Voges drives Notts home

Adam Voges made 85 to guide Notts home against former county Hampshire

Nottinghamshire made it two wins out of two in pursuit of the NatWest Pro40 title as 85 from Adam Voges propelled the Outlaws to a 31-run victory over Hampshire Hawks.

The Western Australian hit two sixes and seven fours in his run-a-ball innings against his former county, capitalising on the brisk start offered by Graeme Swann, with able support from Bilal Shafayat (45).

Voges’ second consecutive half-century of the competition formed the backbone of Nottinghamshire's total of 231 for nine in front of a crowd of 8,390 at Trent Bridge.

England one-day off-spinner Swann then picked up 3-27 as Hampshire finished on 200 for nine, opener Michael Lumb top-scoring with 63 from 66 balls and captain Dimitri Mascarenhas hitting four sixes in an entertaining 51 not out.

Notts enjoyed a good start after winning the toss as Swann hit two sixes and three fours in a cameo knock of 31 from 21 balls.

And though he and Mark Wagh were both dismissed leg before, Notts still reached 63 for two off the first 10 overs, only for Hampshire to rein them in with tight bowling in the middle stages.

Opener Matt Wood played on to Sean Ervine for 27 and Pakistan A leg-spinner Imran Tahir - signed earlier in the week as Hampshire’s overseas player - stifled the Notts run-rate.

He out-foxed Samit Patel for another lbw decision and did not concede a boundary until his sixth over, when Voges finally found room to cut behind square for four.

The Australian put on 93 with Shafayat for the fifth wicket and looked set for his first hundred in Notts colours before he attempted to launch Billy Taylor over long-on and only picked out Michael Carberry.

Four more wickets fell in the last five overs with Chris Tremlett bowling Shafayat and Paul Franks to finish with 3-54.

Hampshire found themselves in trouble from the moment John Crawley pushed his third ball from Andre Adams to Voges at slip, with Carberry also edging Charlie Shreck soon after.

Swann then showed his class to remove Ervine lbw and had Michael Brown well caught at midwicket by Patel in his next over.

That left the visitors well behind the run-rate and, once Lumb was adjudged leg before trying to work Patel’s left-arm spin to leg, the game was effectively over.

Nic Pothas was bowled by Mark Ealham and, although Liam Dawson (30) and Mascarenhas produced some big hits late on, it was too little too late.