A crowd of 6,500 attended the Twenty20 match at the Rose Bowl, all the more remarkable as the qualification contest had been decided. Another glorious sunny day brought the fans for a great night out.

Surrey Lions who had won the 4 previous Twenty20 matches and had qualified for the semi-finals, playing a Hampshire Hawks side still trying to come to terms with the new format.

Surrey choosing to bat first, found the Rose Bowl wicket a little bouncy, giving Wasim Akram and Alan Mullally some lift. Scott Newman who had taken 13 (including 3x4s) off Ed Giddins in the second over, was the anchor as the Lions slumped from a comfortable 75 with loss, to just 140 for 9. Newman scored at exactly a run a ball for his 59, as a wicket fell in every over from 14 to 20 with the exception of the 18th.

Two unlikely bowlers held the visitors up, Lawrence Prittipaul may be struggling with the bat, but his bowling has come on in strength conceding just 17 in 4 overs and helping him to 2 wickets. James Hamblin too 3-31 and Wasim bamboozled the tail enders for his two wickets.

When it was Hampshire's turn to bat, they received a major set back, as Hamblin who had given the Hawks such good starts, fell first ball lbw to Martin Bicknell. From that point the Hawks struggled to keep up with the pace, Katich again held the innings together, but only John Crawley (23) and a quickfire 27 (19 balls) from Derek Kenway offered resistance as the home side ended 19 runs short.