HAMPSHIRE captain James Vince described his side’s batting performance as a “a bit of a mess” against Kent.

Vince set the right tone with a 26-ball 39. But after he was bowled by a slower-ball yorker from former Hampshire teammate Matt Coles, his side struggled to maintain the momentum on a relatively slow track, despite the loss of only three more wickets.

“For three quarters of the game we did better than them but we struggled to find the boundary in the second half of our innings,” said Vince.

“We needed 72 from 10 overs with eight wickets in hand – it was a bit of a mess up but we have to move on for Friday.

“In hindsight we would have liked to win that with an over to spare but we left too much to do in the back end.”

George Bailey and Tom Alsop shared a third-wicket stand of 62 but at little more than a run-a-ball.

When Bailey was out top edging a sweep, Hampshire needed 37 from 28.

But Jimmy Neesham dismissed Liam Dawson, who holed out to long-on, while conceding only two runs off the 18th over.

Coles and Mitchell Claydon had too much nous at the death as Hampshire failed to get the 22 they needed off the final 12 balls (16 were needed off the last over).

Vince also defended the decision to promote the relatively inexperienced Lewis McManus ahead of overseas star Shahid Afridi for the tense denouement.

“Afridi hasn’t really hit it miles yet this season and McManus has been in really good touch,” explained Vince.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Shahid Afridi took 4-26 against Kent (Picture by Neil Marshall)

Afridi had been at his best with the ball after Kent captain Sam Northeast won the toss.

Kent only managed 47 from their powerplay (Hampshire responded with 64 from theirs), but did better on the foundations set by Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond’s 65-run partnership.

Mason Crane broke it with a googly before Afridi returned to something like his best, finishing with his second four-fer of the campaign.

Northeast was also bowled by a wrong-un and Sam Billings picked out Crane on the long-on boundary as Afridi showed his class.

England Lions star Bell-Drummond reached a 33-ball fifty before he became one of two victims in as many balls in Afridi’s final over.

Neesham top-edged a sweep and Bell-Drummond was brilliant caught by a sliding Dawson on the cover boundary – but Alex Blake and Darren Stevens shared 39 crucial runs from the last 27 balls of the innings.

Hampshire are next in action against Middlesex at Lord’s on Thursday, before hosting Essex the following evening.

KENT 
JL Denly b Crane 31 (28)
DJ Bell-Drummond c Dawson b Shahid Afridi 62 (42)
SA Northeast b Shahid Afridi 10 (8)
SW Billings c Crane b Shahid Afridi 4 (5)
JDS Neesham c Abbott b Shahid Afridi 6 (10)
AJ Blake not out 23 (17)
DI Stevens c Dawson b Abbott 16 (10)
Extras: 7 (b 2, w 3, lb 2)
TOTAL 159-6 
    Did not bat: MT Coles, ME Claydon, Imran Qayyum, JC Tredwell
    Bowling: LA Dawson 4-0-28-0, CP Wood 2-0-18-0, GK Berg 3-0-24-0, KJ Abbott 4-0-31-1, MS Crane 3-0-28-1, Shahid Afridi 4-0-26-4        
    Fall of wickets:1-65 (JL Denly, 7.6 ov), 2-91 (SA Northeast, 10.4 ov), 3-103 (SW Billings, 12.4 ov), 4-118 (JDS Neesham, 15.1 ov), 5-120 (DJ Bell-Drummond, 15.3 ov), 6-159 (DI Stevens, 19.6 ov).

HAMPSHIRE 
JM Vince b Coles 39 (26)
RR Rossouw c Blake b Claydon 13 (8)
TP Alsop not out 43 (41)
GJ Bailey c Claydon b Tredwell 41 (32)
LA Dawson c Blake b Neesham 4 (9)
LD McManus not out 8 (5)
Extras 6 (w 3, nb 2, lb 1)
TOTAL 154-4 
     Did not bat: GK Berg, KJ Abbott, CP Wood, MS Crane, Shahid Afridi
     Bowling: DI Stevens 1-0-7-0, MT Coles 4-0-36-1, JDS Neesham 3-0-22-1, ME Claydon 4-0-35-1, Imran Qayyum 4-0-23-0, JC Tredwell 4-0-30-1.    
     Fall of wickets:1-42 (RR Rossouw, 3.5 ov), 2-60 (JM Vince, 5.5 ov), 3-122 (GJ Bailey, 15.2 ov), 4-138 (LA Dawson, 17.5 ov)