Calvin Dickinson’s stunning 51 fired Hampshire to the brink of a T20 quarter-final.

The 20 year-old fired his maiden T20 fifty from only 23 balls before Hampshire reached their target with six wickets and 16 balls to spare.

Twenty-four hours after two stumpings off Hampshire’s leg-spinners on his T20 debut, Dickinson echoed Glenn Maxwell’s jaw-dropping introduction to the T20 Blast.

Five years after Maxwell blitzed his first T20 fifty from only 22 balls at Canterbury, Dickinson wrote an even better tale by getting there in 23 - in only his second game.

Although born in South Africa, Dickinson is another of Hampshire’s homegrown players For many years he lived on the Isle of Wight. His dad Pete was deputy headmaster at Ryde School and Calvin played for Ryde in the Hampshire League and for the Island’s junior age-group sides.

Last season he helped Oxford MCCU win the BUCS Championships and he has made a big impression in Hampshire’s 2nd XI this season.

Less than a week after firing Lymington to the top of the Southern Premier League, he took the chance given him by Lewis McManus’s broken finger in some style.

Dickinson cracked eight fours and two sixes to get Hampshire off to a flying start in their pursuit of Kent’s par-for-the-course 167-7.

He refused to let rookie left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum settle, taking 14 off his first over, before plundering 16 off Coles to post Hampshire’s 50 after only four overs.

Qayyum conceded a brace of sixes to James Vince, who had taken a stunning catch in the covers, as Dickinson cantered to his maiden Hampshire fifty before mistiming a drive to mid-on in the final over of a breathtaking powerplay (79-1).

Vince moved to a 31-ball 50 with his third six off Qayyum, who had a torrid night.

Tom Alsop (32) helped put on 79 for the second wicket but he, Shahid Afridi and Vince were out in successive overs before George Bailey and Sean Ervine completed the rout.

“It’s been a brilliant couple of days and really nice to get out there and play some first team cricket,” said Dickinson.

“Kent were biting at our heels going into this game, so this was a vital win for us.

“We’ve probably done enough to qualify now but it’d be great to get a home quarter-final [by finishing in the top two].

“We needed impetus from the start and James Vince and I spoke about one of us going hard at the top. When it’s your day you have to make the most of it.”

KENT innings
JL Denly c Abbott b Dawson 0 (3)
DJ Bell-Drummond b Abbott 24 (23)
SA Northeast (c) c Bailey b Dawson 59 (42)
SW Billings † b Wood 40 (25)
DI Stevens run out (Crane) 15 (7)
JDS Neesham c Vince b Abbott 5 (6)
AJ Blake not out 9 (8)
MT Coles c Shahid Afridi b Berg 4 (2)
CJ Haggett not out 6 (5)
Extras 5 (b 1, lb 2, nb 2)
TOTAL 167/7 
     Did not bat: Imran Qayyum, ME Claydon
     BOWLING: LA Dawson 4-1-25-2, GK Berg 4-0-29-1, CP Wood 3-0-31-1, MS Crane 3-0-32-0, KJ Abbott 4-0-25-2, Shahid Afridi 2-0-22-0          Fall of wickets:1-0 (JL Denly, 0.3 ov), 2-48 (DJ Bell-Drummond, 7.3 ov), 3-114 (SA Northeast, 14.2 ov), 4-134 (SW Billings, 16.3 ov), 5-144 (DI Stevens, 17.2 ov), 6-148 (JDS Neesham, 17.5 ov), 7-157 (MT Coles, 18.4 ov)

HAMPSHIRE innings
CM Dickinson † c Coles b Claydon 51 24 (8)
JM Vince (c) b Claydon 57 (36)
TP Alsop st †Billings b Imran Qayyum 32 (34)
Shahid Afridi b Stevens 1 (3)
GJ Bailey not out 16 (7)
SM Ervine not out 1 (2)
Extras 13 (nb 4, w 9)
TOTAL 171/4 (17.2 overs)
     Did not bat: LA Dawson, GK Berg, CP Wood, KJ Abbott, MS Crane
     BOWLING: RMT Coles 2-0-21-0, JDS Neesham 3-0-32-0, Imran Qayyum 4-0-48-1, ME Claydon 3-0-33-2, CJ Haggett 3-0-21-0, DI Stevens 2.2-0-16-1
     Fall of wickets:1-72 (CM Dickinson, 5.2 ov), 2-151 (TP Alsop, 14.4 ov), 3-152 (Shahid Afridi, 15.2 ov), 4-163 (JM Vince, 16.3 ov)

Hampshire won by six wickets