Topley & Bailey Impress But Hampshire Defeated By Middlesex

Reece Topley and George Bailey both impressed for Hampshire depsite suffering an 89-run (D/L) defeat against Middlesex in the Royal London One-Day Cup encounter between the two sides at the The Ageas Bowl.

Topley (4-68) took key wickets during the latter stages of the Middlesex innings, including the scalp of Nick Gubbins (114), as the visitors posted 295 batting first.

Despite the loss of early wickets, Bailey (52*) battled hard to strrke his second successive List A century in as many games.

However, as wickets continued to tumble, Hampshire slipped to 146-7 before rain intervened and with no further play possible, Middlesex were awarded the win.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, Hampshire struck inside the opening powerplay, Gareth Berg (2-50) removing the dangerous Dawid Malan (24).

When Sam Robson (12) then retired hurt shortly after, the hosts will have been hoping to claim further quick wickets but the well-equiped Gubbins continued to accumulate quickly.

The left-hander soon reached his half-century before then kicking on to reach three-figures inside 35 overs.

A Hampshire fightback ensued though, Topley removing Gubbins, before Mason Crane (3-57) bowled superbly to restrict the away-side to 258-5 heading into the innings' final overs.

Topley then claimed two wickets in his final over to finish with four overall as Middlesex fell just short of the 300 they would have hoped to post earlier in their batting effort.

Set 296 for victory, Hampshire stumbled early on in their reply as four wickets fell in quick succession during the opening powerplays.

Sean Ervine (33) and Bailey led their side's recovery - the duo sharing a 70-run partnership to take the home-side beyond 100 without further loss.

However, Middlesex assumed control again following Ervine's departure, and when two further wickets fell the total soon became 146-7.

Bailey continued to find the boundary and reached his deserved half-century, but rain crept in soon after which ensured no further play was possible and Middlesex picked up the victory.