Royals Continue Winning Streak in the Rain

Match report from the Hampshire Royals' Friends Life t20 match against Surrey at the Kia Oval

 Surrey v Hampshire Royals
Friends Life t20
Monday 2 July 2012
The Kia Oval

Summary: Hampshire Royals beat Surrey by 19 runs (D/L Method)
Surrey: 84-4
Hampshire Royals: 63-0 (5.4 / 5.4 ovs - target 45)
Scorecard
Concurrent Table

Surrey Team
Davies†, Roy, Pietersen, de Bruyn, Spriegel, Ansari, Batty*, Meaker, Kartik, Tremlett, Nannes
Royals Team
Adams, Vince, Katich, McKenzie, Ervine, Maxwell, Dawson, Mascarenhas*, Wood, Bates, Briggs†

Hampshire made it five Friends Life t20 wins in a row with a thoroughly professional performance in a severely rain-affected match against Surrey at the Kia Oval.

Following a delayed start, in a match reduced to 10 overs per side, they first managed to limit their hosts to 84-4; some excellent returns from Liam Dawson (0-10 from 2 overs) and Sean Ervine (0-12 off 2 overs) doing the damage.

Then, in increasingly heavy rain, James Vince (24*) and Jimmy Adams (28*) kept their heads – even if they struggled to keep their feet - to ensure their side stayed marginally ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis Method, reaching 63-0 by the time the weather brought them off just four runs after confirming a match had been constituted.

Hampshire, therefore, having gone undefeated at home last season, have done the same away from the South coast this summer and the two points gained moves them to within a point of group leaders, the Sussex Sharks.

That sets up a delicious South Coast derby when the two teams meet in their penultimate group match at The Ageas Bowl next Friday. A victory there could well see them confirm a third Quarter-Final appearance in three years.

Surrey stand-in captain Gareth Batty won the toss and inserted his re-arranged batting line-up; returning England star, Kevin Pietersen (0) [pictured below] asked to face the first ball. But, to the delight of the travelling faithful, their former player slashed Dawson to a diving Adams at extra cover first ball!

Pietersen, of course, wasn’t involved in his side’s seven wicket loss at The Ageas Bowl on Saturday but his team-mates were and, desperate not to repeat their dreadful start in that match, the next 4.5 overs saw them really hit out.

That, of course, comes with both risks and rewards and an opening five overs that went for an average of nearly 10 runs each was tempered by two wickets; Steven Davies going for an aggressive 30 off 11 balls and Jason Roy (4) becoming the second home batsman to fall to the first ball of a Dawson over.

But, to Hampshire’s credit, they fought back as they had done against Essex last Friday. New man, Zafar Ansari was batting beautifully so it helped immensely that the Hants attack then kept him off strike for eight balls while Zander de Bruyn struggled make a connection with the bat.

In fact, though they would take only one more wicket in the second five overs, they did reduce the run-rate to a more manageable 7.2 – including just six and five off the final two overs.

But that, of course, would mean nothing if Hampshire didn’t bat well and, after an opening Dirk Nannes over which, disappointingly, conceded just two runs, that was exactly what openers Adams and Vince did, taking a massive 17 off another former Royal, Chris Tremlett’s first over.

Battling the rain as well as a difficult score, the Hampshire duo knew that five overs constituted a match and, promisingly, remained ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis score at the end of each of them; reaching 51-0 by the half-way stage (versus a D/L of 47).

Just four balls (and a glorious Vince six) later, Stuart Meaker, in increasingly wet conditions, bowled a horrible no ball that forced the umpire’s hand and that brought them off.

Home skipper Batty wasn’t happy, and perhaps with some justification as the teams had been playing in the drizzle for some time. Hampshire won’t care, however. They’re now just two wins away from continuing their incredible success story in the T20 group stages over recent years.

Words: Simon Vincent
Images: Getty Images

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