to purchase yours.
Hampshire Hawks have also announced a brand-new type of ticket for this summer’s T20 matches at The Ageas Bowl, the Vitality Blast Plus ticket, which offers an upgrade on general admission tickets with premium reserved seating and access to a private, pitch-facing lounge and bar.
A limited number of these new tickets are still available at the Advance rate for Hampshire Hawks’ last Vitality Blast match against Gloucestershire.
Getting to The Ageas Bowl for this summer’s Vitality Blast is easier and more affordable than ever before as fans will be able to make use of free buses running to and from The Ageas Bowl from Hedge End and Southampton Airport Parkway train stations.
You won't need a ticket or any accreditation to use the free buses - simply turn up at the stations and get on board - however, if you are planning to use the buses we would ask you to complete the short registration form (available below) to ensure we're able to provide enough vehicles for all fans using the services.
