Hampshire (170-5) tied with Essex (170-8)

Ravi Bopara was run out off the last ball as Hampshire tied a domestic T20 match for the fourth time. 

Needing two to win, Bopara failed to beat Colin Munro’s throw from square leg, though umpire Jeffrey Evans had to go to the TV umpire to confirm the decision.

Bopara had hit 39 from 36 balls to take Essex within a whisker of a second T20 victory of the season.

Dan Lawrence laid the foundation for the chase with the highest T20 score of his career, a 36-ball 49 (four fours, one six).

Chris Wood (3-27) kept Essex in check until the late fireworks, but it was not enough.

Sam Northeast finished with an unbeaten 73 from 50 balls that included four sixes as Hampshire posted 170-5.

It was a surprisingly pedestrian innings after Colin Munro’s blistering 38 from 17 balls, including three sixes at the top of the order

Bar two overs from Matt Quinn that went for 27 and 19, Essex kept a tight rein with leg-spinner Adam Zampa’s 2-30 only spoilt by Northeast’s late hitting. 

Essex openers Adam Wheater and Varun Chopra had compiled opening stands of more than fifty in three of their first five games, but had put on just four when Chopra was caught behind off Ryan Stevenson’s first ball, a short delivery.

Wheater bookended Fidel Edwards’s opening over with sixes over midwicket but was the second of two wickets in four balls when he charged spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s first delivery and was stumped for a 14-ball 22. Tom Westley (9) had just beaten him back to the pavilion courtesy of an inside edge against Wood.

Ryan ten Doesechate and Lawrence shared a fourth-wicket stand of 44 in five overs that included a big six over long-leg by the captain.

But ten Doeschate perished when he top-edged Fidel Edwards to Liam Dawson on his knees at wide mid-on.
Bopara, moving beyond single figures for the first time this season, helped take the target to 60 from 30 balls.

Lawrence passed his previous highest score in the competition with an effortless pick-up over square leg for six off Edwards. to go to 48. But in attempting to reach his first half-century in style, he hit Wood to Munro on the long-off fence.

Suddenly the asking rate was 41 from three. Harmer helped it along with a reverse-swept six off Rahman and Bopara added a second over midwicket. But with 27 required from 12 balls, Harmer was lbw to Wood. Neil Wagner hit Wood straight for six followed by a four to make it 13 from the last over.

Bopara hit the first ball from Stevenson for a straight six with James Vince falling awkwardly and twisting his ankle in an attempt to make the catch. 

A single gave Wagner the strike, but he went to the third ball, caught on the boundary by Dawson. Bopara refused a run from the fourth ball but thumped the fifth through the covers for four. Two needed from the last ball – and the dramatic conclusion.

Bopara admitted: “I knew I was out. I slipped at the non-striker’s end. I was haring down and just as I turned to look where the ball was, I was too close to the crease. I had to put the brakes on and slipped – which is a stupid mistake for me really. I should have just got my head down and gone. I was excited like a little kid..”

Of the dramatic last over, Bopara said: “We still needed 13, so I thought just put two out of the park and it’s game over. The first one went. Then there was a long delay [while Vince received treatment]. That hurt us.

“On the last ball, I was thinking of just knocking into the legside. That way you’re guaranteed a tie, and you might get two anyway. 

“Then the other thing is that you don’t want to die wondering, either. Just don’t get out, that was my plan. Hit the ball hard, just don’t get out. 

“The plan was not to get them a catch or we’d end up losing. It just needed to go in the gap.”

Hampshire had started their innings slowly, but the early loss of Vince to a skier at mid-on only inspired Munro to take charge. 

Northeast finished off Jamie Porter’s second over with a six over midwicket, and Munro followed with sixes off the first two deliveries from Quinn in an over that went for 27, including a third six over midwicket.

Zampa was unfortunate that two successive misfields on the bumpy outfield went to the boundary, but managed to bowl a reverse-sweeping Munro. 

Hampshire reached 53 in the fifth over, but three wickets in 18 balls put the brakes on.

Rilee Rossouw nicked Zampa and Tom Alsop was lbw to Harmer attempting an ill-advised reverse sweep. 

Hampshire had slumped to 70-4 and added only 33 in eight overs, with Northeast and Dawson needing 50 balls to add fifty for the fifth wicket.

However, Northeast saw off Zampa’s final two balls with sixes to cow corner that also brought up a 41-ball fifty.
Wagner broke the 71-run stand when Dawson (32) hit him high to wide mid-on where Lawrence – despite reacting slowly – took it on the move over his shoulder. 

Hampshire’s next Vitality Blast match is against Middlesex at Lord’s on Thursday.

After hitting his highest T20 score for Hampshire, Northeast said: “It took a bit of time to get going. We lost a few wickets in a bit of a cluster, so me and Daws just said we had to build for a bit before we get going. We found it quite hard to get them away, but once we did we were on our way. That last over proved quite crucial.

“You don’t realise it at the time, but when you look back on it and that six off the last ball, you think. ‘That was really important’. T20 is such a crazy game, they are such small margins. Whatever it is, you always look back, but all you can do is go out there, play with freedom, and hope it falls on the right side for you.

“I feels like a strange game. You play for so long and you get one point each – we could have flipped a coin and gone home then! But it was a really, really good game, high on quality and excitement. I felt we were a little bit short, but then we took early wickets with the ball and put us in front for a little bit.

“It is a tough ground to defend. You miss your length against someone like Ravi, who is such an experienced campaigner. A game is never done. If you miss a yorker, it gets hit for six. I can’t remember the game now, it’s a bit of a blur.

“A tie is better than coming away with a loss. The important thing is we’re playing better cricket. And that bodes well for the rest of the competition. A lot of guys were struggling with form at the start, but we’ve got a few guys starting to pick their performances up, and that’s always a good sign. Hopefully we can go on and get some results.”

Hampshire's next Vitality Blast match is against Middlesex at Lord's on Thursday.

SCORECARD
Hampshire innings

JM Vince (c) c Harmer b Quinn 1 (5)
C Munro b Zampa 38 (17)
SA Northeast not out 73 (50)
RR Rossouw c †Wheater b Zampa 8 (7)
TP Alsop lbw b Harmer 0 (4)
LA Dawson c Lawrence b Wagner 32 (32)
LD McManus † not out 9 (6)
Extras 9 (lb 3, nb 2, w 4)
TOTAL 170-5
Did not bat: CP Wood, RA Stevenson, FH Edwards, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (JM Vince, 1.3 ov), 2-53 (C Munro, 4.4 ov), 3-69 (RR Rossouw, 6.4 ov), 4-70 (TP Alsop, 7.3 ov), 5-141 (LA Dawson, 17.4 ov)
BOWLING: JA Porter 3-0-21-0, MR Quinn 3-0-51-1, A Zampa 4-0-30-2, N Wagner 3-0-25-1, SR Harmer 4-0-21-1, RS Bopara 3-0-19-0 

Essex innings
AJA Wheater † st †McManus b Mujeeb Ur Rahman 22 (14)
V Chopra c †McManus b Stevenson 2 (4)
T Westley b Wood 9 (12)
RN ten Doeschate (c) c Dawson b Edwards 23 (18)
DW Lawrence c Munro b Wood 49 (36)
RS Bopara run out (Munro) 39 (26)
SR Harmer  lbw b Wood 8  (5)
N Wagner c Dawson b Stevenson 13 (5)
A Zampa not out 0 (0)
Extras 5 (b 1, lb 3, w 1)
TOTAL 170/8 (20 Overs, RR: 8.50)
Did not bat: JA Porter, MR Quinn
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (V Chopra, 1.1 ov), 2-35 (T Westley, 4.4 ov), 3-37 (AJA Wheater, 5.1 ov), 4-81 (RN ten Doeschate, 10.3 ov), 5-125 (DW Lawrence, 16.1 ov), 6-144 (SR Harmer, 18.1 ov), 7-165 (N Wagner, 19.3 ov), 8-170 (RS Bopara, 19.6 ov)
BOWLING: CP Wood 4-0-27-3, Stevenson 4-0-28-2, FH Edwards 4-0-43-1, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 4-0-29-1, LA Dawson 3-0-31-0, C Munro 1-0-8-0