RLODC Final

The Royal London One Day Cup Final always has a special place in the English cricket calendar. The marquee final takes Place at Lords every year, showcasing the finest talent the County game has to offer.

JamesVince

This year, James Vince’s Hampshire side faced Kent with both teams desperate to end their respective trophy droughts. It was Kent who won the toss and elected to field first, more on the notion that they prefer to chase than anything the pitch or weather suggested.

However, Hampshire proceeded to post a record total for an English domestic one-day final, thanks largely to Rilee Roussow’s 125. Hampshire’s superb opening partnership of 136 between Roussow and Tom Alsop had their fans dreaming of 400 and even after Alsop’s dismissal, James Vince’s arrival to the crease would have done little to brighten Kent’s day. As it turned out, however, the damage was done by Sam Northeast, Kent’s captain last year who moved to Hampshire to boost his credentials to play for England, rather than Vince who made 23 from 24 balls before he was caught at long-on.

Northeast’s arrival at 193/2, with 20 overs to go, meant that they were afforded the luxury of throwing caution to the wind, hoping to mirror England’s efforts at Trent Bridge a couple of weeks previously. However, when Roussow was eventually dismissed for a fantastic 125, his departure sparked somewhat of a collapse, as Hampshire slipped from 270-3 to 297-6 in under 5 overs including the wicket of Lewis McManus for 6. Unlike his teammates, Northeast remained steadfast to finish the innings 75*, with Hampshire reaching 330/7.

Kent’s reply saw GM’s Daniel Bell-Drummond open the batting with the competition’s top run-scorer Heino Kuhn. Kuhn had scored hundreds in his previous two matches in the 50-over format to get Kent to the final, however, his astounding run of form was suddenly halted when he ran himself out for 32.

DBD

 

His replacement, Joe Denly, struggled to get going before he was caught by Vince for 12 from 23 balls. Fellow GM batsman Sean Dickson looked to support Bell-Drummond, but he too struggled to keep up with the run-rate before losing his wicket. His 30 runs from 41 balls got Kent to 158/3, but the wicket of Bell-Drummond for a superb 86 shortly afterwards in the 35th over seemed to seal Kent’s fate.

The win clinched Hampshire’s first Royal London One Day Cup title and their first One Day trophy since 2012. Kent on the other hand haven’t won a One Day trophy in 40 years despite this being their eighth appearance in a final, their last victory came in the 1978 B&H final.Captain Sam Billings attempted to kick-start their innings, but he was unable to find anyone willing to stick around with him. This was made particularly difficult by three more run outs, even more so when the last six batsman combine for just 26 runs. In the end, Billings was the last man out for well-compiled 75 but his side only managed 269, 61 runs short of their target.