Billings hits out as booing of Kent old boy Northeast mars one-day final

It was a Royal London One-day Cup final of several superlatives that Hampshire won by 61 runs to give James Vince his first trophy as captain.

Hampshire’s 330 for seven was the highest total in a final at Lord’s, it was the biggest crowd (20,886) for this occasion since 2009, and the fielding was arguably the best seen in a county cup final. However, it was marred by the booing of Sam Northeast, who moved from Kent to Hampshire last winter – a display of parochialism that was condemned by Northeast’s successor as Kent’s captain, Sam Billings.

“That’s not really cricket is it?” he said. “Whenever a player leaves a club there’s bitterness, but I don’t think that’s fair at all. It certainly gave the game an edge.”

Hampshire were in front from the moment they were sent in to bat.

Rilee Rossouw (right) shared a stand of 136 off 22.2 overs with Tom Alsop and, after he had slammed 125 off 114 balls, the South African left-hander had no rival as man of the match but Daniel Belldrummond came closest with his 86 off 89 balls.

As a rare treat for a county cup final, there was English leg-spin on view, although Joe Denly bowled better than Mason Crane, who will now miss the rest of this season to treat his back. Crane might have been troubled by it, as well as nerves, when he began with long-hops and full tosses. But the highlight was the fielding, not so much the catching but the players’ speed to the ball and, the pin-point accuracy of the throwing.

Hampshire, led by Vince with a direct hit from mid-on, claimed four run-outs as Billings went down with his ship, while Kent’s athleticism was no less and spoke well of their vast improvement since finishing bottom of their qualifying group last year.