A grey day at The Rose Bowl didn’t stop the crowds from turning out in force to watch Hampshire play Somerset in the penultimate Pro40 game of the season. A single point separated the teams mid table, but Somerset were still in with a sniff of taking the title, needing to win all their remaining games to do so.

Hampshire won the toss and decided to bat, but lost Jimmy Adams in the fifth over, caught on the boundary by List A debutant Jos Buttler off Charl Willoughby for 2. Michael Lumb and James Vince sought to put Hampshire back on the right track, and took the score to 47 in the tenth before Lumb was lbw attempting a pull shot off Willoughby for 28.

This precipitated a mini collapse, with Sean Ervine being bowled by Willoughby for 10 and Vince bowled by Ben Phillips for 20, both with Hampshire’s score on 61. Chris Benham and Liam Dawson made an understandably cautious start, but brought up the hundred in the 21st over with a Benham 4 off the medium pace of Peter Trego.

The fifth wicket pair settled down nicely, but still found it hard to get the Somerset bowlers away on what looked like a slowish pitch. Needing to up the rate, Dawson attempted to hit out and was saved on 32 when Marcus Trescothick and Max Waller collided mid wicket and missed the catch, but was out the very next over for 34 when Trego held on two-handed to reduce Hampshire to 142 for 5. As so very often happens, one wicket followed another and Benham was caught by James Hildreth off Phillips in the next over for a stylish but careful 42.
This brought Dimitri Mascarenhas and Nic Pothas to the crease and after a brief assessment of the Somerset bowlers, Mascarenhas began to hit out in an attempt to set Somerset a challenging score. He made 43 not out off 29 balls, which included two consecutive sixes off Zander de Bruyn; one into the hospitality pods and another back towards the pavilion.

Hampshire finished on 205 for 7, after Pothas was lbw to Thomas for 7 and Tremlett 6 not out.

With Somerset chasing a lowly target of 206, Trescothick showed his initial intent to wrap up a quick victory with a boundary to deep point from Mascarenhas’ first delivery, despite Pothas standing up to the stumps.

Hampshire should have claimed their first wicket in the third over when Craig Kieswetter  skied a Mascarenhas ball into the increasingly dull sky. However when it eventually came down Tremlett dropped the dolly ball, with what felt like thunder now looming over the Hawks. Trescothick effortlessly flicked a 6 to square leg the very next ball as the drop looked even more costly, paving the way for the coming onslaught.

The Hawks were then struck by lightening as Trescothick found all corners of the ground with a batting master class of sheer precision. It was boundaries galore as the timing and accuracy of Trescothick’s shots highlighted what England have been clearly missing in their recent ODIs against Australia. Kieswetter soon joined in on the act as he opened his shoulders and found the boundary rope on consecutive occasions on route to the 50 partnership in the eighth over.  By the end of the tenth Somerset had reached a quickfire 72.

Hampshire claimed the prize wicket of Trescothick in the eleventh when he lofted Riazuddin to the back pedalling Lumb at mid off as he duly held onto the catch. Trescothick made an entertaining 44 from 37 balls which included 3 sixes.
Hampshire stalled the Somerset attack while new batsmen Hildreth settled however Tremlett claimed his wicket after an unfortunate inside edge dislodged the bails to leave him trudging back to the pavilion having made 12. De Bruyn joined Kieswetter at the crease with the turn of their 100 in the seventeenth as Somerset continued to rotate the strike, content with singles after the Hawks had weathered the Sabres’ storm.

Danny Briggs entered the fray making his debut in the Pro40 having made two List A appearances earlier on in the year in the Friends Provident Trophy.

Kieswetter brought up his half century in style with a boundary to mid off taking him to 52 followed by a huge 6 to deep mid wicket as he looked to push the Somerset run rate up a notch once again. It became a matter of when Somerset where going to reach the target and not if as Kieswetter hit a maximum to long off.

Ervine was finally rewarded with the wicket of De Bruyn after clean bowling the South African for 25 with his last delivery of his 8 over spell. Gloveman Kieswetter, who looked on course for a century, was caught by Vince at cover from Riazuddin having constructed a brilliant innings of 81 leaving Somerset 185 for 4.

New batsmen Suppiah and Trego knocked off the final 21 runs with ease as Trego hit the winning runs with a boundary with 8 overs to spare.

Hampshire’s final match in this competition is at The Rose Bowl next Saturday 19th against the Nottinghamshire Outlaws with a 12.45 start.

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