Read the match report and reaction from Hampshire Men’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup match against Middlesex at Utilita Bowl<\/p>\n
Friday 24 July 2026
\nMetro\u00a0Bank\u00a0One-Day Cup men\u2019s competition – Middlesex 284\/8 beat Hampshire 124 by 160 runs
\nBy Alex Smith, ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay<\/p>\n
Josh de Caires enjoyed the dream all-round day with two career-bests as Middlesex thrashed Hampshire in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.<\/p>\n
De Caires, the son of former England captain Michael Atherton, set the tone with a 75 opening the batting \u2013 with Sam Robson and Ben Geddes also reaching half-centuries for the visitors.<\/p>\n
He then turned to his off spin to take six for 35 \u2013 Middlesex\u2019s 11th best List A figures \u2013 to raze the Hampshire middle-order and secure a thumping 160-run victory.<\/p>\n
Having chosen to bat first, Middlesex looked set for a score north of 300, but the top-order all scored good runs and, despite keeping wickets in hand, they failed to capitalise\u00a0at the death.<\/p>\n
De Caires and Nathan Fernandes delicately amassed runs in the face of Kyle Abbott\u2019s accurate powerplay bowling \u2013 putting on 103 in the first 22 overs.<\/p>\n
In part one of his glorious day, de Caires was particularly precise in his shot-making, with a mix of well-judged singles and guileful placement to the boundary behind square on the offside and through midwicket.<\/p>\n
He has a history of memorable performances at Utilita Bowl, claiming seven wickets during a Rothesay County Championship match three years ago.<\/p>\n
But he and Fernandes fell tamely in quick succession, the former chopping on a loopy-wide Nick Gubbins full toss and the latter, a chip to mid on.<\/p>\n
Their template was replicated, albeit with slightly more impetus, over the following 14 overs by Sam Robson and Ben Geddes.<\/p>\n
The third-wicket duo put on 105, with Geddes adding a degree of hurry with three sweetly struck legside sixes \u2013 and both reaching half-centuries.<\/p>\n
But Hampshire would be rewarded in the last seven overs for their tight and unremunerated bowling, as they took six wickets for 41 runs.<\/p>\n
Indian Ashutosh Sharma \u2013 who had picked up Fernandes earlier \u2013 used smart changes of pace to claim four for 54, filled with mistimed slogs, to grab his career-best figures.<\/p>\n
Ali Orr and Nick Gubbins found a nice early rhythm, in the chase of 285, with a slew of picturesque drives. But once De Caires was handed the ball, the 56-run stand was culled, and Hampshire collapsed.<\/p>\n
Orr was bowled through the gate before Gubbins advanced and missed.\u00a0Fletcha Middleton was well-caught at cover, Jake Lehmann expertly caught behind by Joe Cracknell and Sharma caught at mid off. At that point, de Caires had taken five for 14 in 27 balls.<\/p>\n
While Ethan Brookes had dismissed Tom Prest in the meantime, de Caires closed the book on a gilded day when Andrew Neal lumped a full toss to mid off.\u00a0Only Chad Keegan\u2019s six for 33 against Nottinghamshire in 2005 bettered de Caires\u2019 haul in the 21st century.<\/p>\n
Hampshire\u2019s meek batting performance was completed when Ben Brown was caught and bowled, Abbott was caught behind, and Harry Petrie was yorked.<\/p>\n
“It was not our day. We played some rash shots and that is why we lost. We bowled really well.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I was trying to bowl a bit slow and into the pitch, because the ball was sticking in the wicket. I just\u00a0implemented and applied my skills and got my best figures.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Hopefully I will get more of a bowl in the IPL next season after people watch me over here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I came over here to play cricket\u00a0in the UK, I love playing cricket in the UK. I like the weather here because in India right now it is the monsoon season, so I’d only be indoors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I was also trying to come here last year. I was telling some people during the IPL that I wanted to come over here and play in the One-Day Cup. Finally I got a chance this year because they have an overseas slot.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Read the match report and reaction from Hampshire Men’s Metro Bank One-Day Cup match against Middlesex at Utilita…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-709936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}