Northamptonshire thrashed Hampshire by a huge margin of seven wickets in the CB40 at the Rose Bowl, courtesy of Irish wicketkeeper, Niall O’Brien, who smashed a fantastic hundred and led his team to their fourth consecutive triumph.
O’Brien whacked 10 boundaries and three sixes in his blistering innings of 121 runs, which enabled Northamptonshire to cross their target of 201 runs target with 31 balls to spare. The match proved to be a one-sided competition.
After winning the toss, Hampshire opted to bat first and could only manage to score a below par total of 200 off their allotted quota of 40 overs. James Vince was the top scorer from Hampshire. He scored 58 precious runs. He built a solid partnership of 79 runs for the second wicket with Benny Howell but once both batsmen were dismissed, the resistance became irregular.
Liam Dawson scored a courageous 41 runs, which included a six off Lee Daggett in the second last over, but it never seemed to be sufficient. Daggett proved to be the most successful of the Northamptonshire bowlers. He took a couple of wickets and gave away 38 runs. Andrew Hall and Jack Brooks also took two wickets each.
Northamptonshire did not get the dream start in pursuit of 201 runs. They lost their first wicket on 23 whenRob Newton was caught and bowled by Dimitri Mascarenhas. However, Hampshire soon lost control of the match.
Stephen Peters was satisfied to play a cameo for his team, as O’Brien combusted, with thrilling strokes. Peter was caught plumb in front of the wickets and judged LBW off the bowling of Dawson at 102.
However, Alex Wakely stayed with O’Brien and built a solid partnership of 85 runs for the third wicket in just 14 overs.
O’Brien was clean bowled in the 33rd over while playing another belligerent stroke off the bowling of Simon Jones with only 14 runs required for victory. The innings was wrapped up by Wakely and David in the next couple of overs to leave Hampshire with a gloomy record, conversely to that of their counterparts, of a lonely triumph from their first four games in the contest.
Something went right for the Hampshire opening bowler Mascarenhas, who came back after almost a year after an ankle injury, as he was blessed with the wicket of Newton. He gave away 40 runs in eight overs.
However, he could not stop O’Brien, who previously played a stunning innings of 95 runs, in this contest.
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