Hampshire Hawks 171-4 (17.2 overs)
Sussex Sharks 167-7 (20 overs)
Hampshire Hawks win by six wickets
James Vince hit the turbo button to smoke 98 not out to beat Sussex Sharks and put Hampshire Hawks on course for the Men’s Vitality Blast quarter-finals.
Captain Vince led from the front for a magnificent innings in 49 balls as the Hawks chased down 168 to secure a third straight win.
He only failed to reach three figures by hitting the winning runs with a four rather than a six.
James Fuller supported with three wickets before Joe Weatherley partnered up for 62 – and 43 himself – as Hampshire found form at the right time of the competition.
They now have seven wins in the tournament – the traditional benchmark for qualification – while Sussex have stalled. They have lost their last four T20 matches.
Vince has blown hot and cold in the Blast, with three half-centuries but plenty of single-figure scores. This was a boiling day for him.
The second ball he faced flew over the square ropes, with two more joining it to go with 12 other boundaries. It was vintage Vince, punishing anything that wasn’t an A-class delivery.
A record 12-ball half-century looked temporarily on before settling for 19 balls – and from there he found a rhythm to tick off the runs quickly and risk-free.
Toby Albert put 54 on with him at the top before frustrating himself with a pull to midwicket and Danny Lamb snuck one past Tom Prest.
But in-form Weatherley provided the firmest support while also plundering a quartet of sixes to make sure there was no pressure on the chase and Vince.
He fell for 43 – and Hilton Cartwright followed before Fuller helped Vince to get over the line.
The Sussex innings came in three acts – the cagey start, the run-frenzied middle and then the run drought at the death.
Having chosen the bat, neither side could get an advantage in what felt like an eight-pointer match because of their positions in the table and their closeness to qualifying.
The Sharks probably edged the powerplay with a six off the last ball taking them to 51-1, with Daniel Hughes been and gone after cutting to cover.
That maximum sparked Tom Clark and George Thomas into life as they whacked 63 in the following six and a half overs.
Clark’s pair of sixes off Benny Howell was the apex of the innings as the duo ran hard and piled the pressure on to the hosts.
But both departed in the 13th over with James Fuller dislodging each of them to spark a slow down, with only 60 runs coming from the last eight overs.
Scott Currie repeated Fuller’s trick by seeing off Tom Alsop and James Coles in the 16th over before only conceding four runs in the 18th over.
Chris Wood also only went for four runs in the following over with two more wickets as Hampshire took charge.
The latter was a controversial boundary catch, dismissing Lamb, which caused a fracas at the interval.
But the visitors snared 15 runs from the last over to take them to 167-7. It was far from enough, though, as Hampshire won with 16 balls to spare.
Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace said: “When you are used to winning, you expect to win and when you get yourself in a corner you find a way to get out of it.
“But because we know we aren’t playing well, you start to doubt yourself and in T20 cricket you don’t have time to do that.
“Unfortunately, when we lost a couple of wickets, we fell 20 to 25 runs shy of what we really should have scored. That is really frustrating.
“There are only so many team meetings and conversations you can have as a group. We talked about responsibility and not leaving it to someone else. We talked about smart cricket.
“They are an honest group and I won’t moan about them. It is on me as well. We win as a team and lose as a team. It will be another sleepless night for me tonight.
“Hopefully, it is still in our hands. We have two games to go and we can’t afford to sulk. We need to roll our sleeves up and get stuck into the next two games.
“I don’t care how we win, we just have to win. We have to find a way to win a game and stop the rot. We have got into a losing habit and that is a poor place to be.”
On the boundary catch, Farbrace said: “It was shown on the big screen and everyone in the ground saw the incident in terms of the catch. The umpires gave it out and they are really experienced umpires.
“Then there was a few words exchanged as the teams were coming off. I’m sure we will hear more in the next few days about that.
“It is one of those things that does unfortunately happen in games. We take the umpires’ decision and move on. That’s the end of it for me.”
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Vince said: “It is a big win. I thought our bowlers executed well and adapted well in the middle and then second half we knew it was important to get in front of the run-rate before the ball got soft.
“On wickets like that, we talk about not letting the rate get above nine or ten as you are only a few more tight overs from it jumping up quickly. Luckily, it came off and then the rate came down dramatically.
“We never really allowed them to get some momentum.
“I hurt my thumb a bit in the field so I went off to get some ice on it. The first couple of balls hurt a bit but then the painkillers and adrenaline kicked in and I was fine.
“The only time I really thought about the hundred was the last ball. I told Fuller to get it done and you never know when you start messing about. Just a fraction too full for me to get under it and over the ropes but I’ll take the red inker for sure.
“I think we have done enough to qualify. I haven’t looked at it post game but before it we felt if we won we would be there or thereabouts for qualification as our run rate is pretty good.
“Teams will have to win by big margins. We are in a good position and pretty much there.”
Vince wasn’t present for the wrangle over the boundary catch but said: “I had already come off and was in the changing room icing.
“I think Farbrace had a go at Weatherley which was out of order. The umpire Nigel Llong had a good view of the catch and when you are fielding in that moment you don’t know where the boundary is.
“The umpires made the decision and that’s that. In the heat of the moment, you don’t know and if you do know you would put your arms up and say it is six.
“Emotions are high and there was plenty on the line but you expect someone with Farbrace’s experience would be able to keep his cool.”
