One-Day Cup: Ali Orr inspires Hampshire to victory over Middlesex

Ali Orr’s second century of the tournament guided Hampshire into the One-Day Cup semi-finals as they saw off Middlesex in their quarter-final at Radlett.

The left-hander struck 108, batting through most of the innings to underpin Hampshire’s recovery from 95-5 as they set their opponents a target of 230 with paceman Henry Brookes taking 4-53.

Liam Dawson then stifled Middlesex’s reply with his spell of 4-33, supported by fellow left-arm spinner Andrew Neal (1-30) as the hosts were bowled out for 187 in 45.3 overs.

Sam Robson top-scored with 48 and Toby Roland-Jones’ late unbeaten cameo of 39 prolonged the contest, but it was not enough to deny Hampshire a semi-final date on Sunday, when they will face Yorkshire at Scarborough.

Middlesex made three changes to the side that had clinched a tense win at Lancashire to secure their knockout place, including returns for Roland-Jones and Ryan Higgins who both sent down tidy opening spells.

Despite that, Orr and Nick Gubbins built a steady partnership of 45 until Brookes struck with his second delivery, tempting the Hampshire captain into a mistimed pull that sailed straight to midwicket.

Fletcha Middleton was next to depart, caught behind nudging at a Brookes outswinger and the seamer soon grabbed his – and Middlesex’s – third wicket when Ben Brown was pinned leg before.

Orr batted fluently, timing his shots on both sides of the wicket and steering Brookes to the point boundary to pass 50 for the second time in as many innings, but Middlesex continued to make inroads.

Dawson, drafted in for his first appearance of the tournament, fell lbw to Sebastian Morgan, while Zafar Gohar’s miserly stint of 1-29 brought him the wicket of Ben Mayes, caught miscuing a reverse sweep.

However, James Fuller’s spirited 42 provided the perfect foil for Orr, with the pair adding 96 from 18 overs before Higgins had the all-rounder caught in the deep.

Having advanced to three figures in style by hooking Brookes for six, Orr eventually holed out to long on off Higgins, his departure effectively ending Hampshire’s hopes of clambering above 250.

Middlesex rejigged their batting order, promoting Nathan Fernandes to open in the wake of his match-winning 92 at Old Trafford and the left-hander continued in similar vein with two sweetly-struck straight drives to the rope off Kyle Abbott.

Although Josh de Caires fell to Fuller’s diving catch around the corner, the batting side still looked reasonably comfortable at 66-1 before they were decisively pegged back by the Hampshire spinners.

Fernandes’ innings of 42 came to an end when he was pinned leg before by Neal and Dawson then removed Ben Geddes in the same manner before having Higgins taken low at slip.

Along with seamer Eddie Jack, the spin duo smothered their opponents’ scoring rate in the middle overs and it fell to Robson to dig in, take advantage of rare stray deliveries and attempt to take the game deep.

Joe Cracknell launched a brief counter-attack, clubbing a six and two fours from one Fuller over to reach 22 from as many balls, but the bowler took his revenge by dismissing both Cracknell and Gohar in the space of three deliveries.

Brown’s neat stumping to remove Robson brought Hampshire a third wicket with the score unchanged and that appeared to signal the end of Middlesex’s challenge, but Roland-Jones went on the offensive, battering Abbott for a trio of off-side boundaries.

He added 45 for the ninth wicket with Morgan, but Hampshire were not be denied and Dawson sealed victory by bowling last man Brookes in the 46th over.

ECB Reporters’ Network supported by Rothesay.