That's all from this rain-hit contest, folks! It's me, Deepak Prakash, signing off on behalf of scorer/analysts Vishnu Verma and Ghanendra Singh Thakur. CHEERS!
1:42 AM IST, 9:12 PM Local Time: The rain had the last laugh in this contest, but fortunately, enough play was possible to produce a result. Hampshire win by 15 runs via the DLS method, making it two wins in two in the ongoing T20 Blast.
Earlier, after being invited to bat first, Surrey struggled to score freely in the powerplay and lost both openers — Dominic Sibley (13) and Ollie Pope (11) — cheaply. Jason Roy and Sam Curran took their time to settle at the crease, but Roy couldn’t capitalise on his start, falling for 37 off 33 balls. Curran tried to turn things around and smashed a few boundaries, but failed to bat till the end and departed for 34 runs. Surrey lost a flurry of wickets in the death overs. Laurie Evans found it tough to score freely but remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 balls, helping Surrey push past the 140-run mark in their 20 overs. Chris Wood, John Turner, and Scott Currie bagged a couple of wickets each for Hampshire, while Bjorn Fortuin contributed a solitary wicket to the downfall. In response, Toby Albert and James Vince played carefully and attacked the looseners that came their way to keep the scoreboard moving at a decent pace. Their opening stand crossed the 50-run mark, and with Hampshire at 63/0 in 8.2 overs, the rain intensified, forcing a halt in play.
The rain showed no mercy and continued to pour, leading to Hampshire being declared the winners as they were 15 runs ahead of the DLS par score.
OVER 9
Hampshire
63/0
Toby Albert
28(22)
James Vince
33(28)
Mitchell Santner
0-9(1.2)
1:40 AM IST, 9:10 PM Local Time: The players shake hands as the game is officially called off. Hampshire win by 15 runs (DLS method).
1:05 AM IST, 8:37 PM Local Time: The umpires converge in the middle and have seen enough. They ask the players to leave the field as it’s now pelting down at the venue. The groundsmen rush in with the covers. Hampshire are 15 runs ahead of the DLS par score.
8.2 M Santner to T Albert
4 FOUR RUNS! Full and outside the off-stump. The batter leans into it and drives it through cover-point for a boundary.