Hampshire v Essex Twenty20 Cup 1st July

Ervine salutes the crowd as he hits his 50

Hampshire win by seven wickets over Essex in a 15 over Twenty20 at The Rose Bowl Griffiths takes 3 wickets on his Twenty20 debut

GRIFFITHS STARS ON HAMPSHIRE DEBUT

Young David Griffiths enjoyed a dream competitive debut for Hampshire as a 7,000 Rose Bowl crowd saw the county pick up their first Twenty20 Cup victory of the current campaqign, beating Essex by seven wickets on Sunday.

Griffiths, the 21-year-old fast-medium bowler from Newport on the Isle of Wight, took 3-13--including a wicket in the first of his three impressive overs--as Essex were restricted to 99-8 off 15 overs after being put in to bat.

Sean Ervine then led the way with an assured unbeaten 50 as Hampshire reached their target with 2.4 overs to spare.

Due to recent heavy rain, the match got underway an hour and three-quarters behind the scheduled 2.30pm start, with the number of overs reduced by 25 per cent. The groundstaff had worked flat out to make conditions playable, though the outfield was still slippery.

Essex struggled to step up the tempo of their innings against an accurate five-man Hampshire attack that was minus strike bowler Chris Tremlett, who was rested.

James Bruce (2-21) snapped up the first two wickets and off-spinner Greg Lamb, the fifth bowler used, took 2-17. His second victim was Andy Bichel, the hard-hitting former Hampshire all-rounder, who was out for a duck, brilliantly caught by Ervine at deep square-leg.

Ryan ten Doeschate, the Dutch international, top-scored with 22 and opener Grant Flower made 21.

When Hampshire batted, Adam Voges (11) was trapped lbw by Bichel and Michael Lumb was run out by a distance after a mix-up.

But Ervine and Chris Benham (17), who joined forces at 43-2, shared a third-wicket stand of 42. Ervine hit his second six--the only ones in the match--just before victory was clinched.

ESSEX 99-8 (15 overs): Ten Doeschate 22, G.Flower 21, Griffiths 3-13, Lamb 2-17, Bruce 2-21. HAMPSHIRE 100-3 (12.2 overs): Ervine 50 not out, Benham 17.

HAMPSHIRE won by seven wickets.

* Hampshire's penultimate Twenty20 Cup qualifier is against Essex at Chelmsford on Thursday. They then meet Sussex at Hove next day.