Hants crash to Twenty20 defeat at Kent (From Daily Echo)

Hants crash to Twenty20 defeat at Kent

9:22pm Monday 22nd June 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Hampshire need to win two of their last three group games to reach the Twenty20 Cup quarter finals – starting against champions Middlesex at the Rose Bowl tomorrow night (7.10pm).

That is the task facing the Hawks after being leapfrogged by Kent in the South Division following a dramatic eight-run defeat at Tunbridge Wells.

Chasing 183 to win after Darren Stevens had blitzed a 27-ball 56, Hampshire failed to score the 14 runs they needed off the final over from Ryan McLaren.

Despite Michael Lumb’s valiant 59 (33 balls), Stevens’ phenomenal clean hitting proved the difference.

Stevens showed why he would have been a useful member of England’s World Twenty20 squad by smashing six sixes, including three in succession against Sean Ervine in the all-rounder’s first game back from a hamstring injury.

Hampshire could only muster five between them but Michael Lumb raced to fifty from just 29 balls (11 fours) without a single maximum before drilling one over long off against McLaren. He and Jimmy Adams (11) were then dismissed in quick succession.

Ervine crashed James Tredwell for six over long on before he was caught on the line attempting a repeat against man-of-the-match Stevens.

The assault on the Kent attack continued, with Michael Carberry depositing Azhar Mahmood over the rope at deep mid-wicket before hitting two successive fours to leave 41 needed from the last three overs.

Chris Benham’s 23-ball 36 provided hope. He despatched Tredwell for successive sixes over long on that reduced the target to 22 from 12 balls.

Hampshire were slight favourites at that stage but Carberry (39) was run out from deep cover after slipping when he was sent back.

Frustratingly, Hampshire’s three Twenty20 Cup defeats this season have been the only three games that Dimi Mascarenhas has been available for.

Hopes were high when the captain glanced his first ball from Mahmood for four but he was run out returning for a second by an outstanding McLaren throw from long on, to leave 14 needed off the final over.

McLaren began it with a yorker that saw off Benham and when Pothas was run out, Liam Dawson and Dominic Cork were left with too much to do.

Hampshire conceded NINE sixes during Kent’s 182-4. Only once have they conceded more in a Twenty20 Cup game, against Surrey five years ago Joe Denly (26) began the onslaught by hitting Dawson back over his head before he and Martin van Jaarsveld went in successive Mascarenhas overs.

After being dropped by Benham at long on, Geraint Jones (5) was bowled by the excellent Imran Tahir (4-0-17-1) two balls later – but that brought Stevens to the crease.

Having seen off the outstanding Mascarenhas (4-0-19-2), Kent were reined in by the leg-spinner. But Stevens broke the shackles with successive fours in Cork’s first over. And when Cork was replaced by Ervine, Stevens thumped the Zimbabwean out of the attack.

Kent captain Rob Key (58 not out), shared 78 in just seven overs with Stevens, who launched Cork for his fourth maximum.

Stevens deposited Taylor for another six over the sightscreen to reach fifty from just 24 balls. Then he smashed a Taylor full toss past Adams’ despairing dive and over the mid-wicket boundary.

It needed a sensational diving catch from former Kent man Carberry at deep extra cover, to end Stevens’ blitzkrieg in the 17th over.

Justin Kemp (16 not out) joined in the fun, hooking a Cork bouncer for six more before ending the Kent innings by crashing last ball of the innings, over long on.

After tomorrow night’s floodlit game against Shaun Udal’s Middlesex, Hampshire host Kent at the Rose Bowl (Friday) before completing their group campaign against Essex at Chelmsford on Sunday.