Roussow too good for sorry Billings
COUNTY sides generally regard Lord’s as Mecca, but for Kent it is turning into their very own circle of hell.
Hampshire’s 61-run win to clinch the Royal London One- Day Cup they last won in 2012 condemned Kent to their eighth successive defeat in a domestic final. It is a sorry sequence stretching back 40 years, well before everyone in their team, bar the old warhorse Darren Stevens, was born. And they had only themselves to blame.
After winning the toss on a good pitch under radiant skies, Sam Billings chose to bowl — and watched as Hampshire racked up 330 for seven, a record for a Lord’s final. These days, teams back themselves to chase anything, which Billings later said was his rationale. But the stakes were too high, the pressure too great.
Four Kent batsmen were run out, the last of them — Harry Podmore — causing Billings to hurl his bat to the ground at the non-striker’s end. The frustration summed up his and Kent’s day. Moments later, Billings scooped Gareth Berg to Dale Steyn, and the game was up.
Valiantly though Kent’s captain batted for 75 off 60 balls, his side had been unable to keep pace with the hitting of Hampshire, for whom Rilee Rossouw made a very good hundred and Tom Alsop an entertaining 72.
For Rossouw, who underwent emergency dental surgery after losing four teeth following a blow in the face during the semi-final against Yorkshire, it was particularly sweet. ‘My mind’s blown by what I’ve experienced,’ he said.
But what really got up Kentish noses was the sight of their former captain, Sam Northeast, crafting an unbeaten 75 from 60 balls after being booed to the middle by fans who once cheered him.
‘That’s not really cricket, is it,’ Billings said of the booing. ‘Whenever a player leaves a club there’s going to be a bitterness, but I don’t think that’s fair at all — although it certainly gave the game an edge.’
As if Northeast’s success wasn’t galling enough, Heino Kuhn set the tone for the Kent reply by running himself out after putting on 55 with Daniel Bell-Drummond.
After that, Hampshire’s bowlers chipped away and the rate grew, especially while Liam Dawson’s left-arm spin was tying down Sean Dickson. Joe Denly miscued a pull off Berg to make it 83 for two, and Dickson eventually fell for 30 off 41 balls to the leg-spin of Mason Crane, possibly making his last appearance of the season because of a back injury.
For Crane, playing only thanks to an injection, the wicket brought relief after a first spell of 3-0-29-0 littered with full tosses. Now, he fell to his knees in gratitude.
But the killer blow came when left-arm seamer Chris Wood bowled Bell-Drummond off the edge for 86 to leave Kent 179 for four and need- ing almost 10 an over. Crane then produced a superb direct hit from deep backward point to run out Alex Blake, placing the burden squarely on Billings.
Since making 58 for Chennai Super Kings at the IPL in April, he had averaged just nine in 15 innings, and been dropped from England’ s one-day side. His response will have done his international prospects no harm.
Hampshire’s innings looked formidable, having reached 193 for one after 30 overs. But, in a vignette England fans will recall from the winter, captain James Vince gave it away for 23 looking set for many more, bunting Imran Qayyum’s left-arm spin to long-on.
From 270 for two, Denly took four wickets in three overs with his occasional leg-breaks. Among them was Rossouw for 125 from just 114 balls. But Northeast’s class insured against collapse. A few hours later, Hampshire were champions again.