Michael Yardy won the toss for Sussex and put his team in to bat.  Murray Goodwin and Chris Nash opened the batting for the Sussex Sharks. Hamza Riazuddin gave the visitors a warm welcome in the 4th over when he bowled Goodwin for 12, then followed up with the wicket of England prospect Luke Wright for 0 very next ball, which left Sussex reeling on 16 for 2.

Hampshire got their third wicket of the contest when Riazuddin ensured his best Twenty20 figures when Chris Nash skied a drive off his bowling to Chris Benham.

Sussex showed some resistance after the early onslaught in the form of Ed Joyce and Dwayne Smith, who struck up a 50 partnership to try and limit the damage inflicted by Riazuddin. Riazuddin’s figures were impressive, as he ended with 3 for 15 following an impeccable bowling display. 

Sussex’s Dwayne Smith reached his half century in the 16th over off 39 balls, but it wasn’t long before Imram Tahir took the wicket of Ed Joyce with the last ball of his spell to leave Sussex scratching their heads at 94 for 4.

The wicket of Rory Hamilton-Brown followed after being bowled by Cork caught Adams in the 17th over, but Cork wasn’t satisfied and took the elusive wicket of Smith with a perfectly executed run out.

Cork bowled his last over in style with the wicket of Yasir Arafat for 9, which was closely followed by Ben Brown for 0 when he lofted a ball to Lumb at short mid wicket, giving Cork figures of 3 for 30.

Sussex ended the innings leaving Hampshire Hawks to chase their total of 133 for 8.

Michael Lumb and Jimmy Adams opened the batting for Hampshire and got off to a superb start taking 9 from Luke Wright’s opening over with both Lumb and Adams hitting boundaries.

Lumb continued where he left off in the Friends Provident quarter final against Middlesex where he scored 100, with two consecutive boundaries from the bowling of Arafat, the first to mid wicket and the second to deep point taking his tally to 13. Lumb hit an astonishing 5 boundaries inside 3 overs to give Hampshire the perfect launch pad to chase down Sussex’s score.  Sussex’s only breakthrough came in the third over when Smith bowled Lumb for 21 to leave the Hawks 33 for 1 and Sean Ervine walking to the crease.

Ervine and Adams piled on the runs for Hampshire and brought up the Hawks’ 50 with a boundary to leave the home side on 57 for 1 after 5 overs and then 64 for 1 after the 6 powerplay overs. Jimmy Adams hit a magnificent reverse sweep for 6 in the 7th and then in the following over the 50 partnership came up with the Hawks closing in for victory on 85 for 1.

In the 10th over Hampshire’s 100 came up with Adams sweeping a further 6 to mid wicket taking his score to 46. Adams and Ervine continued to hit boundaries to all corners of the ground in a spectacular batting master class from both players.  Adams hit his third consecutive 50 when a miss-field from Hamilton-Brown allowed him to take two.

The 100 partnership came in the 15th over with Hampshire needing just four more runs to win. Jimmy Adams hit the winning runs off Sharks’ captain Yardy from the first ball of the 17th to complete a comprehensive victory for Hampshire. Adams was unbeaten on 68 with Ervine 42 not out.  Hamza Riazuddin was man of the match.

Match report by Scott Harris and Ally Fisher.

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