Preview: Hampshire Hawks v Yorkshire Men, Vitality Blast

The race for a place in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast has reached crunch time, and Yorkshire can take a giant step in the right direction with what would be a statement win over in-form Hampshire. 

After a fortnight’s break for two rounds of the Rothesay County Championship to be played, the Blast will now be played to a finish over the next three weeks or so, culminating in Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday July 18.

Next up for Yorkshire is a trip to face Hampshire Hawks at the Utilita Bowl tomorrow night, 7pm start.

It is a cross-group clash between two in-form sides. Yorkshire are top of the North with four wins from six, while Hampshire hold top spot in the South having played six, won five.

“They’ve been one of the most consistent teams, so it’s probably a good barometer where we’re at,” said Anthony McGrath, Yorkshire’s head coach.

McGrath’s comments not only allude to Hampshire’s good form this season but their excellence in this format in years gone by.

Three-time winners – a joint-record with Leicestershire and Somerset – they have also reached Finals Day a record 11 times. Again, that’s a joint competition record alongside Somerset. Those two counties played out last year’s final at Edgbaston, with Somerset coming out on top.

“First game back with a break for the Championship,” continued McGrath. But we’ve just got to remember what we’ve done so well in the T20.

“The games at the Utilita Bowl and Chesterfield Friday and Sunday, they’re difficult ones but exciting ones I think as well. We know that if we win one or two of them, we’re going to be in a good position.

“(It’s about) looking at the opportunity and being brave with what we can achieve.

“Everyone hopefully is thinking like I am, ‘We’re going to win both games and we’re going to have one foot in qualification’.

“That’s how we’ve got to approach it. That’s how we’ve got to approach every game. When we do that, we’ll win more games than we lose.”

Two strong second teams of Yorkshire and Lancashire played out a pair of T20 friendlies at Weetwood yesterday to get back into the T20 rhythm.

The top two teams in each of the three groups advance to the quarter-finals alongside the two best third-placed finishers. 

Last time out in the Blast, Yorkshire were beaten by Leicestershire at Grace Road on Sunday June 7, by 12 runs as they fell short of chasing 148.

Hampshire, meanwhile, beat Surrey by five runs at the Kia Oval in their last game a couple of days before. They defended a 216-target in a thriller.

They are coached by South African Russell Domingo and captained in the Blast by experienced ex-England batter James Vince, who missed that aforementioned Surrey game with a back injury.

He was due to play in the EUT20 competition in Belgium which ran from June 6-14 but didn’t. Yorkshire’s Moeen Ali played in that for the Antwerp Anchors and reached the final, only to be beaten by the Ghent Gladiators. 

While Yorkshire will continue to have three overseas players available to them in Hassan Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Logan van Beek – the former two have been playing – Hampshire will field batting duo Hilton Cartwright and Tristan Stubbs from Australia and South Africa respectively.

Stubbs is their leading run-scorer in the competition with 166 from five appearances, while fringe England white-ball seamer Scott Currie has 12 wickets. Only Duan Jansen of Gloucestershire and James Sales of Northamptonshire, with 16 apiece, have taken more than him in the competition.

Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow, meanwhile, is the third highest run-scorer in the Blast with 250 from six appearances. 

This is a Blast double-header day at the Utilita Bowl, a women’s game between Hampshire and Yorkshire taking place from 3pm.