The Competition:
Twenty20 cricket is the shortest and most high-octane form of the game. If it’s 6-hitting you’re after, this is for you!
In 2013, all 18 counties compete in the Friends Life t20 competition – divided into three geographically defined groups of six. Having played each side both home and away the top two teams from each group qualify for the quarter finals along with the two best-performing third placed teams, with the winners of those games going into a showcase “Finals Day” – both semis and the final in one day!
With only 20 overs (and just over an hour) to rack up the highest score you can, expect to see batsmen sweeping, slogging and smashing anything that comes their way – and plenty of wickets tumbling as a result!
In this tournament, all teams are allowed an extra overseas player to compliment the one they’re allowed in the other competitions, so this is where the big names come to show their skills!
Hampshire’s Record:
The Royals have become the team to beat in this competition in recent years, reaching four successive Finals Days between 2010 and 2013, winning two of them.
In 2010, they created history by becoming the first British side to win the competition on home turf and that was followed by a beating of Yorkshire Carnegie in a final-over thriller at the SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff in 2012.
In 2013, the Royals were the best team in the country through the group stages and beat Lancashire in a 400+ run-fest of a Quarter Final at The Ageas Bowl. Sadly, they then lost to Surrey in the final four.
2013 Opposition:
The Royals shared a group with the Essex Eagles, Kent Spitfires, Middlesex Panthers, Surrey Lions and South Coast rivals, the Sussex Sharks.