HAMPSHIRE will field a new-look T20 side when they begin their bid to reach Finals Day for a record seventh successive season.

The squad of 13 for tonight’s opening game against Middlesex at Uxbridge (5.30pm) includes five who have never played a T20 game for the county in Tino Best, Ryan McLaren, Gareth Andrew, Tom Alsop and Brad Wheal.

Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi plays his first game for Hampshire since the 2012 Champions League qualifiers but Darren Sammy’s debut has been delayed so Ryan McLaren, who took a hat-trick for Kent in the 2007 T20 final at Edgbaston, can play in the next Specsavers County Championship match against Middlesex.

West Indies’ World T20 winning captain will have to wait until the first home game against Kent on Thursday night for his debut.

That is because Hampshire can only have two overseas players registered at any one time and McLaren, whose all-round skills helped secure the county’s first win of the season against Nottinghamshire this week, is needed at Merchant Taylors’ School on Sunday - Hampshire’s last Championship match until June 26.

Hampshire also have a new captain in Sean Ervine, with James Vince playing in the second Test against Sri Lanka today.

Missing from the team that lost last season’s semi-final against Lancashire are injured bowlers Chris Wood and Fidel Edwards, as well as Danny Briggs (Sussex) and Yasir Arafat (Somerset), who have signed for new counties, and Owais Shah.

Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein said: “The new faces will help prevent complacency but the core of the team is still there. The biggest change is to the bowling.

“We had quite a set pattern with Briggsy and Woody and it’s a shame to be missing Reece Topley, who would have been an exciting addition to this team especially.

“We might be one short up front but Adam Wheater is a talented white-ball player who deserves the chance to make the No3 slot his own.

“Who bats at No4 will depend on the state of the game but Afridi looks in pretty good touch.

“We’ve probably got more firepower in the lower order than we’ve had in previous years and without Yasir and Owais this team will be more mobile in the field.

“After six hard weeks in the County Championship the guys are looking forward to freeing themselves up and having a bit of fun.”

Middlesex also have a new captain in Dawid Malan, but marquee signing Brendon McCullum is still at the IPL with the Gujurat Lions.

Hampshire (from): Adams, Carberry, Wheater, Ervine, Dawson, Afridi, McLaren, Smith, Andrew, Crane, Best, Wheal, Alsop.

Middlesex (from) Malan, Franklin, Fuller, Gubbins, Harris, Higgins, Patel, Podmore, Rayner, Roland-Jones, Simpson, Sowter, Stirling, Voges.