Kent crumble to in-form Hampshire

Hampshire 141 for 6 (McKenzie 48, van Jaarsveld 3-20) beat Kent 72 for 9 (Stevens 20, Mascarenhas 3-29) by 69 runs
Scorecard

Hampshire's Dimitri Mascarenhas took three wickets as Kent slumped to the fourth-lowest total in domestic Twenty20 history en route to a 69-run defeat in this Friends Life t20 encounter at the Rose Bowl.

The hosts could only put together a modest 141 for 6 from their 20 overs after Dominic Cork had won the toss, but it proved more than enough as Kent capitulated, losing their top three batsmen within the first 14 balls.

Mascarenhas put behind him more than a year of injury problems to undermine the Kent batting, dismissing Joe Denly with the third delivery of the innings and then snaring his fellow opener Rob Key - both for ducks - and later Wahab Riaz (11) as Kent fell away, never looking likely to get anywhere near their victory target.

Mascarenhas finished with figures of 3 for 29 from his four-over allotment as Hampshire raced back to the top of the South Group with their eighth win in 11 fixtures. Kent were all out for 72, although batsman Martin van Jaarsveld was unable to bat because of a finger injury sustained while fielding.

Hampshire struggled on a pitch offering plenty of turn and their top scorer was South African batsman Neil McKenzie who hit five boundaries in his 46-ball 48, sharing in a stand of 50 for the fifth wicket with Sean Ervine.

Champions Hampshire were never at ease against the occasional spin of van Jaarsveld, who took 3 for 20 from four overs having previously only ever taken seven wickets in the competition.

But if Kent thought seven an over was a reasonable proposition, they were in for a shock as they lost Denly, Azhar Mahmood and Key with just two on the board. With Riaz quickly dismissed only Darren Stevens offered any resistance, striking six and two fours in his 20 before he was bowled by Danny Briggs.

Sam Northeast was run out for 3 and Kent were beyond redemption at 40 for 6 at the start of the eighth over. Shahid Afridi, who was out first ball when Hampshire batted, accounted for Adam Ball in the 11th over and the innings was quickly wrapped up by Imran Tahir who sent back Geraint Jones and Charl Langeveldt.

Hampshire's victory was their sixth in succession at the Rose Bowl and for Kent there was at least a small consolation of having avoided the lowest total in the English version of the competition. That remains the 67 Sussex made, coincidentally against Hampshire, in 2004.