Hampshire 304-4 beat Essex 303-6 by six wickets

AFTER twice being dismissed in the nineties at The Ageas Bowl, including 99 on his home debut last year, Rilee Rossouw went one better with a stunning, match-winning century against Essex Eagles.

The South African followed his match-winning 90 against Surrey on Monday with a fabulous 111 as Hampshire clinched a third successive Royal London One-Day Cup win, by six wickets, at a sun-drenched West End.

Chasing 304 after winning the toss, Hampshire never looked in any real trouble, although Rossouw lost his former South Africa teammate Hashim Amla relatively early.

Having survived appeals for a run out following a direct hit on 18, Amla was caught at short fine leg for no addition.

No matter. Rossouw and James Vince responded with a crowd-pleasing partnership of 126 from 110 balls.

Vince was in typically good touch. A six over long-off against off-spinner Simon Harmer and seven fours, including a cover drive against the slow left-arm of Ashar Zaidi to bring up the Hampshire hundred, decorated his 66 from 53 balls.

The medium pace of Ravi Bopara proved harder to get away and he stymied Hampshire’s progress by dismissing Vince and Joe Weatherley (12) in the space of three overs.

But there was no denying Rossouw his century, not even the wrist injury that required a ten-minute delay for treatment when he was on 92.

He and fellow left-hander Jimmy Adams plundered 74 in ten overs with Rossouw taking his boundary tally to 11 fours.

They included the shot of the day, an exquisite on drive against the seam-up of debutant Shane Snater, who lacked the accuracy of Essex assistant coach Dimi Mascarenhas

Rossouw was also ruthless against anything short, successive boundaries against Dan Lawrence being a case in point.

He became Bopara’s third victim with 51 still needed. But with plenty of time to get the runs, Jimmy Adams (51no) and Taylor made light of the absence of Sam Northeast and Liam Dawson, easing Hampshire to victory with 16 balls to spare.

Hampshire’s win was all the more satisfying given they were also without Fidel Edwards and Reece Topley, both of whom were rested (the latter at the request of the ECB) as well as Kyle Abbott.

Their replacements did well to slow the visitors’ momentum after Adam Wheater (70) fired the visitors to 143-1 before halfway.

Having pegged Essex back to 209-5 in the 38th, Hampshire went on to claim the solitary wicket of Bopara, who shared 84 from only 70 balls with Ashar Zaidi, during the remaining 12 overs

Bopara (55) holed out attempting his second six against Brad Wheal, Zaidi having hit the South African youngster for a couple during his 43-ball 57 not out.

Chris Wood did well in only his second one-day game since August 2015

But it was Mason Crane who made the first breakthrough, when Varun Chopra (25) prodded forward to a full-length ball.

Wheater had dominated the 67-run opening stand. He made a T20 50 at The Ageas Bowl last season but this was his highest score against Hampshire since returning to Essex two years ago.

It included ten fours, including two reverse sweeps against Taylor during a run-a-ball second-wicket stand of 76 with Westley.

Hampshire fought back with two wickets in three overs, Wheater top-edging an attempted pull against Wheal before a stunning direct hit from Taylor, who highlighted the depth of Hampshire’s squad, ran out Dan Lawrence from short extra cover.

SCORECARD
Essex innings 
V Chopra lbw b Crane 25
AJA Wheater † c Vince b Wheal 70
T Westley b Taylor 66
DW Lawrence run out (Taylor) 5
RS Bopara c Vince b Wheal 55
RN ten Doeschate (c) c †McManus b Berg
Ashar Zaidi not out 57
SR Harmer not out 2
Extras 15 (b 5, lb 1, nb 6, w 3)
TOTAL 303/6 (50 overs)
     Did not bat: N Wagner, S Snater, SJ Cook
     Fall of wickets: 1-67 (V Chopra, 10.5 ov), 2-143 (AJA Wheater, 23.3 ov), 3-154 (DW Lawrence, 25.1 ov), 4-197 (T Westley, 33.3 ov), 5-209 (RN ten Doeschate, 37.1 ov), 6-293 (RS Bopara, 48.5 ov)
     BOWLING: Wood 10-0-51-0, Wheal 10-0-71-2, Berg 10-0-60-1, Crane 10-0-62-1, Taylor    10-0-53-1.    

Hampshire innings (target: 304 runs from 50 overs)
HM Amla c Snater b Cook 18
RR Rossouw b Bopara 111
JM Vince (c) c †Wheater b Bopara 66
JJ Weatherley b Bopara 12
JHK Adams not out 51
BJ Taylor not out 19
Extras 27 (b 3, lb 10, nb 2, w 12)
TOTAL 304/4 (47.2 Overs, RR: 6.42)
   Did not bat: LD McManus †, GK Berg, MS Crane, CP Wood, BTJ Wheal
   Fall of wickets: 1-33 (HM Amla, 6.2 ov), 2-159 (JM Vince, 24.4 ov), 3-179 (JJ Weatherley, 28.6 ov), 4-253 (RR Rossouw, 38.4 ov)
   BOWLING: Cook 8-0-34-1, Snater 4.2-0-38-0, Wagner 8-0-46-0, Ashar Zaidi 6-0-34-0, Harmer 8-0-54-0, Lawrence 4-0-36-0, Bopara 9-1-49-3    

Toss: Hampshire, elected to field first
Umpires: Mike Burns and Paul Baldwin
Points: Hampshire 2, Essex 0