Record crowd see Hampshire win in vain

Hampshire have failed to reach the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals, despite beating Sussex by 15 runs in a low-scoring match on Friday evening in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a domestic cricket match in the county.

Fri, Jul 07  Hampshire v Sussex

Hampshire have failed to reach the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals, despite beating Sussex by 15 runs in a low-scoring match on Friday evening in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a domestic cricket match in the county.

More than 11,000 packed into The Rose Bowl as Hampshire made 112-5 and then restricted their South Coast rivals to 97-9 in reply.

Ironically, Hampshire's winning total was their lowest at home in the Twenty20 Cup since it was launched in 2003

But their third win in seven matches in this season's competition failed to lift them high enough in the South section to qualify for the knock-out stages.

Both teams found run-scoring difficult and Hampshire hit only one boundary in struggling to 39-3 off 11 overs.

Dominic Thornely led the way with 37, sharing stands of 29 with Greg Lamb (17) and then 43 with Dimi Mascarenhas, whose unbeaten 22 included a six over mid-wicket. Twenty-six priceless runs came off the last two overs.

Yasser Arafat, the Sussex new-ball bowler, took 2-6 off three overs, while left-arm spinner Michael Yardy bowled Lamb with his first delivery and finished with 2-27.

The Sussex innings started brightly before the runs dried up after Michael Carberry took a brilliant running catch just inside the mid-wicket boundary to get rid of Matt Prior. Hampshire skipper Shaun Udal then caught his opposite number, Chris Adams (3), at deep mid-off to provide ex-Sussex seamer Billy Taylor with his second wicket. He finished with miserly figures of 2-9 from four overs.

Top-scorer Yardy was run out for 37--Hampshire's fielding was electric throughout--in a pulsating penultimate over that yielded three wickets. The last two fell to the influential Mascarenhas, courtesy of two catches by Thornely in the deep.

Mascarenhas finished with 4-23 as Sussex scored only 10 runs off the last three overs--in stark contrast to Hampshire's grandstand finish to their innings.

HAMPSHIRE 112-5 (20 overs): Thornely 37, Mascarenhas 22 not out, Lamb 17, Arafat 2-6, Yardy 2-27. SUSSEX 97-9 (20 overs): Yardy 37, Montgomerie 20, Mascarenhas 4-23, Taylor 2-9.

* Hampshire's final Twenty20 Cup match is away to bottom-of-the-table Middlesex at Southgate on Tuesday.

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