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Carnage at Beckenham as Symonds takes charge

There was carnage at Beckenham, when Kent Spitfires defeated the Hawks with some 8 overs remaining in the Twenty20 clash on Monday.

Vic Isaacs
16-Jun-2003
There was carnage at Beckenham, when Kent Spitfires defeated the Hawks with some 8 overs remaining in the Twenty20 clash on Monday.
The responsibility of sending the huge home crowd home early lay fairly at the shoulders of Australian Andrew Symonds. He annihilated the Hampshire bowlers for 96 runs in just 37 balls, his first 50 taking just 16 of those.
Hampshire actually got off to a good start after being invited to bat first. After losing Derek Kenway for four, the hero of the Sussex match at the Rose Bowl continued where he left off, as he shared a 76 run partnership with Simon Katich.
The innings however showed a similar pattern to the previous match with a mini collapse in the middle order, then some lusty blows from Wasim Akram. Simon Katich finished 59 not out in 52 balls, but his inability to get much of the strike in the last few overs may have accounted for the disappointing total of 145.
Wasim Akram trapped Peter Trego in the first over, then Symonds took over, he hit 24 off Giddins first and only over, he drove Mullally for 21 in his only over as no one was spared. Wasim took 2-29 in his 4 over allocation and Hamblin stepped in with two later batsmen.
Questions were asked about whether this 50 in 16 balls was any sort of milestone; however the ECB and Statisticians do not count the Twenty20 in these accumulative records, so it does not challenge any existing ones.