Liam Dawson grabbed a back-to-back half century before a miserly bowling return sent Hampshire Hawks to a fourth straight victory in the Vitality Blast men’s competition.
Worm
Match Analysis
Dawson followed his 76 against Surrey with an innings-saving 52 to give Hampshire a defendable 173 for six.
The left-arm spinner then tied the Sussex Sharks middle-order in knots with three for 20, with Chris Wood and James Fuller picking up two wickets.
Teenager Manny Lumsden rounded things off to also take two as Hampshire moved four points clear at the summit of the South Group, whereas Sussex remain bottom with a solitary win and three losses in a row.
Everything Tymal Mills touched in the early stages turned to gold, as Sussex started both innings on top.
He won the toss, got every fielding adjustment perfect and got Hawks’ dangerman James Vince out in the second over.
Mills went for just 13 runs in his two powerplay overs, but that was eclipsed by James Coles’ unmovable darts – which went for seven runs and yorked Toby Albert.
Tom Price and Danny Briggs backed those overs up by dismissing Tom Prest and Joe Weatherley – the former to a stunning caught and bowled – as Sussex suppressed the hosts to 42 for four after seven overs.
Dawson’s elevation to No.5 against Surrey saw him strike his first T20 fifty for three years. Another promotion saw identical results.
He swung his first ball for four into the legside and barely gave the bowlers a break from then on, as he and Tristan Stubbs recalibrated the innings.
The pair put on 66 to boss the middle-overs, with Dawson reaching back-to-back fifties.
They had both gone by the end of the 17th over, Dawson to give Mills his second, but Fuller and Hilton Cartwright lifted the Hawks to 173 with 37 runs in the final three overs.
The momentum stayed with the batters when the Sharks started their innings as Daniel Hughes pumped Fuller for 17 and then Harrison Ward took Scott Currie for the same two overs later.
Sussex clearly won the powerplay again, thumping 67, but a wicket with the last ball of the restrictions – Ward leg before to Fuller – started to send the momentum back towards Hampshire.
Where Fuller’s first 11 balls had been dispatched for 37, his next seven returned two for three – as he picked up Tom Alsop on his middle overs return.
Hughes and James Coles fell, caught off Manny Lumsden and wonderfully caught and bowled by Dawson, in successive balls to continue the Hawks taking control.
That turned to a dictatorship of the middle when Jack Leaning was stumped off Dawson, and John Simpson was caught and bowled by Currie in quick-fire scalps.
Hampshire rounded things off in style as Wood had Price nicking off, Mills bowled to give Dawson his third before Lumsden castled Henry Crocombe to complete the 29-run win.
Hampshire Hawks batter Joe Weatherley:
“It was a fantastic win to go four wins on the bounce. It was a tricky pitch which we struggled to adapt to but the guys got us to a competitive total. They started well with the bat but we clawed it back and it felt like a proper Hampshire home win.
“Dawson is coming in with a carefree attitude and a bit of a point to prove after not batting so much in the last few years, but also knowing that with Stubbs, Fuller and Cartwright that we have firepower to come. He has played amazingly in the past few games. He’s come in three or four down and taken the game on, those are the type of innings that shift momentum in T20s.
“He is so important to this team. He always seems to contribute one way or another. With the ball he put on the squeeze we have seen so many times in the Hampshire shirt.
“Russell Domingo is really good at keeping us grounded. We need to stick to our process of being adaptable to whatever conditions we face. It feels odd to win so many games up front – we tend to be terrible at the start of the group stages. Hopefully we will do the leg work in this run before the Championship belt before trying to get a home quarter-final.”
Sussex Sharks head coach Paul Farbrace:
“We weren’t good enough in any area really. We didn’t bowl too badly and would take 170, but you can’t field as poorly as we did tonight. We weren’t switched on. We might not be the greatest athletes but you’ve got to read the game to understand where you are fielding and what you are there for, and what shots are coming your way.
“I think that is the worst fielding performance I’ve seen in my time at the club in a white-ball game.
“I thought Dawson realised they couldn’t afford to lose wickets when he got in. He knocked the ball about and gave himself a chance to get in.
“We got off to a fantastic start but from the moment Dan Hughes got out we were like rabbits in the headlights. Very poor decision-making, very poor under pressure. No one was calm enough to build a partnership and give ourselves a chance, We just kept giving away wickets. I can take it when you get bowled out by quality bowling, but we just buckled under pressure. No one took it upon themselves to say they were going to be the man to win the game.
“I’m hugely disappointed, and I hope the players are disappointed as that was simply not good enough. We were a soft touch and basically let them tickle our bellies.”
Match Summary
Hampshire vs Sussex, Match 35, Vitality Blast
Hampshire 173/6 (20 ov)
Sussex 144/10 (17.3 ov)
Hampshire won by 29 runs
SCORECARD
Manhattan
Match Stats
Hampshire Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Toby Albert – 0.6 ov), 2-10 (James Vince – 1.5 ov), 3-34 (Tom Prest – 5.4 ov), 4-42 (Joe Weatherley – 6.4 ov), 5-108 (Tristan Stubbs – 13.5 ov), 6-136 (Liam Dawson – 16.6 ov)
Sussex Fall of wickets: 1-67 (Harrison Ward – 5.6 ov), 2-78 (Daniel Hughes – 7.6 ov), 3-78 (James Coles – 8.1 ov), 4-87 (Tom Alsop – 10.4 ov), 5-101 (Jack Leaning – 12.3 ov), 6-106 (John Simpson – 13.2 ov), 7-108 (Tom Price – 14.1 ov), 8-113 (Danny Briggs – 14.6 ov), 9-122 (Tymal Mills – 15.5 ov), 10-144 (Henry Thomas Crocombe – 17.3 ov)
Playing XIs
Hampshire
Sussex
Match Details:
Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2026 19:00
Venue: The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Toss: Sussex elected to bowl
Umpires: BJ Debenham (England) BJ Peverall (England)
Match Referee: S Hinks (England)
Weather
Clouds, broken clouds
Temperature 17°C, Humidity 77%
Wind Speed 5.01 mph, Clouds 69%
Pitch
Pitch Condition – Spinning Pitch
Batting Condition – Average
Pace Bowling Condition – Swing Favourable
Spin Bowling Condition – Slow Spin
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