Neil McKenzie is hoping to hand the captaincy back to Dimi Mascarenhas tomorrow after leading Hampshire to a successful start of their Friends Life t20 defence.

The South African led from the front with an unbeaten 37 that ensured the Royals reached the 140 they needed with four balls to spare.

McKenzie reckoned 160 would have been par so was delighted with how Hampshire restricted a Surrey side missing Ricky Ponting to seven-an-over, before Michael Carberry’s 45-ball 60 kept them in control of the chase.

He said: “It was a good team effort in front of a good crowd (6,491), everyone chipped in and Carbs did exceptionally well up front.

“He gave us a cushion. It was a nice wicket, it skidded on nicely and Carbs accelerated at the right time. He gives us a different dimension when he goes up front.

“And thank goodness England released Danny Briggs, he kept things really tight as usual.”

McKenzie was relieved not to be given out to his former Highveld Lions teammate Zander De Bruyn, despite a huge appeal for caught behind from Gary Wilson, but that was the only alarm during his typically composed knock.

And he will be happy to return to the ranks tomorrow night, with Mascarenhas expected to return as t20 captain following his recent back spasm.

“I’m hoping that’s the case,” added McKenzie. “It was an honour to captain this Hampshire side but it captains itself and I’m a better senior player than a captain these days.”

McKenzie also praised Griffiths who, a little surprisingly, replaced Mascarenhas ahead of Hamza Riazuddin before bowling with pace and purpose in taking 2-23.

“We’ve got a depth of talent,” he said. “Dimi’s a big piece of our side and a great leader but they missed a young guy called Ponting who was supposed to play!

“Hamza’s the same type of bowler as Dimi and has been a bit unfortunate but Griff has the most pace in our squad and it was good to see him being aggressive and implementing plans he’s been talking about.”