Vince Holds His Nerve as Royals Make History

Hampshire beat Warwickshire by 5 wickets to make it through to their first ever Finals Day.

Warwickshire Bears v Hampshire Royals
Friends Provident t20 Quarter-Final
Monday 26th July 2010
Edgbaston 

A second nail-biting finish in as many days saw the Royals through to Finals Day on their home turf. A scrambled single off the penultimate ball was enough to see Hampshire claim the five wicket win.

James Vince was the hero with the bat, holding his nerve to make 66 not out and condemn the Bears to their seventh t20 Quarter Final loss in eight seasons.

Earlier, Danny Briggs had taken three wickets to help limit the hosts to 153-5.

Despite needing five runs off the last six balls, Hampshire always looked more comfortable than the result suggested, and they’ll take confidence from three wins in just over a week going into their first ever Finals Day in just over two weeks’ time.

Click here to see a full scorecard

Hampshire captain, Dominic Cork won the toss and chose to field first, hypothesising, quite reasonably, that some pre-match drizzle would have made the surface greasy and difficult to bat on. And straight away that decision looked a good one as opener Neil Carter (1) was clean bowled fourth ball by the skipper.

However, that brought in Keith Barker who used the zip off the surface to his advantage, racing to 28 off 22 balls. Cue: a change of tactics and when Briggs spun a one-over old ball Barker’s way the former Rochdale football-player was heading for an early shower, so-to-speak.

Indeed, the 19 year old was too much for Darren Maddy (44) and Ian Westwood (5) too, ending with figures of 3-29 and a televised appearance that will have done much to enhance his reputation as one of England’s finest young prospects.

With five overs to go, the Bears were 109-5 and looking like they would need a slog-fest to post a competitive score. That never really materialised and the hosts finished with 153 to their name.

James Vince (right) scored 66 not out off 52 balls.

A belligerent 4th over, which cost the Bears 17 runs, set an optimistic scene for the Royals, doubling their score and taking them to 34. Jimmy Adams (18) even had time to register his 600th run in the competition this season before skying Carter to third man.

Not to worry; Abdul Razzaq (33) and James Vince were looking in fine touch and, despite losing the Pakistani, the Royals were more than half-way there after 10 overs, scoring 83-2 and needing 71 for victory.

A farcical few balls around the 14 over-stage saw Sean Ervine, having been at the crease mere minutes, surviving two run out appeals and an lbw shout. Warwickshire were getting desperate.

And with the scent of Bear blood in his nostrils, Vince went on to grab his 50 off 37 balls (including five 4s and one 6), eventually finishing on 66 not out.

The win means Hampshire are the first team to reach their own Finals Day at The Rose Bowl on the 14th August. Hants fans may just about have had time to recover by then!

***

The final allocation of tickets for Royals fans wanting to attend Finals Day will be allocated as below:

From 9am Wednesday 28th  - Hampshire Members and Executive Club Members only
From Saturday 31st  - spectators at the LV Championship Match v Lancashire
From 9am Monday 2nd – general sale

Words: Simon Vincent, Images: LMI Photography / Barry Zee

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