Hampshire 234 (Gubbins 66, Middleton 58, Williams 3-30, Morley 3-40) beat Lancashire 223 (Lavelle 57, Wheal 5-47) by 11 runs
Opting to use the same pitch on which they lost to Leicestershire Foxes last Friday, Lancashire had restricted the visitors to a modest total, riches that seemed improbable when Hampshire were 131 without loss in the 24th over,
Gubbins departed for 66 when his back-foot drive off George Balderson went straight to Keaton Jennings at cover but the Hampshire innings really lost its momentum when Morley took two wickets in his next over.
Middleton was dismissed for 58 when he lofted the slow left-armer straight to Josh Bohannon at long-on and Tom Prest was deceived by a quicker arm-ball and bowled for 3. Ben Brown and Aneurin Donald needed to rebuild their side’s innings but none of Hampshire’s remaining batters could dominate the bowling in the way the openers had done.
Both Brown and Donald were bowled by Williams, the latter for 25, Felix Organ was leg before wicket to Tom Aspinwall for 3 and Joe Eckland also failed to read Morley’s arm-ball and was bowled for 17.
Hampshire’s lower-order subsided without fuss to the seamers, Blatherwick taking his first wicket of the game, Balderson his second and Williams ending the innings when he had Wheal caught at mid-off by Jennings for 3. Having been well placed when Gubbins and Middleton were going strong, Hampshire lost all their wickets for a further 103 runs in 24.3 overs. Morley finished with a career-best 3 for 40.
Even as these wickets were falling, Bohannon was batting positively but when he was caught down the leg side by Brown off Eddie Jack for 28, Lancashire were 64 for 4 in the 14th over and still 171 runs of their target.
George Lavelle and Balderson then sought to repair the damage although patience was the main theme of the early stages of their fifth-wicket stand. The pair brought up their 50 partnership in 80 balls and 110 runs were still required off the final 20 overs, by which time Hampshire skipper Gubbins was relying mainly on his spinners to stem the flow of runs.
Lavelle and Balderson had taken Lancashire to 157 for 4 and the game was evenly poised when the home side lost three wickets in as many overs. Having made 44, Balderson punched Currie to Gubbins at cover to end his 93-run stand with Lavelle, Matty Hurst was run out for a single by Kelly’s sharp throw and Lavelle was dismissed for 57 when he pulled Currie to Donald at midwicket.
Lancashire’s tail sought to grab an unlikely victory but Wheal had the last word by taking three wickets in 13 balls.
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