Hampshire outclass Ireland
Hampshire began the defence of the C&G Trophy with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Ireland in Dublin, despite the absence of star names Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen.
Captain Shaun Udal put Ireland into bat and his bowlers rewarded him by dismissing the hosts for 202 with James Bruce the pick of the bowling attack finishing the day with figures of four for 31.
Chasing 203 for victory, Hampshire quickly set about their task with opener Nic Pothas smashing 69 off 75 balls before he was finally dismissed lbw by Andre Botha.
But former England international John Crawley was the star of the innings, seeing Hampshire home with an impressive 76 off 90 balls which included the winning runs.
The trip to Dublin had banana skin written all over it with Ireland including Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq in their line-up – although his big-hitting international colleague Shahid Afridi was absent due to a family illness.
Udal’s decision to put the Irish into bat soon paid dividends with Bruce capturing opener Dominick Joyce (9) lbw with just 16 on the board.
On a slow Clontarf pitch, Ireland got into the game with number three Eoin Morgan and Jeremy Bray adding 66 before Morgan (17) chipped the ball to fine leg and was caught by Bruce off the bowling of Sean Ervine.
With Ireland’s momentum on the wane, Botha (0) and Andrew White (5) were soon back in the pavilion – Botha was caught by the athletic Crawley at cover off the bowling of Dimitri Mascarenhas, while Ervine dismissed White lbw.
Disaster then struck for Ireland as Bray’s innings came to an end – the opener had made an impressive 59 before he was run out by wicket keeper Pothas.
Recalled to the attack, England pace man Chris Tremlett made light work of Peter Gillespie (0) before Bruce bowled Ireland captain Trent Johnson for 21.
Kyle McCallan added a useful 18 before Mascarenhas trapped him lbw and Mushtaq (6) soon followed, swiping a Bruce delivery straight down the throat of Udal at mid on.
And fittingly it was Bruce who wrapped up the innings bowling Adrian McCoubrey (2) – David Langford-Smith was the unbeaten batsman notching 16, including an impressive six off the bowling of Tremlett.
In reply, Crawley and Pothas put on 135 for the first Hampshire wicket while Ervine added 31 off 35 balls before Mushtaq claimed his scalp.
But by that stage it was to late for the Irish as new batsman Dominic Thornely smashed a huge six before Crawley sealed victory with an expertly executed cover drive.
