JAMES Vince continued his love affair with Hove in leading Hampshire to back-to-back Natwest T20 Blast wins ahead of tomorrow night’s first home game against Middlesex.

The Hampshire captain’s 48-ball 81 against Sussex last night took his T20 aggregate at Hove 308 at an average of 102.66 and a strike rate of 161.26.

Worthing-born Mason Crane also enjoyed his return to Hove, his 2-24 included the scalps of Luke Wright (50) and Ross Taylor (27) on the ground where he used to enjoy watching Mushtaq Ahmed during his days in Sussex’s age-group sides.

That was until Sussex left him out of their Under-14 team.

David Wiese hit out towards the end but cpud not Sussex finished on 169-7 and lost by 19 runs, their second successive defeat.

Hampshire’s imposing total on a slow wicket was set up by an opening stand of 109 between Vince and Rilee Rossouw.

Vince looked in good touch from the start, hitting four successive boundaries off Jofra Archer in the third over as the visitors raced to 102 at the halfway stage of their innings.

Rossouw was impeded by an ankle injury but still clobbered three sixes and four boundaries in 46 from 31 balls before he holed out in the 11th over.

Sussex dragged things back slightly with Hampshire adding just 14 runs between the 10th and 14th overs but Vince looked on course for a hundred when Archer returned to the attack and yorked the left-hander in the 16th over. Vince’s 81 came from 48 balls with ten fours and three sixes.

Momentum was provided towards the end by Michael Carberry with 41 from 30 balls after Shahid Afridi, promoted to No.3, gave Chris Jordan a deserved wicket.

Sussex lost opener Chris Nash (21) after he had put on 33 for the first wicket with Wright during an excellent opening spell by Kyle Abbott (3-22).

Ben Brown, promoted to no.3, fell cheaply but Taylor and Wright came together to put on 49 in 6.1 overs and at halfway Sussex were keeping tabs with the required rate.

Wright, who made 101 in Sunday’s opener against Glamorgan, reached 50 with three fours and three sixes but two balls after getting there he was caught at long off by the diving Rossouw and in the next over Crane lured Taylor (27) down the track trying to hit through mid-wicket and Lewis McManus pulled off a smart stumping.

His dismissal left Sussex needing 82 off seven overs and although Wiese muscled three sixes and Laurie Evans two in a stand of 47 from 27 balls they could not maintain the tempo.

Evans (20) drove Abbott’s slower ball to extra cover and Sussex’s race was run when Wiese was caught at long off from the first ball of the final over.

HAMPSHIRE innings
JM Vince* b Archer 81 (48)    
RR Rossouw c Jordan b Beer 46    (31)    
MA Carberry not out 41    (30)    
Shahid Afridi c †Brown b Jordan 5 (5)    
GJ Bailey not out 7 (7)
Extras (lb 5, w 1, nb 2) 8
TOTAL (3 wickets; 20 overs) 188 
    Did not bat: SM Ervine, LD McManus†, GK Berg, KJ Abbott, MS Crane, RJW Topley
    Fall of wickets 1-109 (Rossouw, 10.5 ov), 2-149 (Vince, 15.1 ov), 3-154 (Shahid Afridi, 16.2 ov)
     Bowling: D Wiese 2-0-17-0, GHS Garton 4-0-43-0, JC Archer 4-0-35-1, CJ Jordan 4-0-29-1, DR Briggs 3-0-32-0, WAT Beer 3-0-27-1    
     
SUSSEX innings

CD Nash c Rossouw b Abbott 21 (14)
LJ Wright c Rossouw b Crane 50 (33)
BC Brown† c Vince b Berg 1 (4)
LRPL Taylor* st †McManus b Crane 27 (23)
LJ Evans c Vince b Abbott 20 (17)
D Wiese c Ervine b Berg 28 (16)
JC Archer b Abbott 2 (2)    
CJ Jordan not out 6 (6)    
WAT Beer not out 12 (5)    
Extras (lb 1, w 1) 2                    
TOTAL (7 wickets; 20 overs) 169    
     Did not bat: DR Briggs, GHS Garton
     Fall of wickets: 1-33 (Nash, 3.4 ov), 2-47 (Brown, 5.2 ov), 3-96 (Wright, 11.3 ov), 4-102 (Taylor, 13.1 ov), 5-149 (Evans, 17.4 ov), 6-151 (Archer, 17.6 ov), 7-151 (Wiese, 18.1 ov)
     Bowling: RJW Topley 4-0-41-0, KJ Abbott 4-0-22-3, GK Berg 4-0-44-2, Shahid Afridi 4-0-37-0, MS Crane 4-0-24-2