Orr’s Brilliance Guides Hampshire Recovery
Ali Orr struck his second century of the tournament to power Hampshire into the Metro Bank One Day Cup semi-finals, overcoming Middlesex by 42 runs in a low-scoring playoff clash at Radlett.
The opener’s fluent 108 anchored Hampshire’s innings after they stumbled to 95 for 5. Supported by James Fuller’s fighting 42, Orr helped his side post 229 for 9 despite Henry Brookes’ impressive return of 4 for 53.
Reflecting on his knock, Orr said:
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔. 𝑶𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆.”
Dawson and Neal Seal the Deal
In reply, Middlesex faltered against Hampshire’s spinners. Liam Dawson, playing his first match of the tournament, delivered a decisive spell of 4 for 33, while Andrew Neal added 1 for 30. Their combined effort stifled the chase, with Middlesex bowled out for 187 in 45.3 overs.
Sam Robson fought hard with 48, and Toby Roland-Jones added late fireworks with an unbeaten 39, but it wasn’t enough to overturn the deficit.
Dawson credited Hampshire’s team effort after the win:
“𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔.”
The result booked Hampshire a semi-final clash with Yorkshire at Scarborough, setting up another high-stakes battle.
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