Hampshire (149-0) beat Nottinghamshire (145) by ten wickets
There have been some memorable performances by Hampshire at Trent Bridge in recent years, but today’s Friends Provident Trophy turnaround takes some beating.
Anyone who was there will never forget a Hampshire side captained by Shane Warne - and including Kevin Pietersen on his return to Nottingham - beating the eventual champions on a thrilling last day of a County Championship match a few weeks before the 2005 Ashes.
Unforgettably, Hampshire concluded last season’s magnificent late surge by thrashing Notts in a match that will be remembered for Liam Dawson becoming the county’s youngest centurion.
Hampshire’s latest visit to Nottingham resulted in their first one-day win at Trent Bridge since their last-ball victory under floodlights in 2003.
This was far more comprehensive.
Vanquishing Notts by ten wickets, and with 20.5 overs to spare, has secured Hampshire a home quarter-final against Shaun Udal's MIddlesex, which they could only dream of when they departed on Tuesday afternoon.
Nobody had envisaged Ireland beating Worcestershire.
But Hampshire did what they had to do by dismissing Notts for 145 before the left-handed duo of Michael Lumb and Jimmy Adams galloped to the target.
And when Worcestershire were all out for 58 at New Road moments later, Hampshire and Notts were both assured a place in the quarter-final draw.
After losing the toss, a Hampshire win was all that Nic Pothas and his men had been focused on as it seemed Worcestershire’s qualification was a formality.
Dropping John Crawley for such a big game was a huge decision but one that was backed up by a flawless all-round performance.
Hampshire never looked back after Dominic Cork took a return catch to dismiss Mark Wagh, having deceived the Notts opener with the first ball of the match.
Cork finished with 4-18, surpassing his efforts against Ireland two days earlier as his best one-day figures for four years.
He was indebted to a wonderful one-handed diving catch by Chris Benham at short mid-wicket to see off England discard Samit Patel (4) – not to mention two sensational leg-side stumpings by Pothas.
After being recalled to perform a Dimi Mascarenhas-like role with the ball, Hamza Riazuddin (10-3-17-1) produced the sort of miserly opening spell that the England all-rounder would have been proud of.
It included the deserved wicket of Hampshire’s former Twenty20 overseas man Adam Voges (17), who had looked in good touch before bottom edging an attempted cut.
Benham continued his electric display in the field with a direct hit to run out 6ft 10in Will Jefferson, whose long limbs could not save him after he was sent back by Notts captain Chris Read.
Michael Carberry’s rapidly-improving off spin helped reduce Notts to 68-7.
Only Andre Adams’ 16-ball 26 and Mark Ealham gave Notts something respectable to bowl at.
Adams smashed Sean Ervine for 23 runs in the first over of the batting powerplay - before slog sweeping Imran Tahir down the throat of Jimmy Adams at deep mid-wicket.
After young Luke Fletcher picked out Benham at mid-wicket, Mark Ealham’s unbeaten 33 from just 37 balls ensured that Hampshire would have a three-figure target to chase.
But Pothas completed a magnificent effort in the field by stumping veteran Jason Brown off a leg-side wide in Cork’s second spell.
And Lumb (72*) and Adams (73*) wasted no time in securing the win that made Hampshire a team most counties in the quarter-final draw will have wanted to avoid.
Recalled left-hander Adams went to fifty in style when he drove off-spinner Brown for six. And the victory was complete when Lumb unfurled a glorious extra-cover drive against Paul Franks.
More twists and turns had been expected, such has been the unreliability of the form guide in FP Trophy Group A – but they all occurred at New Road.
Midway through Hampshire’s chase and needing 153 to beat Ireland, Worcestershire collapsed from 20-5 to 21-6. News of each wicket was greeted by the biggest cheers of the day at Trent Bridge as Worcestershire were humbled – allowing Notts to join Hampshire in the quarter-finals.
Hampshire bowling: Cork 7.1-1-18-4, Riazuddin 10-3-17-1, Taylor 8-1-29-0, Imran Tahir 10-1-28-1, Ervine 7-0-40-1, Carberry 4-1-11-2
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