TEAM NEWS
Essex Men: Noah Thain, Luc Benkenstein, Tom Westley (C), Charlie Allison, Matt Critchley, Simon Harmer, Grant Roelofsen, Simon Fernandes (WK), Shane Snater, Mackenzie Jones, Charlie Bennett.
Hampshire Men: Ali Orr, Nick Gubbins (C), Fletcha Middleton, Jake Lehmann, Tom Prest, Ashutosh Sharma, Ben Brown (WK), James Fuller, Andrew Neal, Kyle Abbott, Ollie Williams.
MATCH DETAILS
Umpires: M Newell & P Mustard
Match Referee: J Whitaker
Scorers: Paul Parkinson & FC Newnham
Toss: Essex Men won the toss and elected to bat first
Result: Hampshire won by 3 wickets
MATCH REACTION: NOAH THAIN
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
MATCH REPORT
James Fuller refused to give up a lost cause as he hammered 58 from 31 balls to squeeze Hampshire home by three wickets in a thrilling climax to their Metro Bank Cup match at Chelmsford.
Hampshire were tottering at 224-6, chasing 318 to win, when the big-hitting all-rounder came to the crease. Eighteen runs off an over by Luc Benkenstein, including two of Fuller’s four sixes, turned a game that looked to slipping away from the visitors when they slumped from 193-3 to 237-7 inside eight overs. Andrew Neal, with 33 from 24 balls, was almost as equally destructive in an unbroken partnership of 92 in 50 balls.
Essex had been pegged back to 317 all out by a fine spell by Hampshire’s Indian all-rounder Ashutosh Sharm, who returned career-best List A figures of 5-52. Fuller’s late heroics overshadowed Noah Thain’s second century in 48 hours. The unflustered 21-year-old all-rounder took his output to 325 runs in four 50-over innings with a 96-ball 109.
Thain had shown his intent by giving himself room and launching Oliver Williams over extra cover for six in only the second over.
Opting for first use of a fresh pitch, the opening pair rattled along at nearly eight an over until James Fuller had Luc Benkenstein mistiming one that got up to mid-on.
The rate dipped slightly while Thain and Tom Westley put on 63 in 11 overs before Sharma struck twice in four balls with Westley holing out at backward point and Charlie Allison getting one that kept low.
Thain was unperturbed and reached three figures by thrashing Williams back past the bowler for his 16th four from 84 balls. But a dozen balls later he became the first of two quick scalps for Andrew Neal, lbw attempting to sweep. Matt Critchley followed to one that turned.
An entertaining sixth-wicket stand of 54 in seven overs between Simon Harmer and Grant Roelofsen ended when Harmer pulled Abbott to short fine leg. But after Roelofsen departed for 52 from 35 balls, including two huge sixes, Sharma polished off the Essex tail with three wickets in 11 balls.
Essex made an initial breakthrough when Ali Orr went to the fourth ball of the innings, pushing loosely outside off-stump to Shane Snater. But they had to wait another 16 overs for the next one by which time Gubbins and Middleton had made significant inroads into the chase.
The pair ran well between the wickets to pile pressure on the field before Middleton followed a maximum over long-on off Critchley by being bowled next ball. And after fifty at better than a run-a-ball, Gubbins soon joined him in the pavilion, caught behind off Harmer.
Tom Prest and Jake Lehmann steadied things with a stand of 71, but Charlie Bennett dismissed both players in the space of five balls. Prest was caught behind off a thick edge and Lehmann drove uppishly into the covers. Sharma was lbw to the first ball of a Mackenzie Jones spell and Ben Brown was bowled from the last ball of the over. Then Neal joined Fuller to carry Hampshire over the line with 14 balls to spare.
