Hampshire send limp Panthers to defeat

By

Hampshire 198-2 (20 ov) beat Middlesex 151-9 (20 ov) by 47 runs

Middlesex’s T20 struggles continued as they were well beaten by Hampshire at Merchant Taylors’ School in Northwood.

James Vince (68) and Owais Shah (49 not out) blasted the visitors to an imposing 198-2 in their 20 overs, with Steve Finn (0-51) particularly expensive.

Paul Stirling (40) got Panthers off to a promising start but their middle order crumbled as they collapsed from 65-1 in the eight over to 87-5 after 12.

No recognised batsman outside the top three found the boundary as Middlesex came up well short to crash to their fourth defeat in four.

The travails of Finn summed up Middlesex’s afternoon. Vince hit eight fours off two of the England paceman’s overs as Hampshire reached 76-0 at the end of the powerplay.

Jimmy Adams launched sixes off Dan Christian and Ravi Patel, before being stumped for 38, and Vince followed a couple of overs later to leave the visitors on 119-2 in the 12th.

Adam Wheater kept the scoreboard ticking along and provided steady support to the more explosive Shah, who hit three fours and three sixes in an unbeaten 49.

An asking rate of 10 an over was always likely to be a difficult task, but Middlesex gave it a good go early on as Stirling and Dawid Malan guided them to 57-0 in the first six overs.

After Malan departed, though, wickets fell with alarming regularity and Hampshire protected the rope brilliantly.

Joe Denly stuck around to make 33 from 27 balls but John Simpson (10) and James Harris (18) were the only other batsmen to make it into double figures as Panthers limped to 151-9 at the end of their innings.

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook