Dave Allen: Essex At The Ageas Bowl

Our overseas stars Simon Katich 59* and Wasim Akram 1-19 were not able to prevent an Essex victory at the Rose Bowl in the inaugural T20 season 2003, We had two fixtures against them in 2005 but the first never started and the second was abandoned. In 2006, Carberry’s 53 helped us to 151-4 and then our ‘spin twins’ Udal (3-21) and Lamb (3-23) skittled Essex for 115 in the 17th over – still their lowest score against us.

In 2007, David Griffiths took 3-13, with Sean Ervine 50* as we won with more than seven overs to spare at the Rose Bowl. There had been no close matches between the two teams to that point but in 2008 we tied at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire 164-6, Essex 164-8 with half centuries from Carberry and Jason Gallian. The Rose Bowl in 2009 saw our highest total against Essex – 219-2 - with Michael Lumb’s 124* still our highest T20 innings v any side and Lumb and Carberry adding 170 for 2nd wicket. It was our highest v any side in T20 as we won by 75 runs.

Bopara with 94* won the match at the Rose Bowl in 2010 by nine wickets; all was not disappointment however because both sides reached Finals Day at the Rose Bowl and we won the semi-final against them, chasing down 157 with four balls to spare. Abdul Razzaq with 44 and Danny Briggs 3-29 were our key players, and we went on to win the trophy.

We won one each in 2011 including a revised D/L target at the Rose Bowl; while the second match that year was another won by the rain, as was our first scheduled (away) meeting in 2013 but a half-century from Carberry won the second game that year, while Vince (57*) and Owais Shah (50*), took us to a comfortable eight-wicket win in 2014.

We began 2015 with a 17-run victory (Adams 55*, Arafat 3-27) at the The Ageas Bowl, but lost both games in 2016, a year of unusual T20 struggle for Hampshire, despite 62 from Vince in the home game. In 2017, George Bailey’s 89* was not enough as Essex won again with two balls to spare. 2018 was not a happy campaign for Hampshire, and the game at the The Ageas Bowl was yet another ‘No Result’, the sixth between us in 21 meetings. The game in 2019 was a low-scoring tie, Essex posting 139-7 (Lawrence 69, Abbott 3-15) and Hampshire 139-6 led by Sam Northeast with 73. Essex went on to win their first Trophy that year.