Hampshire 2017 thread

[st_brendy]

Cracking knock so far from the young man.

[st_brendy]

Shame that he's out, but what a superb - and unexpected - 50 from Dickinson.

[st_brendy]

I love that we're this far ahead that we can afford to give Afridi a bit of time at the crease.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Top of the table.

[st_brendy]

A win against Somerset guarantees qualification - and almost certainly a home QF. At a minimum, Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Essex, Sussex and Somerset would all not be able to match a 17 point haul. That would leave Glamorgan and Gloucs.

A tie or a no-result would almost certainly secure qualification. Middlesex and Kent wouldn't be able to match a 16 point haul, whilst Surrey, Essex, and Sussex could only equal it. And that is before considering all the matches between the other eight sides - points will clearly be dropped all over the place.

A defeat would highly likely mean that Somerset themselves finish above us. Whilst also presenting fairly open goals for Glamorgan and Gloucs to overtake us. So it would most likely come down to whether any of Sussex, Surrey or Essex have a storming final week. But again, sides will be dropping points all over the place - so I'd still give us a solid chance of progressing with our current points tally.

[budgetmeansbudget]

Since criticising Bailey, he has done okay for us.

[st_brendy]

Excellent result for us today, with Somerset losing to Kent.

[st_brendy]

Excellent result for us today, with Somerset losing to Kent.

And another excellent day, even though we have been knocked off the top. If would take a freakish set of results to knock us out from here. 99.9% qualified.

I say freakish, because I reckon the results would have to read:

We lose to Somerset (very, very heavily)
Essex beat Kent
Essex beat Sussex
Surrey beat Kent (very, very heavily)
Gloucs beat Middlesex (very, very heavily)
Surrey v Gloucs is tied or washed out

[Hampshire]

Does anyone know how the day our quarter final will be played is decided? Is it a random draw/selected by convenience or is it fixed dependant on the position we finish? Trying to make plans for next week whilst tactically avoiding likely quarter final dates!

[st_brendy]

Does anyone know how the day our quarter final will be played is decided? Is it a random draw/selected by convenience or is it fixed dependant on the position we finish? Trying to make plans for next week whilst tactically avoiding likely quarter final dates!

In previous seasons it's been largely down to Sky to decide, in terms of the most logical way of getting their equipment around the country etc.

[st_brendy]

Qualification now a mathematical certainty. Gloucs cannot catch us.

[st_brendy]

Hampshire website currently states that Crane has not been released by England for tomorrow. I would take that with a slight pinch of salt - very rarely this season has the website actually got the squad correct, and England might yet change their mind.

[haggishants]

Looking for the silver lining... at least our help to Somerset's nrr kept Sussex out of the frame! Somerset 0.491 Sussex 0.423 .

[st_brendy]

Looking for the silver lining... at least our help to Somerset's nrr kept Sussex out of the frame! Somerset 0.491 Sussex 0.423 .

I'd suggest an away tie to Derby is a silver lining!

I think we won two out of seven at home, but five from seven away. So an away draw is a big tick.

And whilst Derby have clearly done a great job in qualifying, they're inexperienced and a KO match is a whole different ball game. Just go back to 2015 - Worcs did something similar to Derby now, we got them away in the QF, and we beat them fairly comfortably. We had the big game experience, and the big game players.

Unfortunately what we cannot ignore is how bad our middle order still is. Bailey, Alsop, Dawson can all knock the ball around no problem. But ask them to go at 8 or 10 or 12 an over? No chance. We rely so, so heavily on our top three. And with two of them injured, we are somewhat screwed. Fortunately Dickinson stepped up to the plate last week to help Vince out, but we can't expect him to do that on a regular basis.

That said, as bad as the batting was tonight, the bowlers arguably let us down the most. 190 is way, way beyond par on the Rose Bowl. Even with Rilee and Carberry in the side, I'd have said they got 30 too many. But without them, it was more like 50 or 60 too many. I can't be bothered to check out the stats, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the ten biggest domestic scores at the Rose Bowl. The match was over at the half way stage. I predicted 120 all out. Alas, with our middle order we couldn't even make that.

[budgetmeansbudget]

I think we've been very fortunate to qualify and we'll need some more luck in the quarter finals, ie our opponents performing badly, to make it through to Finals day.

Mind you our first T20 triumph I seem to remember came off the back of an indifferent group stage.

Just don't think we've got the batting power to prevail this year and that was with Roussoux in the side.