Hampshire disapointingly lost their fifth Lords Final

Sometimes you just feel that some things are not meant to be and that was probably the case with Hampshire's visit to Lords for their fifth final.

Having won the previous four and with a star studded side all things looked set for a repeat of the glorious victory two years earlier against Warickshire, but from the very off the day didnt feel right either in the stands or by the look of things with the players on the pitch.

Hampshire had won the toss and elected to field against the Dynamos who were playing in their first ever Lords final and from the start it looked like this might not have been the best decision, although in fairness to Warne his Durham counterpart admitted that if he had won the toss he would have fielded as well.

The Hawks who had omitted Shaun Udal only an hour before the startseemed sluggish in the field and Durham comfortably achieved a run rate of plus five from the start, although Hampshire must have felt they had achieved the breakthrough when they dismissed Mustard only one short of his fifty to leave the score at 2-69.

But the joy would be shortlived and Chanderpaul would come in and push the score onwards at a fast rate, around the forty over mark  the Hawks looked like they would be able to hold the Dynamos to around 280, a score that wouldnt be beyond their reach, but in the final few overs Durham put their foot on the gas with man of the match Gibson hitting 15 off only seven balls in the final flurry, by the end of the last over Durham were 312 for 5, a record for a Lords final, and although Hampshire fans harked back to a magnificent win a the Oval two years ealier in the quarter finals of this competition when they chased a record 359 score and got it, the mood was that this was Durham's day.

Two years earlier Hampshire fans had gone to Lords in a bouyant and party mood, this time even before the game it was the North East supporters who seemed to have come to enjoy the day whatever and from the off were making the most noise.

Hampshire took the field under the gathering clouds and there werent many in the ground who were confident that there would be a winner on the day, apart from the weather, those that still thought that Hampshire were in with a shout were soon deflated as Otis Gibson, a man who had taken the first 12 Hampshire wickets in a drawn game only a month earlier, took the wickets of Lumb and Ervine with his first two deliveries, Pietersen offered hope but he was gone with the score still only at 17, the game was effectively already over as Gibson took his third wicket.

For Hampshire fans the arrival of the rain at 5.20pm came as a relief, it meant that they could all go home early without having to watch the inevitable defeat, for Durham supporters it was a shame because it would mean that the Dynamos first trophy would be won, not before a packed Lords but in front of only a couple of hundred fans the following day, by the time it arrived Hampshire were on 158 for 5.

The following day saw more rain meaning the match eventually got under way at 12.30pm, Lords looked deserted the only spectators being a couple of hundred Durham supporters who had presuambly stayed over the night before, Hawks needed 155 off of 17.3 overs, not far off 10 an over, in short an impossible task that the bookies had rated at 35-1, amazing seeing that Hampshire had been the pre match favourites the previous day.

In truth the Hampshire players looked like they merely wanted to get the day over with as quickly as possible, they went out and swung the bat, the only thing they could do but there was to be no fairytale ending, they added only 29 to their score to finish at 187 all out, a massive 125 short of their target.

Congratulations to Durham though, we at Hampshire have enjoyed four victories at this great ground and Durham thoroughly deserved their success, as I have said the only sad note being that unlike Hampshire two years ago when a joyous team paraded the trophy around Lords to thousands of jubilant Hampshire supporters, the Dynamos had a deserted ground to celebrate in and their magnificent performance deserved a lot more than that.

Hampshire will be back and maybe their will be silverwear in the cabinet this seaon yet, however their is nothing like a good day out at a Lords Final and for most Hawks fans it was exactly that, Nothing like a good day out at a lords final !                 

Photo: Action Images

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