Royals Aiming to Secure Second Semi of the Summer

Full squad and match preview ahead of the Hampshire Royals' Clydesdale Bank 40 match against the Durham Dynamos at the Emirates ICG on Monday

Durham Dynamos v Hampshire Royals
Clydesdale Bank 40
Monday 27 August (13:45 start)
Emirates ICG

There’s no rest for the wicked as, fewer than 48 hours after their Semi-Final and subsequent Final in Cardiff, the newly-crowned Friends Life t20 Champions, the Hampshire Royals, travel to the Emirates ICG to take on the Durham Dynamos in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition.

But there’ll be no chance of Jimmy Adams’ side simply going through the motions here – a win would see them qualify for a second Semi-Final of the summer and on track to complete an historic treble (along with promotion in the Championship). And having already taken home one trophy, you can be sure the Royals will be hungry for more!

It is, perhaps, fitting that this will be Neil McKenzie’s last match for the County this summer. Having put in the match-winning performance to get his team through to the FLt20 Semi-Final, the South African will relish the opportunity to potentially do the same in a second limited-overs competition, in doing so going out with a bang against the club he represented in 2008. Having initially signed on a Twenty20 contract and elected to stay as cover following an injury to Michael Carberry, McKenzie returns home to prepare for the South African season.

The match will, unfortunately, be one step too far for Club Twenty20 captain, Dimitri Mascarenhas. The torn lat tendon injury he played through on Saturday is deemed too severe for this match. But as the all-rounder missed recent CB40 fixtures against Surrey, Somerset and the Welsh Dragons, that simply means Hampshire are likely to go with more-or-less the same team that defeated Surrey by four wickets at The Ageas Bowl a week ago.

Whereas much hinges on the result of this match for Hampshire, the Dynamos are playing simply for pride, lying fifth in the division and a full four points off the Royals at the top.

Accordingly, they have made a number of changes to their squad with captain Dale Benkenstein, Paul Collingwood, Chris Rushworth and Graham Onions all rested. Mark Stoneman, who scored a century in the Dynamos’ last outing against Nottinghamshire, assume the captain’s armband and there could also be starts for Academy players Paul Coughlin and Ryan Pringle.

The full squad for Monday’s fixture is as follows:

(3) Simon Katich	(18) David Griffiths
(4) Jimmy Adams*	(19) Danny Briggs
(7) Sean Ervine	(25) Chris Wood
(8) Liam Dawson	(33) Kabir Ali
(14) James Vince	(38) Hamza Riazuddin
(15) Michael Carberry	(44) Neil McKenzie
(16) Michael Bates†	(46) Bilal Shafayat

Coverage:

Live Text Cricket Updates	Get updates sent to your phone by texting "Follow @HantsCricket" to 86444 (see link for more details)
Online and on Radio Ball-by-Ball Commentary	BBC Radio Solent (Tune-In Radio Live Event No. 18)

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Words: Simon Vincent
Images: NJM Photography

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