Natwest T20 Blast: Hampshire move top of South Group with fifth win
Friday 19 June 2015 07:08, UK
Hampshire have moved top of the Natwest T20 Blast's South Group with a 21-run win over Middlesex Panthers at Lord's.
England's Michael Carberry made an unbeaten 72 while Owais Shah also scored a big-hitting 64 in 45 balls to leave the hosts with an insurmountable chase.
The Panthers, playing in their first home T20 of the campaign, had lost four of their six matches so far and started with two quick wickets after Hampshire chose to bat, but they took just five in all as Hampshire made 199.
After former England test player Nick Compton and Nick Gubbins fell in the first two overs the Panthers' reply, Paul Stirling sped to a half-century in just 27 balls, taking the home side over 100 runs with John Simpson but their stays were also ended in successive overs.
James Franklin's late 24-ball 35 took the Panthers to within 50 runs of the win but he lost Andy Balbirnie (three), Neil Dexter (two) and Ollie Rayner (eight) before James Harris also fell at the end to leave them 178-9 from their 20 overs.
Elsewhere in the South Group, Kent skipper Sam Northeast continued his rich vein of Blast form by scoring a stunning 90, as his overcame neighbours Essex to win by six-wickets at Canterbury.
Man-of-the match Northeast plundered 12 fours and two sixes to overtake Gloucestershire's Michael Klinger as the tournament's leading run-scorer as Kent reached 174 for victory, which moved them up to second spot in division.
In the North Group, Derbyshire beat Leicestershire by 17 runs to secure only their second win of the competition. Wes Durston was the star, hitting 88 from 49 balls, with nine fours and four sixes, as his side made 189-9.
A late unbeaten stand of 64 from Tom Wells brought Leicestershire close but it was too little too late for the Foxes. Derbyshire, though, remain bottom of the group.
At Old Trafford, Worcestershire beat Lancashire by two wickets to stay top of the division.
