Sams slams decisive blows as Essex oust defending champions Hampshire
Essex 115 for five (Sams 29, Fuller 2-23) beat Hampshire 170 for 7 (Weatherly 63*, Critchley 2-22) by 5 wickets (DLS technique)
Essex squeezed previous defending champions Hampshire to succeed in the Vitality T20 Blast ultimate by way of a rain-affected chase at Edgbaston. Simon Harmer, who hit the successful runs when Essex lifted the title in 2019, once more utilized the coup de grace this time round as he drilled Nathan Ellis into the stands at long-on to finish a five-wicket victory.
Having restricted Hampshire to 170 for 7 from 20 overs, Essex have been then handed a revised goal of 115 from 12 overs, following an prolonged delay for rain shortly after the beginning of their innings. Although Hampshire made fast inroads after the resumption to cut back Essex to 50 for 4 after 6.2, the arrival of Australia allrounder Daniel Sams introduced an important injection of energy as he and Matt Critchley added 45 in 22 balls.
Sams couldn’t end the job, effectively held on the boundary by Ross Whiteley, however regardless of Liam Dawson solely conceding seven off the penultimate over to depart 13 wanted from the final, Ellis – the hero in Hampshire’s dramatic victory a 12 months in the past – was hit for 2 sixes in three balls to finish hopes of a defence.
Hampshire’s innings had been a stop-start affair, held collectively by Joe Weatherley‘s 63 off 39 balls. Spinners Critchley and Harmer picked up mixed figures of three for 55 from their eight overs however a spirited end from Weatherley and Benny Howell helped get Hampshire as much as a par rating.
The rain delay took eight overs out of the Essex innings and appeared to tip the stability again in direction of the chasing facet, with the requirement now 96 off 55 and the ball skidding round on a greasy outfield. They threatened to squander the benefit by dropping 3 for 3 within the house of six ball, however Sams smashed three sixes in an innings of 29 from 17 to place them again heading in the right direction for under a second Blast ultimate look.
Essex come out on prime of DLS equation
Essex have based mostly a lot of their method to this 12 months’s Blast on attacking come what may, so dropping a wicket from the third ball of the innings would have been priced in. Adam Rossington’s flip off the hip went wonderful however Weatherley’s good day continued as he raced across the rope for a tumbling catch. But Essex’s begin was scratchy because the clouds started to roll in, with Dan Lawrence dropped off a steepler by Dawson shortly earlier than a heavy downpour took the gamers off for an hour with the rating 19 for 1.
The revised goal left Essex needing to go at simply above ten an over, and that had come right down to 68 off 40 when James Fuller struck twice within the house of three balls: Michael Pepper caught at deep third off a wild hack and Lawrence edging a pull to the keeper. When Paul Walter was palpably lbw to John Turner within the subsequent over, Essex have been 4 down with the required charge climbing.
“With wickets in hand and a smaller total, you would back yourself to get there,” Harmer stated. “But in saying that when you lose wickets it’s tough to start again. You got to have your foot on the accelerator from ball one. So the way that guys like Critch and Dan Sams played, coming in there and striking from ball one was huge for us in the context of that chase.”
Weatherley, in the meantime, described Hampshire as “bitterly disappointed” with the result. “With Duckworth-Lewis, it only takes is a couple of guys to hit a couple of sixes,” he stated. “We still took wickets, if we hadn’t have done it would have looked a lot easier. It certainly feels unfair when they’ve got nine wickets in hand to get ten an over.
Hampshire start well, then stutter
Aaron Beard’s only over, the first of the Hampshire innings, went for 14 as both Ben McDermott and James Vince opened their accounts by whipping leg-side deliveries to the fence. McDermott then picked off Sams’ first two balls, the second via a domineering stride down the pitch before launching over long-off. An edged four wide of the keeper and two more off Sam Cook – one scooped over the head of short fine leg – took McDermott to 29 off 11 but he fell to his next delivery, pulling Cook straight to deep square leg.
Hampshire at that point were 39 for 1 after three overs but Vince fell in the next over, chipping Shane Snater to mid-off, and Essex got a hold on the scoring to make it 55 for 2 at the end of the powerplay. The spinners then kept Hampshire in check, with Tom Prest, Dawson and Fuller all falling for middling scores and only five boundaries coming between the seventh and 16th overs.
Weatherley, Howell add finishing touch
With wickets falling regularly, Weatherley had to take a circumspect approach, although he did hit one sweetly struck six down the ground off Harmer. Whiteley’s miscue off Walter left Hampshire 130 for 6 after 17, but the arrival of Howell added much-needed impetus at the death, as the seventh-wicket pair mirrored McDermott’s opening burst by lashing another 40 runs to the total. A wide full toss from Sams saw Weatherley bring up his fifty from from 34 balls, and the Hampshire No. 4 then spoiled an otherwise-decent penultimate over from Cook by going deep in his crease to slog-sweep a slower ball for six.
Howell then helped plunder 14 off Sams’ nearer, together with a towering six over long-on the ball after being dropped by Snater, and though he was dismissed off the ultimate supply his 22 off 11 had given Hampshire one thing to bowl at. Thanks to the rain, nevertheless, and Sams late blows, it might not be fairly sufficient.
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick