Hants beat Durham to reach 11th T20 Blast Finals Day

Hampshire opener Toby Albert made 68 in 37 balls

Vitality Blast quarter-final, Banks Homes Riverside, Chester-le-Street

Hampshire 221-8 (20 overs): Albert 68, Cartwright 61, Lynn 51; Potts 2-35

Durham 195-6 (20 overs): Robinson 60*; Howell 2-28

Hampshire won by 26 runs

Scorecard

Opener Toby Albert continued his superb form in the T20 Blast to help Hampshire Hawks beat Durham by 26 runs and reach Finals Day for the 11th time.

Albert was the fifth-highest run-scorer in the group stage, with 472 runs, and he picked up where he left off, making 68 in 37 balls with four sixes.

Opening partner Chris Lynn, with 51 in 27 deliveries, and then Hilton Cartwright, 61 in 31 balls, saw Hampshire pile up 221-8, the highest score by an opposition at Chester-le-Street.

Faced with making their highest T20 chase, Durham were always struggling and could only reply with 195-6, with Ollie Robinson making a late 60 from 33 balls.

Hampshire will now play Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the first semi-final at Edgbaston on Saturday, 13 September, while Durham continue to wait for a first Finals Day appearance since 2016.

Lancashire face Kent (14:30 BST) and Somerset host Bears (18:30) in the last two quarter-finals on Saturday.

Durham, hosting only their third T20 quarter-final and first since 2018, won the toss, chose to field and the first over went for only a single. It was as good as their night would get.

A total of 88 then came from the next five overs as Albert and Lynn unleashed a barrage of clean ball striking to take them to 89-0 after the Powerplay.

Albert swung Callum Parkinson's left-arm spin over long-off for the game's first six before Australian Lynn pulled Jimmy Neesham over long-on and then deep-backward square for two sixes in the third over.

An over later, on 24, Albert edged Parkinson behind but Robinson could not hold a tough chance and Albert went on to flail Neesham over his head for two more sixes in the sixth over. At 89-0, Hampshire's run-rate was a touch under 15 an over.

The opening stand finally ended with 112 added in just 58 balls and both openers fell within nine deliveries.

But Cartwright arrived to strike four sixes and help add 60 from the final five overs.

Neesham took the bulk of the punishment for Durham, finishing with figures of 1-62 off his four overs.

The hosts lost opener Graham Clark cheaply, but two sixes from David Bedingham took Durham to 50-1 after five overs.

However, the South Africa batter holed out to deep mid-wicket in the sixth over and Hampshire began to take control with Benny Howell's medium-pace variations.

Captain Alex Lees, Durham's leading run-scorer this season, got to 26 before clipping Howell to deep square in the 10th over before Colin Ackermann was run out by Chris Wood's direct hit from short-fine leg.

Neesham struck five fours in one Currie over, but when the New Zealander swung Wood to deep mid-wicket in the next, Durham were left needing 93 from 34 balls.

The task was forlorn but Robinson struck three sixes from the final seven balls to add a modicum of respectability to the scorecard.

Durham captain Alex Lees:

"I think that Powerplay is what affected us. After those first six we dragged it back throughout that middle period.

"220 is always going to be a tough chase, we gave it a good go, but on the night they were just too good.

"I felt if we could try and get out of that Powerplay and nick a wicket, we could hold them back a bit. Obviously they got to a score which was a step too far."

Hampshire captain James Vince:

"It was pretty comfortable in the end, the feedback was it was a pretty good pitch.

"Obviously the start our openers got off to settled any nerves and got us ahead of the game early on.

"We knew with that total if you took wickets and got that rate to about 12 or 13, then you can really squeeze the game."