Hampshire are Glamorgan’s next opponents in the NatWest T20 Blast as the two teams go head-to-head at The SSE SWALEC on Friday, June 3rd with the floodlit contest scheduled to start at 6.30pm.(Gates open – 5pm)
Hampshire were the victors on their visit to the SSE SWALEC last summer to play Glamorgan in the Twenty20 competition, with the South Coast sider winning by 21 runs after veteran all-rounder Sean Ervine had clubbed an assertive 49, before Chris Wood dismantled the home batting by taking 4/16. However, the left-armer is one of several players on the sidelines with both Wood and Fidel Edwards ruled for the rest of the summer after sustaining injuries in the opening month of the season
The outcome was much closer in 2014 when Hampshire narrowly won by six runs, but the result could have been very different had Darren Sammy not been caught on the boundary’s edge high above his head by Jimmy Adams just as the West Indian all-rounder looked like seeing Glamorgan to victory.
In fact, Hampshire have a decent record in Twenty20 cricket at Glamorgan’s headquarters having won the competition in 2012 when the SWALEC Stadium hosted Finals Day. After beating Somerset in the semi-final, they defeated the Yorkshire Carnegie in the floodlit final with Chris Wood claiming 3/26 as the South Coast side won by ten runs.
However, Hampshire lost their opening game of the 2016 season last Friday night against Middlesex at Uxbridge with Dawid Malan posting a match-winning 93 from 48 balls to guide the home side to an impressive 195/6. In reply, none of the Hampshire batsmen played a major innings as they were dismissed for 126 to give Middlesex victory by 69 runs.
Hampshire’s second game in the competition takes place on Thursday evening at The Ageas Bowl to Kent, before James Vince and his team travel to Cardiff on Friday night to face the Welsh county.
