Hants prepare for Essex showdown after rare home defeat (From Daily Echo)

Hants prepare for Essex showdown after rare home defeat

11:12pm Friday 26th June 2009 in

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Hampshire will have to end their appalling Twenty20 record at Essex if they are to qualify for the quarter finals.

After their first home Twenty20 defeat against Kent, Hampshire need to beat Essex in front of their partisan supporters at The Ford County Ground, Chelmsford, to reach their first Twenty20 quarter-final for five years.

Kent went top of the South Division and qualified for the last eight by winning their penultimate group match, by seven wickets with 2.1 overs to spare.

But Hampshire and Essex will be playing for the right to take the last remaining quarter-final place as one of the two best third-placed sides on Sunday afternoon.

Hampshire would also be relying on other results going their way during the final round of games had Essex not been beaten by Middlesex at Lord’s while they were collapsing to their first home defeat of this season’s Twenty20 Cup.

But they will have the consolation of going to Essex with their destiny in their own hands - despite being on the receiving end of a second man-of-the-match display in five days from Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens.

Following his 27-ball 56 in Hampshire’s defeat at Tunbridge Wells, Stevens walloped an unbeaten 62 from just 42 deliveries, having taken 1-23 as the home side were restricted to 131-7 after winning the toss.

He shared 102 runs in just 12 overs with Geraint Jones (35*) and pulled Sean Ervine for successive sixes, having driven the same bowler for three maximums in a row on Monday, as Kent cruised to victory.

Captain Dimi Mascarenhas had given Hampshire hope by blitzing his highest Twenty20 score of the season before uprooting Rob Key’s leg stump via an inside edge in the third over of the Kent reply.

Having put on 49 vital runs with Mascarenhas, Dominic Cork trapped Joe Denly (9) lbw in the next over.

And Chris Tremlett prompted the biggest cheer of the night when he sliced Martin van Jaarsveld’s bails off with his first delivery.

But after Cork dropped Jones at first slip on three, Kent reached their target with few alarms.

Hampshire had crumbled to 42-6 before Mascarenhas bludgeoned two sixes during a 36-ball 45 to give the home side hope.

Jimmy Adams (5) was the first to go when he drilled Ryan McLaren to Key at short extra cover.

Then former Kent man Michael Carberry (1) skied to Justin Kemp mid-off at the beginning of the fourth over - a McLaren wicket maiden.

Michael Lumb (10) went in carbon copy fashion against Azhar Mahmood - and Ervine top edged a sweep against Simon Cook.

Liam Dawson (4) chipped Amjad Khan straight to mid-wicket and when Chris Benham (7) was stumped by Jones off Stevens in the ninth, the Hawks were in real strife.

Pothas (21) broke the shackles with Hampshire’s first four off the bat in the 12th over against Amjad Khan. But after putting on 40 in four overs with Mascarenhas, he dragged an attempted reverse sweep again on to his stumps.

Cork raised hopes with an unbeaten 18 (nine balls). He drove James Tredwell for six over extra cover and put on 49 in less than five overs with Mascarenhas, who increased the tempo by pulling Mahmood, spectacularly off the front foot, over wide long on.

Successive Cork fours at the beginning of the Hawks’ last over, from the previously miserly McLaren, gave Hampshire more hope.

Then Mascarenhas launched McLaren over cover for another maximum into the expectant West Stand. News of Essex’s defeat filtered through to fuel more optimism amongst the capacity 9,000 crowd. But, as they did last year, Hampshire will travel to Chelmsford, where they have never won a Twenty20 game, needing nothing less than two points (Sunday, 2.30pm start).