Winning the toss, Hampshire invited Kent to bat in dull dreary conditions, hardly conducive to cricket. Barry Goodman struck an early blow, bowling prolific skipper Wooding for a modest 13 runs. Paul Kerley & Mark Tiplady chipped in with a wicket apiece reducing Kent to 82-3 midway through their innings. Kent recovered to 146 before the introduction of Chris Wood & Jim Smallbone wrought havoc. Wood bowled the hard hitting Phillips (27) then Smallbone had Khan (52) caught at deep square leg by substitute fielder Pat Wickson. Supported by some excellent fielding & catching they snared  the final seven Kent wickets for just 41 runs in the last 10 overs – Chris Wood (7-0-43-4) & Jim Smallbone (4.5-0-10-3) dismissing last year’s semi-finalists for 187.

With rain always threatening it was important that the Seniors kept up with the run rate. Goodman (4) went early but Ian Britton, who has had an excellent first season with the Seniors & impressive debutant Tony Oxley batted beautifully - with some impressive stroke play they took the score to 104-1 at drinks. With a mere 84 runs required from 22 overs & 9 wickets in hand, the game seemed to be there for the taking. However Kent medium pacer Prior soon changed matters. He quickly clean bowled Britton (64) & Oxley (32) followed by Mike Swain (5) & skipper Alan Wright (9) as the Seniors slumped to 124-5.  Kent had seized the initiative with Prior supported by Swadkin conceding only 47 runs from their allocation of 18 overs - the Seniors innings lost all momentum & they soon fell behind the run rate. The lower order batsmen found boundaries hard to come by & wickets fell regularly as the experienced Kent bowlers maintained their stranglehold on the game. In the gathering gloom, Hampshire’s hopes of a semi-final appearance faded & their reply fell 13 runs short on 174-9.

So near yet so far!!

Report by Dick Batchelor.

 Scoreboard details here

 Pictures here