Hampshire CCC

Date: Saturday, 7th September.

Time: 12:45.

Venue: Ageas Bowl, Southampton.

TV Info: Sky Sports 3.

Weather: Possibility of showers throughout the day.

Preview

The gruelling YB40 competition which began in May finally edges towards its conclusion with defending champions Hampshire facing surprise package Glamorgan in the first of the semifinals.

Hampshire are arguably the number one white-ball team in the country and are current holders of this trophy after their dramatic victory against Warwickshire last year.

With a lineup packed with talent, their general strategy is based on a plethora of spinners and hard-to-hit seamers strangling the opposition batsman, while their own willow-wielders such as Jimmy Adams and James Vince go big at the top of the order.

Glamorgan progressed to their first one-day competition semi-final since 2004 as best runner-up, which was no mean feat as they emerged from a group that contained the likes of Somerset and Middlesex.

They have a side containing plenty of old heads such as Murray Goodwin and Dean Cosker while Jim Allenby and Graham Wagg are high-quality county performers with both bat and ball. 

The last 40 over contest between these sides was in 2012 and the Royals ran out comfortable winners by 107 runs.

Team news

Pakistani Sohail Tanvir, who has 15 YB40 scalps, returns for Hampshire but Michael Carberry is on England duty.

Hampshire (from): Adams (c), Ervine, Dawson, Roberts, Vince, Mascarenhas, Griffiths, Briggs, Wood, Wheater (wk), Tanvir, McKenzie.

For Glamorgan, Australian international, Marcus North, has returned home and won't be available.

Glamorgan (from): Wallace (c), Rees, Cooke, Goodwin, Allenby, Wright, James, Wagg, Smith, Salter, Cosker, Hogan and Jones.

Key Men

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KOqnoWwtts

Dimitri Mascarenhas is bringing down the curtain on a perhaps unfulfilled career by adding one more piece of silverware to his beloved Royals' trophy cabinet. Since making his debut in 1996, Mascarenhas has taken more than 450 limited overs wickets whilst supplying some lethal late-order blows.

In this season's tournament he has 13 wickets in nine games but perhaps more importantly has delivered his overs at an economy rate of 4.52.

The signing of Michael Hogan was perhaps the shrewdest piece of business in all of county cricket. Since arriving from Australia, the paceman has led Glamorgan's young pace attack with 61 first-class victims and 22 in the YB40. The ex-Western Australia player's duel with Hampshire's top order could be crucial in determining this contest.

Form: (Most recent first)

Hampshire: WLWWWL
Glamorgan: WWLWWW

Views From The Dressing Room

Hampshire coach Giles White told the club's official website:

We understand the route to Lord's and to Finals Day's and things like that. What we try to do is take one game at a time. We've been a very professional outfit in one-day cricket this year if we can do that again then hopefully we'll be able to start thinking about Lords after that.

Glamorgan skipper Mark Wallace explained to his club website why he was looking forward to the match:

The One-Day 40 over matches were a highlight of the season for me - we kicked the group stage off so well in the games against Yorkshire and Middlesex. I always love playing cricket, but wins like that make it extra special! It's just such a great format to play as the pace of the action makes it all more exciting, for the team as well as the crowd.

Prediction

Glamorgan may have won six of their last seven but a visit to "Fortress Ageas Bowl" is never an easy task. The powerful Royals haven't lost a YB40 game at home this season and the Welsh county will have to play out of their skins to get a result.