James Vince led Hampshire to their fifth consecutive appearance at Finals Day with a 5-wicket victory in their NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final against Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge.

The Hampshire captain scored an undefeated 93 from 51 balls, with 11 fours and 4 sixes to reach the winning line with an over to spare.

Earlier, Notts had posted 197 for two, having elected to bat first, with Riki Wessels, Samit Patel and Alex Hales all scoring half centuries.

Wessels top-scored with 62 not out, Patel was unbeaten on 53 and Hales blasted 51 at the top of the order. Matt Coles took both Nottinghamshire wickets to fall, to finish with two for 36.

In pursuit of 198, Hampshire got off to a flying start, with Vince taking four boundaries from the second over, bowled by Harry Gurney. On 20 he was reprieved though, as Hales spilled a fierce drive at cover, off Shahzad’s bowling.

Michael Carberry was stumped for 31 at the start of the eighth over as the bowler, Patel, became the first Notts’ player to take 100 wickets in the domestic T20 competition.

Vince reached his 50 with a six off Patel, it coming in 31 deliveries with 8 fours also but he then lost Glenn Maxwell and Jimmy Adams to consecutive deliveries from Ajmal Shahzad.

Notts missed out on a further scalp as Patel badly misjudged a catch in the deep, deliberately grounding the ball, fearing he was going to topple over the ropes when he was, in fact, some way from the boundary.

The batsman, Sean Ervine, was on 11 at the time and provided the necessary support to Vince, although both he and Will Smith both perished to Luke Fletcher with the finishing line in sight.

Fletcher closed with figures of two for 26 but conceded the winning single to Coles.

Michael Lumb, made 22 from 11 deliveries at the start of the Notts’ innings before muscling Coles out to deep midwicket. A streaky inside-edge got Wessels’ innings under way but the then levered Kyle Abbott high over the leg side for his first maximum.

Hales twice put Danny Briggs over the ropes to reach his 50 from 39 balls, with 4 fours and 2 sixes but then also fell to a catch in the deep.

Wessels and Patel kept up the momentum, going on to add 79 in just 7 overs together. Although both passed 50 the total only looked around par on a good surface and was eventually chased down in 19 overs by the visitors.

It was the fourth quarter-final in a row that Notts had lost at home but Hampshire go through to Finals Day, where they will face Lancashire Lightning.

 

Notts Outlaws are back in Royal London One-Day Cup action this week, and tickets for the visit of Surrey to Trent Bridge on Sunday 7 August have been reduced to £1 in advance. Don't miss out and secure your seats now.