Perhaps inspired by the presence of Sir Garfield Sobers, Michael Carberry ensured Hampshire’s defence of the Friends Life t20 title got off to the best possible start at The Ageas Bowl last night.


West Indies legend Sobers, a guest of Hampshire's sponsors, the Barbados Tourism Authority, saw the Royals beat Surrey by five wickets, with four balls to spare, thanks largely to Carberry's typically pugnacious 60 (45 balls) and the calm of stand-in captain Neil McKenzie.


Hampshire chased down the 140 they needed following a disciplined bowling performance from their experienced youngsters.


Despite losing the toss and being without captain Dimi Mascarenhas, who is expected to have recovered from his back spasm in time to face Essex at a sold-out Chelmsford tomorrow night, the Royals restricted Surrey to a below-par 139-6.


Danny Briggs was surprisingly released by England 24 hours earlier and David Griffiths was only playing because Mascarenhas was not.


But the Isle of Wight duo that shone with the ball against a Surrey side without Ricky Ponting because of the finger injury that kept the great man out of the Brown Caps’ recent LV County Championship match at Yorkshire.  


Kevin Pietersen was also unavailable but Surrey were not short of firepower with the likes of Jason Roy, Vikram Solanki, Glenn Maxwell and Azhar Mahmood in their ranks.


No matter. Griffiths (2-23), playing only his sixth t20 game in six years, bowled Roy during the powerplay before claiming the prize scalp of former Hampshire teammate Glenn Maxwell in his third over.


Briggs (2-20) claimed his two wickets in his second over, bowling Solanki with a classic slow left-armer’s delivery before Burns played on three balls later.


When Azhar Mahmood lofted Liam Dawson’s slow left-arm to long-on shortly after Surrey debutant Maxwell top-edged a pull against Griffiths to deep gully for a boundary-less 15, Hampshire were in the ascendancy.


But Gary Wilson (29) put on 49 in the next six overs with Zafar Ansari, who has excelled against Hampshire in this format in recent seasons, to keep Surrey in the game.


Tanvir (1-39) endured an expensive night, conceding 17 from his penultimate over, including the only six of the Surrey innings to Ansari, who cleared the mid-wicket boundary during his unbeaten 25 (21 balls), before brushing Wilson’s off bail with the penultimate ball of the innings.


Needing only seven an over, Hampshire never looked like they would not  reach their target, despite the best efforts of Zander De Bruyn.


Carberry was magnificent against his former county, scoring his runs through every point of the compass.


He reached his fifty from 40 balls by driving slow left-armer Ansari for the sixth of his eight fours before showing off  the extent of his repertoire, reverse-sweeping another boundary and upper cutting t20 debutant Matthew Dunn for a spectacular six.


But the chase was not completely straightforward as the Royals lost wickets regularly.
James Vince chipped to mid-off during the powerplay and Jimmy Adams was run out for a rapid 17 before Neil McKenzie provided his customary calm to proceedings, his unbeaten 37 from 30 balls including a whipped six over mid-wicket against Azhar Mahmood.


It ensured that Hampshire were always in control, despite De Bruyn’s 3-14 creating some collywobbles.


The former Somerset star will always be remembered for bowling the last over of the dramatic 2010 final and there were faint Surrey hopes of another tense Ageas Bowl finish when he trapped Carberry lbw before his medium pace accounted for Sean Ervine (6) and Liam Dawson (4) in the space of three balls.


But Adam Wheater settled any nerves by pulling Chris Tremlett for the winning runs with an audacious six.