Four wickets for Warne as Hampshire lose
Sun, May 07 Middlesex v Hampshire
Hampshire lost their 100 per cent record in this season's Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy as Middlesex, previously without a win, beat them by just 13 runs at Uxbridge on Sunday.
Leg-spinner Shane Warne, who won the toss, took 4-48 for the title-holders while James Bruce and Billy Taylor claimed two wickets apiece as Middlesex were dismissed for 254 in the last of their 50 overs.
Opener Ed Smith inspired Middlesex with a superb 64-ball innings of 88 before Shaun Udal, having just been left out of England's team to face Sri Lanka in the first Test later this week, trapped him lbw
In reply Hampshire slipped to 103-5 when Dominic Thornely was caught at deep mid-off and they suffered a major blow when Kevin Pietersen, whose 43 included two sixes, was slickly stumped down the legside off paceman Melvyn Betts to make it 142-6 in the 31st over.
Although Hampshire always struggled to step up the run-rate, their hopes of a third successive C&G Trophy victory this season rose as new signing Michael Carberry shared a seventh-wicket stand of 52 with Dimitri Mascarenhas who made 20 before being caught on the mid-wicket boundary.One run later left-hander Carberry, whose 52 was a career-best score in the competition, fell to a stunning catch at deep backward point.
That double setback left Hampshire tottering on 195-8, still 60 runs short of their target, but Udal then put on 15 with James Bruce before sharing a defiant last-wicket stand of 31 with Billy Taylor. The final over started with Hampshire needing another 14 runs to complete an heroic comeback, but Udal was promptly yorked for 32, having hit three sixes, one a straight drive that cleared the sightscreen, and the innings closed on 241.
* Fast bowler Chris Tremlett, who has been troubled by a foot injury, hopes to return for Hampshire in their Liverpool Victoria County Championship match against Warwickshire, starting at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
* Hampshire's next Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy fixture is against Kent at The Rose Bowl on Sunday, May 14 (10.45am).
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