Jimmy Adams hailed the magnificent contribution of Michael Carberry as Hampshire sealed a spot in the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals for the fifth time in as many years.

Carberry’s sublime knock of 54 helped the Royals chase down an imposing target of 183 to win against Essex at the Ageas Bowl last night.

The victory ensures the defending champions a place in the last eight, while they will now try to use their final two group matches to secure a home tie.

Carberry’s half-century was his third of the t20 season and makes him the fourth highest run scorer in the competition this year.

“He has been in great nick,” said Adams. “He hit one six and we turned to each other in the dugout and said “he is striking the ball as well as anyone”.

“It was fantastic power-hitting, but the good thing is that he has gone on.

“A lot of people will get starts but he goes on to make match-winning scores and that is a huge, huge fillip.

“He has been fantastic at the top of the order for us and hopefully it continues.”

Adams added: “I’ve been very lucky coming in at number three. Carbs has had so many great starts and Vincey [James Vince] has done it with him, although he has not had the returns he would like.

“Together they have had had 50-plus partnerships and that is credit to them.”

Adams believes the challenging total set by Essex actually helped Hampshire, less than a week after they failed to reach a target of 144 on the same wicket against Kent.

“It was tough today,” he said. “They pushed us all the way and we probably felt they were pretty above par at the halfway stage. It was the same wicket we played Kent on the other day and we struggled to get 140 there.

“But it meant we had to play positively and it brought out the best in everyone.”

As tension rose inside the stadium and Hampshire closed in on their total, the pressure was eased when Essex were penalised six runs in the dying stages for not completing their overs in time.

Adams said: “Sure, it helped, but we’d have got it down to eight possibly off the last. I’d like to hope we’d still get through that, but it definitely made life easier knowing you only need two off the last over.

“It released a lot of the pressure. A few of us were looking at the clock in the last 15 minutes, but we had a left-right hand combination in and they bowled at least an over’s worth of wides.

“You want to get the field placing right but you also need a bit of efficiency in there as well.

“Sometimes when the ball is flying around, it’s really hard.

“But I know a few people around the country have been saying how hard it is to get the overs in the allotted time.”