A James Vince-inspired Hampshire chased down an imposing total of 184 to beat Sussex Sharks and seal a memorable Vitality Blast double at the Ageas Bowl.
Vince, who hit a maiden ODI century for England last week against Pakistan, scored 102 from 59 balls, after earlier scoring 62 to help his side beat Essex.
In the first match of the double header in Southampton, the Hawks beat the Eagles by 18 runs, before beating second-placed Sussex’s powerful line-up, led by Luke Wright and Ravi Bopara who led the way to an imposing score of 183-6.
But Vince and Short put on 51 inside the power play and continued to take the Sharks bowlers to task, reaching 100-0 after 10 overs with the Hawks skipper looking in glorious touch.
Will Beer finally broke the 120-run partnership when he bowled D’Arcy Short for 35 then dismissed Tom Prest for six as Hampshire found themselves 138-2 with six overs remaining.
Vince was simply disdainful at times, smashing Delray Rawlins for successive sixes and then hitting Rashid Khan over the rope in the very next over on his way to reaching three figures from 56 balls..
Colin de Grandhomme looked in good touch scoring 12, but a mix-up with Vince saw the New Zealand all-rounder run out by Bopara.
Vince finally fell 14 balls from the close when he hit his own wicket following an Ollie Robinson delivery.
But despite the loss of their skipper, Lewis McManus and Joe Weatherley guided their side over the line with four balls to spare to chalk up a fourth successive victory and kept alive Hampshire’s flickering quarter-final hopes.
The Hawks, who also fielded second against the Eagles, were asked to do so again by Sharks skipper Wright after he won the toss.
The former England all-rounder then steadied the ship for his side following the early dismissal of in-form opener Phil Salt to Liam Dawson from the second ball of the match.
Wright put on 102 for the second wicket with Bopara before finally being removed for 54 when Vince held on to a towering catch from a Scott Currie slower ball.
Bopara continued to target the Hampshire bowlers, along with Bermudan-born big-hitter Rawlins, who belted two sixes and a four from 11 balls before being deceived by Dawson and chipped straight to Vince at mid-on to reduce Sussex to 134-3.
Bopara showed scant respect to the off-breaks of D’Arcy Short, belting 17 off four balls before holing out to Prest for 62.
David Weiss fell to D which was then followed by a late cameo of 26 from Rahsid from just 13 deliveries.
