Dramatic Finish Sees Royals Qualify For the Quarter-Finals
Jul 26 2013
McKenzie hit the winning runs with four balls to spare
Hampshire Royals v Essex Eagles
Friends Life T20
Friday 26th July
The Ageas Bowl
Summary: Hampshire Royals beat Essex Eagles by five wickets
with four balls remaining
Essex: 182-5
Hampshire: 183-5 (19.2 ovs)
Scorecard
Concurrent Table
Image Gallery
Royals:
Carberry, Vince, Adams, McKenzie, Ervine, Dawson, Wheater, Mascarenhas, Wood, Briggs, Griffiths
Eagles:
Rutherford, Smith, Shah, Bopara, ten Doeschate, Foster, Napier, Phillips, Tait, Topley, Masters
The Hampshire Royals qualified for the Quarter-Finals of the Friends Life t20 after a dramatic finish at The Ageas Bowl which saw Neil McKenzie hit the winning runs in the last over to secure a five-wicket victory over the Essex Eagles.
68 off just 43 balls from Owais Shah had helped Essex post an imposing 182-5 off their 20 overs.
54 at the top of the order from Michael Carberry set up the run-chase before 36 from Sean Ervine and an unbeaten 29 from McKenzie helped Hampshire reach the target in an innings which saw Essex penalised six runs late on for a slow over-rate.
The result means Hampshire are guaranteed a top-two place in the South Group with two matches remaining.
After winning their previous three Flt20 matches, the Essex Eagles were form team going into this crucial match. And despite Royals skipper Dimitri Mascarenhas (2-40) picking up an early wicket, Essex certainly started like the form side as they raced to 53-1 off the first six overs.
Essex’ progress was halted by an unlikely method soon after as an injury for the fluent looking Shah (68) stopped any momentum in its tracks. However, a hobbling Shah aided by a runner still proved to be hugely effective as he continued to find the boundary to bring up his fifty in just 34 balls (5 fours, 3 sixes).
On what looked to be a good batting wicket, it was spinners Danny Briggs (1-28) and Liam Dawson (1-35) who proved most effective, but even they couldn’t stop Essex reaching 182-5 - the highest FLt20 score at The Ageas Bowl this season.
Almost identical to the visitors’ innings, the Royals got off to a flying start with Carberry (54) and James Vince (17) leading the home side to 57-0 off the first six overs. However, soon after Carberry reached his half-century off 38 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes) he and Jimmy Adams (12) fell within two overs of each other to leave the Royals 114-3.
With Hampshire Slowly edging further and further away from the required run-rate, the match was in the balance. And it was a dramatic turn of events that swung the game into Hampshire’s favour.
With Ervine (36) and McKenzie (29*) hitting 18 runs off the 18th over, Hampshire were left just 16 runs off the final two overs. But that soon became just 10 as Essex were penalised six runs for a slow over-rate . And Despite a couple of late wickets, McKenzie hit the winning runs to book Hampshire’s place in the Quarter-Finals with four balls to spare.
Words: Jamie Hopkins
Image: LMI Photography
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South-African Neil McKenzie has been the Royals’ form player in the competition so far with an incredible average of 175 from five matches. England spinner Danny Briggs has been the stand-out performer with the ball for Hampshire with 10 wickets at an average of 12. James Vince hit 55 as Hampshire secured a nine-run win the last time these two sides met at The Ageas Bowl in July 2011.
Batsmen Owais Shah and Hamish Rutherford have been key to Essex’ FLt20 campaign with both hitting over 200 runs in competition. Young seamer Reece Topley has outshone veteran fast-bowler Tait so far with 13 wickets in 7 matches.