Vince Masterclass Moves Hampshire Top
Jul 14 2013
Vince's knock came from 49 balls (12 fours, 2 sixes)
Hampshire Royals v Middlesex Panthers
Friends Life T20
Sunday 14th July (2.30pm start)
Richmond
Summary: Hampshire Royals beat Middlesex Panthers
by seven wickets
Panthers: 162-5
Royals: 164-3
Scorcard
An excellent display of hitting from James Vince (84) helped the Hampshire Royals secure a commanding seven wicket victory over the Middlesex Panthers in the Friends Life T20 match at Richmond.
Dimitri Mascarenhas (2-19) had earlier starred with the ball as the home side posted 162-5 off their 20 overs with Middlesex opener Dawid Malan hitting 77.
But an outstanding knock from Vince, who was expertly supported at the top of the order by Michael Carberry (43) led Hampshire to a comfortable win to leapfrog their opponents to the top of the South Group.
Not that Hampshire needed a confidence booster going to the game, but the visitors were buoyed by the fact they had won the previous three matches between the two sides at the ground. And Hampshire began like a team in form with Mascarenhas picking up two early wickets to leave Middlesex 35-2.
But the Panthers in form batsman – Malan – looked assured at the crease, finding the boundary at regular intervals. And in Australian batsman Adam Voges (28), Malan had a fluent partner at the crease as Middlesex looked in a strong position to set an imposing total.
And despite Vince (1-5) picking up his first twenty20 wicket of his career to dismiss Voges, wicketkeeper Adam Rossington (26) helped Malan steer the home side to 162-5 off their 20 overs.
Needing over eight an over for victory, Hampshire knew they would have to come quickly out of the traps to reach the target. And that’s exactly what Carberry and Vince did as they hit boundaries to all parts of the ground to power to 83-0 off the first six overs – a rate of 13 runs an over.
Neither batsman looked like throwing their wicket away so it was no surprise that it took a stroke of bad luck to end the partnership. Carberry was run-out at the non-strikers end to end his knock of 43, which came off just 16 balls (5 fours, 3 sixes).
However, Jimmy Adams (29) started where Carberry left off as he and Vince continued Hampshire’s rapid surge towards the target. Unfortunately for Vince, he was unable to see it through as he fell with Hampshire just four runs off the victory as he finished on 84 off just 49 balls (12 fours, 2 sixes).
It was Sean Ervine who finished the job off quite fittingly with a boundary to secure the win for Hampshire with 29 balls to spare.
Words: Jamie Hopkins
Images: LMI Photography