Spinners set up Hampshire victory
Greg Lamb and Shaun Udal
Mon, Jul 03 Hampshire v Essex
Off-spinners Shaun Udal and Greg Lamb took three wickets apiece as Hampshire returned to winning ways in the Twenty20 Cup by beating Essex by 36 runs at The Rose Bowl on Monday evening.
Hampshire, who won the toss, totalled 151-4 from their 20 overs. Essex then collapsed from 57-1 to 115 all out in 16.2 overs.
Opener Michael Carberry top-scored for Hampshire with 53. He shared a third-wicket stand of 57 with man-of-the-match Lamb who finished with an unbeaten 37 after then putting on 56 for the fifth wicket with Dimi Mascarenhas whose hard-hitting 21-ball knock of 42 not out contained three sixes.
Having scored only 61 runs off the first 10 overs, Hampshire hammered 90 off the last 10--including 55 off the final five.
Essex made a disastrous start to their reply when their in-form captain Ronnie Irani was out for a duck in the first over. Dominic Thornely's deadly direct hit from deep point ran him out as he backed up at the non-striker's end. Irani had scored 81 not out in the seven-wicket win over Hampshire at Chelmsford three days earlier.
Mark Pettini (26) and Darren Gough (34) took the score to 57 before Gough was bowled in Mascarenhas' first over.
Lamb, the sixth Hampshire bowler used, promptly dismissed Pettini and Ryan ten Doeschate--both stumped down the legside by Nic Pothas off successive deliveries--and, remarkably, James Middlebrook later fell in the same way to the Zimbabwean who finished with 3-23. Udal formed an all-spin attack in eight overs of destruction, the skipper returning figures of 3-21 as he accounted for James Foster, former Hampshire man Andy Bichel and Ravinder Bopara as the Essex innings subsided.
HAMPSHIRE 151-4 (20 overs): Carberry 53, Mascarenhas 42 not out, Lamb 37 not out; ESSEX 115 (16.2 overs): Udal 3-21, Lamb 3-23, Mascarenhas 2-15.
* Hampshire have won two of their first five Twenty20 Cup matches and now face two more crucial home fixtures this week. They play Surrey on Thursday and Sussex on Friday, both matches at The Rose Bowl starting at 5.30pm.
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