Hammond's half century paves the way for T20 win
5 August 2018
A half century by Miles Hammond - his first in the Vitality T20 Blast - set Gloucestershire up for an important eight wicket win in the South Group over Kent at Canterbury.
Hammond made 51 out an opening stand of 76 with Michael Klinger, who went on to make 46 before he was out in the 16th over as Gloucestershire chased down 161 to win with Ian Cockbain (32*) and Benny Howell (20*) securing the points with four balls to spare.
Earlier in the day Joe Denly had made an unbeaten 99 out of Kent's total of 160-5. The next highest score was 19. The result means Gloucestershire stay in third place behind Kent and leaders Somerset, although they have a game in hand on both.
Gloucestershire made two changes to the team which lost to Glamorgan on Friday, with Graeme van Buuren and Matt Taylor coming in for Tom Smith and Jack Taylor. The wicket was a used one, and Kent skipper Sam Billings decided to bat first after winning the toss.
Kent's total was, as their scorecard suggests, all about Joe Denly. Almost everything seemed to come out of the middle of his bat, and whether he was pushing singles or looking for more, he was clearly brim full of confidence. A couple of inside out shots over cover set the tone early on, and his six off David Payne which cleared the long on boundary was one of the cleanest hits of the day.
50-0 in the powerplay was a good base, but Benny Howell's first ball broke the opening partnership as Daniel Bell-Drummond picked out Matt Taylor on the square leg boundary. Heino Kuhn soon drove Ryan Higgins just out of Michael Klinger's reach at extra cover - he got his fingertips to it, but no more - and Denly's third six pushed the Spitfires to 84-1 at half distance.
The fact they scored fewer runs in the second half of their innings says a lot about how Gloucestershire's bowlers kept their discipline, and whilst Denly continued to collect his runs, he didn't totally dominate the strike and the rate was checked by wickets falling at the other end.
Kent's one profitable over was van Buuren's last, in which Denly struck two straight sixes towards the Nackington Road end -blows which dented van Buuren's figures after he had bowled Kuhn in his previous over. Benny Howell took his 100th wicket in T20 cricket worldwide when he had Sam Billings caught at long on by Ian Cockbain, and Howell was also the safe pair of hands on the boundary when Marcus Stoinis tried to hit Andrew Tye over the top. With David Payne trapping Alex Blake lbw, Kent's last five overs produced only 37 runs, despite Denly hitting the last ball for four to finish 99 not out from 63 deliveries.
Faced with a run chase more than 40 runs light of their target on Friday at Cardiff, Gloucestershire set about it with the usual balance of Michael Klinger's experience and Miles Hammond's exuberance, the latter proving that he could strike a ball just as cleanly as Denly had done earlier in the day.
Hammond did play one horrible shot to the Kent opener when he bowled - he and 'keeper Billings were beaten and the ball went for four byes - but in the powerplay alone he worked the leg spinner through the covers and past mid off for four as well as lofting a six over mid wicket. Not to be outdone, skipper Klinger clipped Stoinis through mid wicket and then dabbed a ball late to third man to leave Gloucestershire exiting the powerplay needing 100 runs from the remaining 14 overs.
Hammond reached his half century from just 28 deliveries with three sixes and five fours until Haggett snared the left hander, caught by Stoinis at mid wicket. The comparative scores were still close, but Gloucestershire held the advantage once Imran Qayyum's first over went for 18, including four wides and a six to long leg by Klinger off a full toss which was called as a no ball.
Ian Cockbain added 52 in steady, unfussy fashion with his captain until, with 34 runs needed from the last five overs, Klinger tried a reverse sweep to Qayyum and was caught at point. He had made an important 46 without being at his fluent best, but importantly he had steered the innings to a stage where others could finish it, and Gloucestershire released any possible tension in the 18th over as Cockbain sent Stoinis over the fence at mid wicket and Howell collected two boundaries, one straight and one with a switch hit.
His lofted drive over mid off in the last over came with the field up and the scores level, and it sent the team bus back towards Bristol in good spirits after a strong response to the disappointment at Cardiff on Friday.
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