Finalists Royals Win with a Over to Spare

Match Report: Hampshire v Somerset (FLt20 Semi-Final)

Hampshire Royals v Somerset
Friends Life t20 Semi Final
Saturday 25 August
The SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff

Summary: Hampshire Royals beat Somerset by 6 wickets
Somerset: 125-6 (Mascarenhas 2-11, Kieswetter 63*)
Hampshire Royals: 126-4 (19 ovs) (Ervine 34*)
Scorecard

Royals Team
Adams*, Vince, Carberry, McKenzie, Katich, Ervine, Dawson, Mascarenhas, Wood, Bates†, Briggs
Somerset Team
Levi, Kieswetter, Trescothick, Hildreth, Buttler, Trego, Gregory, Suppiah, Waller, Thomas, Kirby

For once a Friends Life t20 match between the Hampshire Royals and Somerset did not go down to the wire as Hampshire chased down their target with an over to spare to beat their old adversaries by six wickets.

A partnership of 54 between Sean Ervine (34*) and Simon Katich (32*) ensured the Royals a relatively smooth path to the Final at the SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff.

Earlier, a very good all-round bowling performance, led by Ervine (2-22) and captain, Dimi Mascarenhas (2-11) limited Somerset to 125-6 from their full compliment of overs.

The Royals will now face Yorkshire Carnegie in the Finals and have won a valuable place in the Champion's League qualifiers in South Africa.

 

The day started promisingly with the news that the shoulder injury which has kept captain, Mascarenhas out of the side's recent fixtures had repaired in time for him to play. And when the skipper won the toss and elected to bowl first, all the omens were good - Hampshire had, after all, won all their games chasing in the FLt20 thus far. 

The good got better as Richard Levi (1) decided to go after the skipper in his first over only to fire him to Katich at mid-on and, when his replacement, Marcus Trescothick (12) also played onto his own stumps off the skipper Hampshire were firmly in control; Somerset 22-2, Mascarenhas 2-4 after two overs!

Under pressure, Somerset's runs dried up (they didn't hit another boundary until the end of the ninth over!) and, even better, Danny Briggs had come on and, with a yorker, bowled Hildreth middle stump; Somerset 58-3 at the mid-way stage in the innings.

Sensing blood, Mascarenhas invited Ervine to bowl - a man very much in form with the ball in hand - and the little bit of extra pace and variation in bounce from him did for both Jos Buttler (16), who became the second player to play on off Ervine's third ball, and Peter Trego (1), trapped lbw; Somerset 58-5 in the 13th.

Throughout, returning England star, Craig Kieswetter had watched a procession of recognised batters come and go and, with Lewis Gregory coming to the crease, he absolutely needed to take the lead. But that's exactly what he did, a powerful leg-side flick taking him to his half-century off 51 balls before he even managed to reach the boundary without even being on his feet off the penultimate ball!

So Hampshire needed just over a run-a-ball to win but Michael Carberry - playing his first T20 match of the season because of injury - didn't fancy doing it in singles. So he struck three boundaries off the first four Alfonso Thomas deliveries to help Hampshire to 27-0 (vs. Somerset's 22-2) after four overs.

But two wickets slowed progress and the match was thrown right back into the balance when a mix-up between Carberry and Neil McKenzie saw the England International run out for 33; his side only just through the 50 mark in the ninth over.

McKenzie (10) followed lbw but experienced duo, Katich and Ervine knew better than to panic and, with six overs left, the Royals were still ahead of the eight-ball (their 81-4 playing their opposition's 69-5). What's more, Ervine was beginning to reach the ropes with some regularity to just loosen the tournequet.

With few alarms the duo took Hampshire through to the end of the nineteenth, all that was needed to secure victory. Ervine made a powerful 34 off 23 balls to claim the Man of the Match award.

 

Words: Simon Vincent
Images: LMI Photography

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