From The Archive: Hampshire v Essex Eagles

Our overseas stars Simon Katich 59* and Wasim Akram 1-19 were not able to prevent an Essex victory at the Rose Bowl in 2003, and while ‘Dimi’ took 3-22 in the following year at Chelmsford, Napier (3-13) and Bopara (3-18) won it again for Essex as we were dismissed for 95 – still our lowest score in these encounters. We had two fixtures against them in 2005 but the first never started and the second was abandoned after Greg Lamb’s 67. In 2006, Chris Benham posted 59 (Napier 3-19) but Ronnie Irani hit 81* from 48 balls as it seemed we might never beat them. We could not be certain just a few days later, as Carberry’s 53 helped us to 151-4 but then everything clicked and our ‘spin twins’ Udal (3-21) and Lamb (3-23) skittled Essex for 115 in the 17^th over – still their lowest score against us.

In 2007, David Griffiths took 3-13, with Sean Ervine 50* as we won with more than seven overs to spare at the Rose Bowl, but once again the return was abandoned with Hampshire struggling on 107-5. ‘Aussie’ Andy Bichel, one of our Cup Final heroes of two years earlier took wickets in both matches that year, but for Essex. There had been no close matches between the two teams to that point but in 2008 we tied at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire 164-6, Essex 164-8 with half centuries from Carberry and Jason Gallian, although they beat us easily in the return with Danish Kaneria taking 4-22 in our 105 all out – and that despite Chris Tremlett recording figures of 4-25, our best ever v Essex.

The Rose Bowl in 2009 saw our highest total against Essex – 219-2 - with Michael Lumb’s 124* still our highest T20 innings v any side and Lumb and Carberry adding 170 for 2^nd wicket; our highest v any side in T20. We won easily and repeated our success at Chelmsford which took us to a quarter-final at Northampton, a few days after beating Sussex in the Lord’s Final. Sadly, we did not progress.

Bopara with 94* won the match at the Rose Bowl in 2010 by nine wickets and we lost again at Chelmsford. All was not disappointment however because both sides reached Finals Day at the Rose Bowl and we won the semi-final, chasing down 157 with four balls to spare. Abdul Razzaq with 44 and Danny Briggs 3-29 were our key players, and we went on to win the trophy.

We won one each in 2011 including a revised D/L target; then in 2012 our 176-4 at Chelmsford (Maxwell 60*) was our highest to that date against Essex, on our way to another Finals Day and our second T20 Trophy. The second match that year was another won by the rain, as was our first scheduled meeting in 2013 but a half-century from Carberry won the second game that year, and Vince (57*) and Owais Shah (50*), then Carberry (57) and Matt Coles (54) won us the two matches in 2014.

We began 2015 with a 17-run victory (Adams 55*, Arafat 3-27) but in the return, Essex had their revenge scoring 212-5, their highest against us, built upon Jesse Reyder’s 107* - we lost by 78 runs. We lost both games in 2016, a year of unusual T20 struggle for Hampshire, despite 62 from Vince. In

2017, Bopara’s 4-19, the best ever for Essex v Hants, gave them victory at Chelmsford but while George Bailey’s 89* in the return was our highest innings v Essex, they won again with two balls to spare. 2018 was not a happy campaign for Hampshire, but there was a thriller at Chelmsford, which ended in a tie. Northeast, 73* took Hampshire to 170-5 and Bopara was run out by Munro going for the winning run from the final ball. The return was yet another ‘No Result’, the sixth between us in 21 meetings, with Essex starting 2019 one win ahead, yet surprisingly they have never reached a T20 Final, let alone won the Trophy.

Dave Allen