D'Arcy Short, Joe Weatherley help haul Hampshire through to quarter-finals

Hampshire stormed into the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast after a final round day of drama saw the two-time champions progress. The Hawks, who sat bottom of the South Group only a month ago, found their form at the right time, reeling off five successive wins and then saw results work in their favour on Sunday night following their thumping six-wicket win over Glamorgan at the Ageas Bowl.

Hampshire started the day sitting in sixth spot in the South Group, needing to beat Glamorgan whilst bettering Surrey's run rate then hope Gloucestershire and Sussex lost to Somerset and Kent respectively to have any hope of qualifying for the top-four.

James Vince's side held up their side of the bargain by blasting their way to a challenging 185-run target inside the 14.1 overs needed to usurp Surrey's run rate. Although Sussex brushed aside a Kent side, who had already qualified, but had been depleted due to Covid-19, Somerset ensured James Vince's side remain in with a chance to win a third Blast title with a 23-run victory over Gloucestershire.

It capped off a superb week for Hampshire, who on Wednesday booked their spot in Division One of the County Championships by beating Gloucestershire before coming from nowhere to reach the last-eight of the Blast.y

D'Arcy Short's blazing 69 off 30 balls and a magnificent 43 off 13 from Joe Weatherley got the Hawks home in a match that yielded 24 sixes from both sides and included a fine knock of 78 from Glamorgan's Australian Test batsman Marnus Labuschagne.

Weatherley said belief was the key to the victory and credited the recent arrival of New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme as the catalyst to a change in mentality after the team's T20 season looked dead and buried after a demoralising defeat to Surrey four weeks ago. de Grandhomme scored just 5 against Glamorgan and was overshadowed by Short's brilliant knock, but Weatherley said his arrival has been a huge boost to the squad.

"Colin has come in and showed us how to play and given us that confidence in the middle to go for it from ball one," Weatherley said. "For me, one of the younger guys, I am just feeding off that and it makes things a lot easier.

"It's funny, when you are swimming against the tide it feels the hardest thing to win games and vice versa when you are going well. Of course we were going to do that today - it is that inner-confidence that at the start of the competition felt a million miles away. To have put ourselves in this position at this stage of the season is unbelievable.

"We have put so much in over the last five matches and we have found a formula that works. It's a real team effort, lots of guys have put their hands up, everyone is working hard for each other."