T20 Blast: Lancashire crush Hampshire to secure final place

Lancashire will do battle with hosts Birmingham Bears in the NatWest T20 Blast final after crushing Hampshire in the second semi-final at Edgbaston.

Chasing a Duckworth/Lewis revised target of 143 in 16 overs, Hampshire fell victim to a constricting bowling performance by Lancashire, who dismissed the two-time winners for 101 for a 41-run win.

Ashwell Prince's unbeaten 72 was the bedrock of the Red Rose's 160 for five, the South African sharing stands of 69 with Karl Brown (41) and 47 with Paul Horton (19).

Jimmy Adams provided some backbone to the reply, with a lone hand of 53, but none of his team-mates passed 10 as Steven Croft, James Anderson, Stephen Parry and Tom Smith took two wickets apiece.

The quartet bowled consistent lines and the outfielders caught well, while Hampshire never quite recovered for losing openers James Vince and Michael Carberry with just 11 on the board.

Anderson, on a rare county outing, accounted for Vince and Adams but the nagging work of spinners Croft and Parry, with combined figures of four for 33 in six overs, was just as important.

As expected, former England star Andrew Flintoff, who has made two appearances this season after coming out of retirement was restricted to a watching brief from the Lancashire's dugout.

Lancashire were put in by Vince and got off to a woeful start, Tom Smith creasebound and leg before wicket as Will Smith struck with the first ball of the innings.

Overseas import Usman Khawaja fared little better, waving the bat at Chris Wood's second delivery and giving Sean Ervine gentle catching practice at first slip.

The score was five for two when the rain arrived, stalling Hampshire's progress and giving Lancashire time to regroup.

When the weather relented Prince and Brown applied themselves to the recovery effort, the latter getting the scoreboard moving with a series of bluntly effective strikes.

There were two sixes off Matt Coles in his 41, but the return of Will Smith's tidy off-spin put the brakes on.

Having conceded just ten runs in his first three overs, Smith struck twice in his final visit, Brown dragging on and danger man Jos Buttler lbw looking for the reverse sweep.

That left much of the burden on Prince's shoulders and he soon stepped up after a low-key start.

He reached 50 in 37 balls, lifting Liam Dawson for six to pass the landmark, and finished unbeaten on 72 before rain returned to close the innings prematurely after 19 overs.

In support Horton was dropped twice in a streaky 19 and Croft managed two fours and a six in a breezy 22 not out.