Dawson Brilliance Helps Hampshire Secure First One-Day Win

An unbeaten 68 from just 40 balls from Liam Dawson helped Hampshire secure their first Royal London One-Day Cup win of the season by five wickets in a rain-affected match against Middlesex at Radlett Cricket Club.

Mason Crane’s second-best career List A figures of 4-80 helped reduce Middlesex to 295-8 from their 50 overs before heavy rain left Hampshire a revised target of 202 in 26 overs.  

Adam Wheater (41) and Sean Ervine (45) contributed with vital knocks but it was Dawson’s who hit a brilliant half-century, his second in as many matches, to see Hampshire home with three balls to spare.

Up against such an imposing opening pair of Dawid Malan (25) and Brendon McCullum (74), it was no surprise that the hosts made such a quick start to the match, finding the boundary regularly to the Hants seamers, leaving the score on 76-0 after just ten overs.

It quickly became clear that spin was going to become very useful on this wicket and it was Mason Crane & Liam Dawson who brought Hants right back into the game.

Crane burst onto the scene last season, picking up the prize wicket of Kumar Sangakkara on his Hampshire debut and today, the 19-year old added the likes of Dawid Malan, Brendon McCullum and England captain Eoin Morgan to his impressive list of victims.

This, alongside an excellent spell of ten overs from Dawson going for just 32 runs, kept the visitors in the game during the middle overs but it was a Middlesex innings which saw the score tick along at a healthy rate.

A deserved dismissal for Ryan Stevenson (1-39) and Dawson’s third catch of the game off the bowling of Crane to dismiss skipper James Franklin (40) did peg Middlesex back late in their innings, but an unbeaten 21 from Toby Roland-Jones helped the home side reach 295-8 from their 50 overs.

A heavy shower with Hampshire 12-1 meant that the visitors were set a revised target of 202 in 26 overs and in T20 mode, the Hampshire batsmen delivered brilliantly.

Initially it was Jimmy Adams (26) and Wheater who set the foundations – regularly finding the boundary to match the required run-rate of just under nine an over.

When they both fell in quick succession, it was the Hampshire skipper Ervine who hit some magnificent shots for his 45 from 32 balls (4 fours, 2 sixes) alongside Dawson who had a strike rate of 170 during his 40-ball knock of 68.   

Dawson finished unbeaten for the second time in as many matches as Gareth Andrew (4*) hit the winning runs with just three balls remaining.