James Vince crunched his second half-century in as many days as Hampshire edged closer towards qualification with a six-wicket win at the Kent Spitfires in the NatWest T20 Blast on Friday night.
Kyle Abbott (2-25) and Liam Dawson (2-25) took two wickets apiece as Hampshire restricted Kent to 167-7 from their 20 overs, with Gareth Berg and Chris Wood also in the wickets.
In reply, Calvin Dickinson (51) recorded his first T20 half-century off just 23 balls whilst Vince (57) struck another classy fifty as Hampshire chased down the victory target in the 17th over.
Hampshire got off to another dream start with Dawson again taking a wicket in the very first over of the game, with Joe Denly (0) chipping it straight to Gareth Berg at third-man.
Sam Northeast and Daniel Bell-Drummond rebuilt the innings, guiding the hosts to 40-1 after the powerplay.
The pair were comfortable, but Bell-Drummond (24) was bowled after making room looking to play it to the off-side, but the only thing he was looking at was his off-stump lying on the ground, with Abbott doing the damage.
Northeast was then joined by Sam Billings, and they guided Kent to 62-2 at the halfway stage. Billings then accelerated the innings, hitting 15 runs off a Mason Crane over as the hosts quickly raced past three figures.
Both batsman put on a 66-run stand in less than seven overs before Northeast (59) fell moments after bringing up his half-century, holing out to Tom Alsop in the deep to give Dawson his second wicket.
That left Kent on 114-3 in the 15th over, but Billings was batted well, finding the boundaries at a frequent rate, and was joined by the hard-hitting Darren Stevens as they looked to post a competitive score.
However, Chris Wood returned and dismissed Billings (40) with a superb yorker, leaving the game in the balance, with Kent on 134-4 in the 17th over.
Stevens (15) crunched a couple of quickfire boundaries, but was then ran out after a smart piece of work in the deep from Crane.
Neesham (5) then fell in the very next over after a brilliant catch from Vince diving to his left, as Kent fell to 148-6 with two overs remaining.
It was soon 157-7 when Matt Coles (4) scooped a Gareth Berg (1-29) delivery straight into the hands of Shahid Afridi, but Alex Blake (9*) & Callum Haggett (6*) guided Kent to 167-7 after 20 overs.
In reply, Calvin Dickinson (51) started the run chase in aggressive style in just his second T20 game, striking six boundaries in quick succession as Hampshire raced onto 20-0 after two overs.
The wicket-keeper batsman then notched four boundaries in the space of seven balls including the first six of the innings as Hampshire raced passed 50 in just the fifth over.
The youngster then brought up his maiden half-century off just 23 balls, in an innings that included eight ours and two maximums. However, he fell shortly after, but Hampshire finished the powerplay on 79-1.
Alsop and Vince were ticking the scoring along nicely, and the former hit the first boundary since the sixth over, with Hampshire moving onto 118-1 after 12 overs, needing 50 runs for victory.
The pair then brought up their fifty partnership, before totalling 14 runs off the 14th over, racing onto 140-1, maintaining the run-rate at ten runs per over.
Vince raced to his second half-century in as many innings with back-to-back boundaries, but Alsop (32) was dismissed in the same over as Hampshire fell to 151-2.
Shahid Afridi (1) then came and went to leave the visitors on 152-3, before Vince fell shortly after with the score on 163-4, but his 36-ball innings had already done the damage.
George Bailey (16*) continued the momentum, finishing off the game with a maximum, guiding Hampshire to back-to-back wins with more than two overs to spare at Canterbury.
