Hampshire Royals v Gloucestershire Gladiators
Friends Provident t20 South Division
At The Rose Bowl
By Richard Latham
Gloucestershire bowlers took another pasting as Hampshire Royals ran up 205-5 to set up a 28-run Friends Provident t20 victory at the Rose Bowl.
After taking two early wickets the Gladiators were guilty of some poor fielding, dropping two catches and allowing two boundaries through misfields.
James Vince hit 77 as the Royals posted their highest total in the competition this season. It was always likely to prove too many and, despite excellent innings from Chris Dent (63) and James Franklin (46), Gloucestershire were bowled out for 177.
Hampshire won the toss and elected to bat first, suffering an early loss when dangerous opener Jimmy Adams fell to Gemaal Hussain for eight .
Chris Taylor had opened the bowling for the Gladiators, conceding eight from what proved his only over, but his main early contribution came when he ran out Michael Lumb for 21, leaving the home side 46-2 in the sixth over.
Despite a couple of early wickets, some sloppy fielding from the Gladiators allowed Hampshire to really press on and after two mis-fields which led to fours and two drops, the visitors missed their opportunity to apply the pressure.
Vince and Neil McKenzie then began to punish the bowling with a match-winning stand of 110 for the third wicket. Vince brought up his fifty in glorious style, hitting a six straight down the ground. He had faced just 30 balls and hit seven fours and two sixes.
McKenzie reached his half-century in just as much style, smashing the ball over the mid-on rope for six. But he was out next ball as Jonathan Batty stumped him for 55 off the bowling of Richard Dawson.
The superb innings by Vince came to an end when he was caught at fine leg by Franklin to give Dawson a second wicket. The experienced off-spinner did well to finish with 2-29 from four overs.
Other Gloucestershire bowlers did not fare as well as Dominic Cork and Sean Ervine then added a quick 30 to take Hampshire past the 200-mark. Hussain, Anthony Ireland and newcomer Aaron Redmond all went for more than 12 an over.
Redmond fared better with the bat, striking 4 fours in making 20 at the top of the order. Will Porterfield went early and it was 29-2 when the Kiwi was caught behind off Chris Wood.
Franklin looked impressive, hitting two successive sixes in the tenth over, the second finding its way out of the ground. But when he launched into a ball from Danny Briggs the catch was taken at deep square leg by Wood.
Dent did his best to hold the innings together, hitting 8 fours and a six in his 44-ball innings. But only Steve Snell offered much support and when he fell to Simon Jones for 23 with the total on 164 it spelled the beginning of the end.
Gloucestershire were behind the required run rate and a sorry procession saw their last six wickets fall for only 13 runs as Wood and Briggs ended with three victims each.
