New Aussies shine on Hampshire debuts
After a break from the Vitality Blast competition, Hampshire Hawks returned to T20 action with four key fixtures across the men’s and women’s teams.
Hampshire’s men’s side headed down the road for the south-coast derby of cricket, affectionately known as ‘el clasicoast’, taking on Sussex under the Friday night lights in Hove. After a run of five games without a win in the competition, Hampshire revived their hopes of qualifying from the South Group with an Aussie-inspired win.
On his debut, Australian Chris Lynn, who recently joined the club for the second half of the tournament, inspired Hampshire to victory with an impressive debut half century, becoming only the third player to do so on a Vitality Blast debut.
After his debut half century, Lynn said: “Unbelievable. Pretty nervous to be honest to get out there, having not played since January, bit of dust on the shoulders but you shake that off when you’re running down the wicket first ball. It was a little bit rusty early on, but that’s the nature of T20 cricket, and for me it was nice to get a couple out the middle, but more importantly get the team win and get back on the momentum from earlier in the season.”
The day before, the women’s side headed to Chesterfield to take on The Blaze, with a new face ready to make her mark. Making an immediate impact on her debut was global cricketing sensation Ellyse Perry, who claimed a vital wicket from her first delivery, before making it two wickets for 23 runs. However, behind the bat it wasn’t Hampshire’s day, and fell to a 37-run defeat against The Blaze, despite an impressive T20-best 64 runs from Rhianna Southby.
Hawks’ women’s side bounced back with a win over Somerset, following heroics from Freya Kemp back at Utilita Bowl on Sunday. Southby continued her batting form, recording 57, while Ellyse Perry secured her highest Hampshire batting score so far of 40, in her second game for the club.
Hampshire headed into the final over needing 11 runs, with Freya Kemp stepping up to knock off the remaining runs to give Hawks just their second win in the last seven matches, giving the side renewed hope of qualifying for finals day.
The side’s victory also marked a record women’s domestic T20 attendance, with Utilita Bowl boasting a staggering 4,782 fans.
Ellyse Perry, on her debut for the club at Utilita Bowl said: “It’s always lovely to be on the right end of the ledger, when it comes down to the last over, but I thought that we managed to chase really well and it was a really great game with a really nice atmosphere at the end there, so it was really nice to be a part of.”
Discussing the Utilita Bowl atmosphere, Perry added: “It certainly was a really awesome atmosphere today. Having actually played here a few times before, just never as the home side, you always feel that there’s a great amount of support for Hampshire Cricket, so it was wonderful to be a part of that.”
Rounding off a busy few days of cricket the men’s side rounded off the double header on Sunday at Utilita Bowl against Somerset, however on the end of a narrow defeat, despite a solid score of 82 for captain James Vince and a stand-out catch from Scott Currie.
Hampshire Hawks return to Vitality Blast action on Wednesday, with the men away to Middlesex, and the women taking on Lancashire at Falkland CC, Newbury. The men’s side return to Utilita Bowl on Thursday evening, taking on Glamorgan.
Tickets are still available at www.utilitabowl.com/cricket/tickets