Hampshire pipped off the last ball
Sun, May 14 Hampshire v Kent
Hampshire suffered heartbreak in Sunday's Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy match, losing by four wickets to Kent off the very last ball at The Rose Bowl.
In a dramatic finish, Kent squeezed to their target of 259 after needing 18 runs off the last seven deliveries and a single off the last ball.
If the scores had finished level the result would have been a tie--irrespective of the number of wickets each team lost.
Australian Dominic Thornely top-scored with a superb, unbeaten 107 off 111 balls as Hampshire, who chose to bat first, totalled 258-7 off their 50 overs. Majestic from the start of his innings, he hit eight fours and a six. Thornely shared a fourth-wicket stand of 71 with Michael Carberry (33) and added 65 with Greg Lamb (35) for the fifth wicket.
Kent's reply was launched by a first-wicket stand of 80 before Dimi Mascarenhas struck with two wickets in successive overs. Darren Stevens was caught by James Bruce at deep mid-off for 43 and fellow-opener Neil Dexter (39) then fell to a carbon-copy dismissal.
Shane Warne followed up by bowling Martin van Jaarsveld (21) round his legs to make it 127-3 and when Justin Kemp, having just hit Lamb for two sixes, was caught and bowled by Shaun Udal for 29 Kent were 194-4, still needing 65 off eight overs.
Thornely, Hampshire's batting hero, then threatened to win the match with the ball, dismissing the outstanding Rob Key for 76 and, in the final over, Andrew Hall for 10.
But with the crowd on the edge of their seats Matt Walker kept his nerve to bring the scores level with a straight-driven four off the penultimate ball. Then the left-hander scrambled the decisive single to secure Kent's first C&G Trophy win of the season and send Hampshire to a second successive narrow defeat in the competition.
HAMPSHIRE 258-7 (50 overs): Thornely 107 not out, Lamb 35, Carberry 33. KENT 259-6 (50 overs): Key 76, Thornely 2-43, Mascarenhas 2-47.
* Hampshire play Loughborough University in a three-day match starting at The Rose Bowl on Wednesday and return to Cheltenham & Gloucester action next Sunday, against Somerset at Taunton.
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