HAM vs KT 78th Match, T20 Blast 2022

2:28 AM IST | Ovaise: Hampshire have lost by 54 runs!! James Vince steals the show with a brilliant knock, surely the man of the match in today's encounter!!

Let's have a recap, Kent won the toss and elected to bowl first. Ben McDermott and James Vince walked out to open the batting for Hampshire, the pair were slightly watchful at first, the opening bowler of Kent were getting some assistance from the surface early on and used it to their advantage!! Grant Stewart and Fred Klassen opened the bowling for Kent and kept it very tight which resulted in an early wicket, In form Ben McDermott had to make his way back to the dressing room, after getting dismissed by Stewart. Tom Prest came into bat and joined Vince in the middle. The pair stitched up a huge 128-run partnership! 

Tom Prest went onto smash a fantastic half-century before falling to Qais Ahmed. But Vince was in a very aggressive mood, he switch gears and just kept smashing it to all parts of the ground. Vince raced to a massive century in no time, eventually scoring 100 runs from 54 balls and laying a platform for Weatherley and Whiteley to come in and play quick-fire knocks and took Hampshire past the 200 run mark. Qais Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers, with figures of 1/33 in his 4 overs has surely stopped Hampshire from setting an even bigger total. Hampshire finished with a mammoth 221 and momentum was with them! 

It was an uphill task for the Kent Spitfire as they lost early wicket in their run chase, Daniel Bell Drummond struggled in the middle and played a rash shot and Cox was foxed by a slower one by Nathan Ellis! Sam Billings walked out to into the middle and stitched up a small partnership with Denly before getting dismissed it trying to up the ante. Kent were 3 down with 50 runs on the abord. Blake joined Denly and together they managed to take their team past the 100 runs mark. 

Joe Denly who was Hampshire’s only hope perished in the 14^th over, Alex Blake and Jack Leaning tried their best but the required run rate had skyrocketed and it was inevitable before the visitors would get bundled out. It was a procession of wickets in the end, the Hampshire bowlers were excellent and didn’t allow any batter to settle in and restricted Kent to 167-8 in their 20 overs. All the bowlers picked up wickets, Fuller was very impressive picking up 2-33 in his 4 over but the pick of the bowlers for Hampshire was Chirs Wood and Nathan Ellis both with figures of 2-36 on thir 4 overs!!