Vince Half-Century In Vain As Hampshire Slip To Semi-Final Defeat

James Vince struck a classy half-century but Hampshire suffered a 23-run defeat to the Nottinghamshire Outlaws in the semi-final of the NatWest T20 Blast at Edgbaston.

Chris Wood (2-17) claimed two valuable wickets, whilst spin duo Mason Crane (1-22) and Shahid Afridi (1-22) bowled well in tandem to restrict Nottinghamshire to 169-7 off their 20 overs.

Vince (56) continued his fine form with the bat in this competition, recording an impressive half-century, but Hampshire were dismissed for 146 in reply to see Notts claim victory.

Liam Dawson set the tone well to begin, with two runs coming off the bat in the opening over.

England international Alex Hales (15) played aggressively from the outset, but after hitting consecutive boundaries, he edged to Afridi at third-man to reduce Nottinghamshire to 23-1.

Riki Wessels also demonstrated  his aggressive style of play, hitting a flurry of boundaries in the opening stages.

However, he lacked support from his team-mates as Wood returned to dismiss Tom Moores (0) to leave the Outlaws on 49-2 after Kyle Abbott (1-41) took a smart catch in the circle.

Wessels (48) continued Nottinghamshire’s fast start, moving his side onto 70-2 off the first seven overs, but was dismissed by Crane in just the third ball of his spell as Hampshire picked up a key wicket in the context of the game.

Samit Patel and Brendan Taylor (19) nudged their side towards three figures, before the latter hit one straight down the throat of Wood at long-off to reduce the Outlaws to 99-4.

Patel (35) remained at the crease and accumulated well, but Dawson soon seized the initiative, removing the right-hander with George Bailey taking a good catch at long-off.

Dan Christian launched a counter-attack for his side, crunching three consecutive maximums in a productive 17^th over, but then holed out to Michael Carberry in the deep searching for a fourth.

Dawson (2-36) then returned to pick up the wicket of the dangerous Steven Mullaney (0) as Nottinghamshire feel from 143-5 to 148-7 with two overs remaining.

Ish Sodhi (15*) and Billy Root (11*) led their side to 169-7 at the interval as an all-round, good performance with the ball from Hampshire came to an end.

Despite the loss of Afridi (0) from the first ball of Hampshire's reply, Vince and Calvin Dickinson rebuilt the innings, with the Hampshire captain smashing three consecutive boundaries in a strong fourth over, with their side moving onto 34-1.

Dickinson (27) then continued the positive momentum, with four boundaries in as many deliveries seeing his side raced past 50, but the wicket-keeper batsman fell shortly after.

Vince then upped the intensity with several quickfire boundaries to bring up his half-century, the landmark coming off just 25 balls, as Hampshire reached the halfway stage on a strong position on 91-2.

Tom Alsop (20) ticked things along nicely alongside Vince, but he departed at the hands of a slower ball from Mullaney.

The wickets continued to fall when Mullaney removed Bailey to reduce Hampshire to 111-4 at the end of the 13^th over, needing 59 runs for victory.

The game took another twist when Michael Carberry (13) launched the ball into the stands, but his partner Vince fell shortly after, clipping the ball to Taylor in the deep to give Mullaney his third wicket.

Carberry was then run out in the same over, as Hampshire slipped from 120-4 to 120-6.

Gareth Berg (15) soon made his presence felt upon arriving at the crease, the right hander taking 14 runs off a Jake Ball over with Hampshire needing 30 off the final three overs for victory.

However, Dawson (4) and Berg (15) fell to Wessels in the deep from the penultimate over of the innings, before the Outlaws claimed the final two Hampshire wickets to dismiss the south-coast side for 146.