Hampshire 60+ vs Kent 60+
Tuesday 26th. May 2009 at Liphook
Spitfire National 60+ Championship South

Hampshire 262-2
Kent          201-7
Hampshire won by 61 runs.
Hampshire 20 points Kent 5 points.

Hampshire’s first Championship match of the season took place against Kent at Liphook on a very blustery, chilly afternoon. Kent won the toss and put Hampshire in to bat.

The Kent opening bowlers restricted the Hampshire runs so that when Ian Watson was caught in the 8th. over the score was only 12. A brilliant catch by Back dismissed the usually profilic Geoff Owens for 16 in the 15th. over. The ensuing partnership of Martin Hall and Mike Swain was enjoyable, entertaining to watch and put the Kent bowlers under a lot of pressure. Both batsmen went on to make well deserved centuries. Martin Hall scoring 115 off 103 balls and Mike Swain 102 off 103 balls. Both carried their bats with panache! Hampshire finished with 262 for 2.

In reply Kent opened in fighting spirit and when Helyar was stumped off  the bowling of John Hall (9-1-37-4) in the 9th. over Kent’s score was already 38. Stan Rudder (9-0-33-1) bowled very tidily and picked up a well deserved wicket on the last ball of his spell. Stuart Hicks (9-0-47-0) bowled steadily and was close to achieving a breakthrough on several occasions. Chris Westbrook’s (9-1-40-1) excellent bowling restricted the Kent run rate and dismissed Scott for 9. This was quickly followed by Jan Bridle’s lightning reaction behind the stumps to stump Colin Breed off Jim Smallbone’s (9-2-35-1) bowling which put an end to Breed’s valuable innings of 56. The incoming batsmen then seemed mesmerised by Chris Westbrook and Jim Smallbone until the 39th. over when they suddenly woke up and put on a spurt – but it was too late to catch Hampshire – especially as John Hall came back rejuvenated to claim 3 wickets for only 6 runs in his final 2 overs. The razor sharp Jan Bridle adding two more stumpings to make a total of 4 for the match. Kent’s score of 201 for 7 gave Hampshire a very pleasing win by 61 runs

 
Pat Hart - Scorer