HAMPSHIRE coach Dale Benkenstein has challenged his side to bounce back from their One-Day Cup exit by winning the T20 Blast.

Benkenstein admitted Hampshire “were not clinical enough” to defend 217-7 in 34 overs against Gloucestershire.

But the T20 semi-final against Lancashire at Edgbaston on Saturday afternoon provides an early opportunity to bounce back.

Benkenstein said: “We were poor in the execution of our skills, it was in our hands, but hopefully it fuels a bit of fire because we have to lift our heads for another huge game.

“No-one said it was going to easy, you can’t just win everything. The Championship could go down to the last day of the season so we’ve got to fight for the whole five weeks and not drop our heads when things don’t go our way.”

Benkenstein will demand an improvement with the ball at Finals Day.

“To give away 22 extras in such a big, rain-shortened game...we always talk about the importance of doing the basics well and if we hadn’t given away even half those runs it could have made a big difference.

“You should always be giving away no more than ten extras in a 50-over game and this was 34 overs.

“It put us under huge pressure. After losing quite an important toss we’d battled hard to get an above-par score.

"Jimmy Adams (pictured) deserved a century on what wasn’t an easy wicket. But nearly every over there was a release ball that kept them ticking. We never put big pressure on them. We weren’t clinical at all apart from [Liam] Dawson.”