Isle of Wight cricket fans were served up a treat as Hampshire Hawks beat Kent Spitfires in a thrilling contest that produced over 650 runs at Newclose on Tuesday (22nd August).
Kent won the toss and elected to bat with form player Daniel Bell-Drummond joined by former England international and Kent captain Joe Denly at the crease.
Denly received an early life in the 2nd over when he was dropped on 5 by Tom Prest at 1st slip off Ian Holland’s opening over but it did not prove too costly as he chopped on off Holland’s next over when trying to force 1 into the off side.
Former England leg-spinner Mason Crane was brought into the attack for Hampshire and had Jack Leaning bowled off his 1st ball of the day to the delight of the sell-out crowd.
However, that was to be the last Hampshire breakthrough for some time as Bell-Drummond and Harry Finch both reached half-centuries during a partnership of 134.
That stand was eventually broken when Finch was bowled by Eddie Jack for 54 but only served to kickstart the real bombardment by the Spitfires.
Bell-Drummond and Alex Blake set about savaging the Hampshire bowling with 6s flying regularly into the crowd and Bell-Drummond bringing up his century.
With 10 overs to go, it looked like Hampshire could be facing a mammoth chase but the returning Crane trapped Blake LBW for 46 and Holland then got rid of new batter Grant Stewart in the following over as the Hawks looked to finish strongly.
Bell-Drummond made a magnificent 150 before finally mistiming 1 off Holland into the grateful hands of Aneurin Donald and received a well-deserved round of applause as he left the field.
Hamidullah Qadri was then caught behind off Keith Barker without troubling the scorers and Nathan Gilchrist was caught by Crane off the bowling of Jack as the Kent innings faltered.
It was left to youngsters Jaydn Denly (17-year-old nephew of Captain Joe) and Jas Singh to get Kent up to 325 after their allotted 50 overs.
That seemed like a good score but with a good wicket, smallish boundaries and a strong Hampshire batting line-up, the contest was perfectly set up for a thrilling chase and so it would prove.
Fletcha Middleton and Tom Prest opened the batting for the Hawks and got off to an absolute flyer before Jaydn Denly took a sharp return catch to dismiss Middleton.
Hampshire knew that if they reached their target within 32 overs, they would top the group and secure a home semi-final and so incoming batter Ben Brown continued the assault with Prest.
Prest, in particular, hit some brilliant shots in an important partnership of 84 before he was stumped by Finch off the bowling of Qadri.
However, this only brought Donald to the crease whose innings swung the direction of the game firmly in Hampshire’s favour. He raced to 50 before being gifted a couple of reprieves by some poor Kent fielding.
He was dropped on 57 on the square leg boundary – with the ball going for 6 – off the bowling of another England leg-spinner, Matt Parkinson. And in the next Parkinson over, he spooned 1 up to Joe Denly at mid-off while on 70 and was dropped again.
Those misses would prove costly for Kent.
Parkinson got a revenge of sorts when he dismissed Brown for 73 and Joseph Eckland for a golden duck off the very next delivery but Felix Organ survived the hat-trick ball.
Donald brought up his century off the next over from Jas Singh before finally falling to Qadri for an incredible 106 off 73 balls which included 8 4s and 6 6s.
His dismissal sparked a few nerves from the Hampshire faithful and they jangled even more when Parkinson again claimed 2 in 2 balls with the dismissals of Ian Holland and Keith Barker but Mason Crane survived the hat-trick ball and blocked out the last 3 balls of Parkinson’s spell to leave the Hawks requiring 19 off the final 4 overs.
The 47th over yielded just 2 singles but both Crane and Organ hit boundaries in the 48th and it was left to young Jaydn Denly to bowl the 49th with just 7 needed.
Organ took a single off the 1st delivery before Crane sent the crowd into raptures by heaving the 3rd ball for 6 to get Hampshire over the line.
They now face a quarter-final against Worcestershire in Southampton on Sunday (27th August) for whom ex-Ventnor player Adam Hose could feature after the Northern Superchargers were eliminated from the Hundred.
Should they win, they will then travel to Edgbaston on Tuesday (29th August) where they could come up against another ex-Ventnor player in Danny Briggs.
Before that, they will reflect on a great victory in a superb game of cricket which was a treat for the Island’s cricket fans and 1 which was almost spoiled by this Summer’s rotten weather.
Graham Cooper of Newclose has said:
“The groundsmen, Andy Butler and George Hatt along with volunteer Paul Charge worked miracles.
“On Friday, we had to advise Hampshire of the situation and that the game may not be able to proceed but, by Tuesday, not only did Andy & George produce a track that delivered over 650 runs, the outfield was also dry and fast after Paul spent over 12 hours on the Super Sopper removing 1000s of litres of water.
“Quite rightly they received thanks from both teams and the officials with Match Referee, Mike Smith, giving a rating of good which he said was pretty amazing after the pictures he saw.”
Here’s to hoping for another epic contest next year.
