• McDermott smashed 83 off 30 balls, including nine sixes and five fours, and Vince ended undefeated on 54 as Hampshire chased Middlesex’s 142-7 in 12 overs.
• For the second straight game, his 132-run stand with James Vince in 9.4 overs broke the Hampshire opening T20 stand record.
• Middlesex’s runs have been among the top three all season, and they were out by the 10th over, with 70 on the board.

McDermott smashed 83 off 30 balls, including nine sixes and five fours, and Vince ended undefeated on 54 as Hampshire chased Middlesex’s 142-7 in 12 overs.

There have been swingers in Radlett, famously so as the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, but they were not the cricketing variety, according to Middlesex. When it came to games between bat and ball, there was hardly a wink and a nod to be had, as Middlesex’s innings hardly ever got off the ground.

But it was a case of bring on the party for Hampshire. Ben McDermott, stocky and bellicose – think Bob Hoskins with athletic talent – brought his own playlist of sixes, nine of which he included in an 83-ball innings.

For the second straight game, his 132-run stand with James Vince in 9.4 overs broke the Hampshire opening T20 stand record. Australia has left him out of their squad for Sri Lanka, but he is staying to make counties pay and start competing for a wildcard spot in the Hundred. Why, after all, wouldn’t you?

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Middlesex struggled to bowl well at McDermott. They were too often short and straight, and he walloped seven of his nine sixes into the square-leg arc. They know how to defend Radlett’s small boundaries as well as anyone, and the pitch was slow and low, but with only 142 for 7 in the bank and McDermott flexing his muscles and thinking “club ground,” there was little they could do.

The end result was a nine-wicket win for Hampshire, who won with eight overs to spare. Vince, England’s long-lost stylist, finished with an unbeaten half-century. Hampshire avoided the bottom of South Group as a result, and they appeared to be a more likely side than Middlesex to be relegated when the group stakes reached a climax this time next month.

Phenomenal hitting from @benrmcd to make 83 off 30 balls 😍@hantscricket chase down 143 with 8 overs to spare!

Three #Blast22 matches live ➡️ https://t.co/mw8n6GGw28 pic.twitter.com/8IqThMwr00

— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 7, 2022

“It’s well known how small the ground is here and how good the wicket is normally, but in the middle we thought it was actually a par score on that wicket,” McDermott said. “We got off to a good powerplay, and I just thought, ‘I’m going to keep going here’ and try to kill the game, which I was fortunate to do.” I mishit a couple of those for six and got lucky at times with the wind swirling around and shortening the boundary. We need to get on a roll right now and keep winning games.”

This is a young Middlesex side, the kind of side that, one might argue, would benefit greatly from the astute presence of Eoin Morgan in the middle order, not to mention the dressing room, but Morgan was still protecting his minor groyne injury ahead of his captaincy of England’s ODI side for a three-match series against the Netherlands beginning June 17, an undertaking that (in its own way) drains the Blast of resources and appeal, as England will fief There is no Blast slight that the ECB will not consider, and no Blast slight that the counties will not regard with meek acquiescence.

Radlett is one of the Blast’s more charming settings. It’s an affluent Hertfordshire town just inside the M25, the kind of place where sixes are likely to land in well-tended privet hedges to ripples of applause and where spectators, somewhat self-consciously, murmur “buzzers” whenever there’s an overthrow. If they played music between balls, it would most likely be Beethoven’s Für Elise, with the only disagreement being which version to use.

If you have to take a beating, at least you can do so in such an environment with a sense of forgiveness. On bad nights, youthful promise, which Middlesex has plenty of, is also an asset, and on this occasion, it was Jack Davies who showed flashes of invention to make 34 from 27 balls.

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Middlesex’s runs have been among the top three all season, and they were out by the 10th over, with 70 on the board. All were victims of mid-off loft variations, with Stephen Eskinazi fatally advancing down the pitch, Joe Cracknell muscling a full-length ball, and Max Holden, who had his stylish moments, opening the front leg but failing to find lift-off.

Middlesex was soon 94 for 6 after failing to find a boundary (not all that far away) for 34 deliveries. Batting promotions were made due to the need to juggle limited resources as well as conviction. Luke Hollman, who was promoted to No. 4, mistimed a legside hit, and Chris Green, who came in at No. 7, lost his middle stump to a low hurried hit.

Both were victims of Liam Dawson’s left-arm spin, who found the occasional turn and added John Simpson at deep square leg to return an excellent spell of 3 for 14. Better luck than last year, when he gave up 54 runs on the same ground, or in 2020, when he ruptured an Achilles tendon.

Hampshire’s authority was clear from the moment Thilan Walallawita smashed 18 off his first over (the second of the reply). They took that as their cue. Hampshire were 103 after eight overs when Middlesex introduced Green – maybe the McDermott vs Green match-up was a game they didn’t want to play, as there may be little other reason. McDermott and Martin Andersson had begun taking more punishment than anyone else when Eskinazi ended it by clinging on to a skier at deep semi.

Hampshire now has back-to-back victories, and the South Group could be about to concertina in typical fashion, leaving any number of cities in turmoil as July approaches. Middlesex’s promising start appears to have been a mirage, and the omission of Nathan Sowter appears increasingly strange. If they have made a decision, a player with a serviceable record it seems to be on his way out.