Aneurin Donald blitzes 63-ball century to take Hampshire by to semi-finals
Hampshire 306 for 9 (Donald 115, Brown 66) beat Worcestershire 296 for 9 (Libby 80, Jones 67, Roderick 64, Wheal 4-48) by 10 runs
Aneurin Donald‘s spectacular second hundred in as many video games has arrange a Metro Bank semi-final for Hampshire at Warwickshire on Tuesday.
Donald showcased the total vary of his stroke repertoire throughout his magnificent 115, sharing in a fourth-wicket stand of 162 with Ben Brown as Hampshire made 306 for 9 after shedding the toss. An excellent second spell of 2-0-6-4 from Brad Wheal then secured an exhilarating victory by ten runs as Worcestershire closed on 296 for 9.
After a gap partnership of 49 between captain Nick Gubbins and Fletcha Middleton, whose fluent 41 set the tone, Donald joined forces with Ben Brown at 77 for 3 within the sixteenth over. The 26 year-old dominated for the following 21 overs, scoring his 115 from solely 73 balls, with a plethora of boundaries – 13 fours and 4 sixes – accelerating Hampshire’s run price to eight an over throughout his entertaining alliance with Brown.
He reached his fifty from solely 40 balls earlier than easing by the gears, hitting Dillon Pennington for 18 from 4 deliveries, together with a pulled six over midwicket, in reaching his second fifty from solely 23.
Donald handed two extra landmarks with maximums: a baseball-style slap over long-on in opposition to Logan van Beek introduced up Hampshire’s 200 and a pulled six over sq. leg took him to his century from 63 balls.
At one stage, Hampshire regarded set for a complete in extra of 350 however the guests dragged themselves again into the sport, conceding solely 34 runs from the final eight overs. Young sluggish left-armer Josh Baker stemmed the tide with the important thing scalps of Donald, who stung the arms of van Beek with a strong drive to cowl, and Liam Dawson, who was the primary of 5 wickets to fall in six overs.
But Hampshire had simply sufficient on the board, regardless of a courageous chase from Worcestershire, for whom captain Jake Libby made a run-a-ball 70.
A second-wicket partnership of 124 in 21 overs between Gareth Roderick and Rob Jones laid the muse for a spirited response, earlier than each have been dismissed in successive Dawson overs. Roderick made a 57-ball 64 earlier than lacking an tried slog-sweep in opposition to a delighted Dawson, who extracted considerable flip. Then Jones drove the veteran sluggish left-armer low to Gubbins at cowl. After a fourth-wicket stand of 67 with Libby, Kashif Ali skied an tried slog sweep in opposition to Crane.
Worcestershire wanted 93 from the final ten overs. Once Crane and Dawson have been bowled out, the requirement was 50 from 30 balls.
With extra tempo now on the ball, and 6 wickets nonetheless in hand, the momentum was with Worcestershire. Successive Libby boundaries in opposition to Ian Holland introduced the goal right down to 35 off 24. But, after an costly first spell, Wheal secured the win – and an Edgbaston semi-final – with 4 wickets in 9 balls.