Hampshire one-day kings but Katich switches sides

Katich will play for his native Perth Scorchers in the Twenty20 Champions League and he is set to line up against Hampshire in the group stages.

The Royals need to come through the qualification stages first but Katich is confident they can, given their limited overs successes this season.

Hampshire won the domestic Twenty20 title in Cardiff and then followed that up on Saturday by sealing a dramatic last-ball victory over Warwickshire to take the Clydesdale Bank 40 title at Lord’s.

The next stop is South Africa in October.

“They have a very good chance of qualifying, coming off a great season here and then anything is possible,” said Katich.

“Perth play Hampshire in the last game before, hopefully, the semi-finals.

“It will be a tricky day. They only know about me but I know all about them so hopefully that works in our favour.”

Katich is yet to decide whether he will return to Hampshire next season and if the CB40 final was to be his last game for the Royals, it was a memorable way to bow out.

Jimmy Adams, captain in the absence of the injured Dimitri Mascarenhas, scored 66 and Sean Ervine blasted 57 with Katich adding a quickfire 35 in Hampshire’s total of 244-5.

Warwickshire’s reply was led by Ian Bell’s magnificent 81 and the Bears were favourites heading into the last over, with seven needed to win.

But Kabir Ali, only playing because Danny Briggs was away with the England Twenty20 team, held his nerve to bowl a dot ball with his final delivery when Warwickshire needed just one to win.

The scores were tied but Hampshire claimed the trophy by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

With the last four Lord’s finals having been won by the chasing side, Warwickshire captain Jim Troughton had invited Hampshire to bat first and they responded to the challenge.

Michael Carberry scored a quickfire 35 at the top of the innings, laying a solid foundation in an opening stand of 41 with James Vince.

Carberry launched Chris Woakes and Ian Blackwell for sixes before he was caught at point by Jeetan Patel, who snared an excellent low catch just above the grass.

Adams flicked a glorious six over mid-wicket as he and Neil McKenzie took Hampshire past the 100 mark with a 57-run partnership.

If Warwickshire thought they had checked Hampshire’s growing momentum with the removal of McKenzie for 19, bowled by Blackwell, they were wrong.

Adams brought up his half-century from 51 deliveries before he eventually flashed at a wide delivery from Woakes and played on, falling for 66.

Ervine and Katich took up the baton in a sprint finish for Hampshire, racing to a 50-run partnership from just 33 deliveries.

Ervine laid waste to the Warwickshire attack in a blistering innings, hitting a six and six fours before being caught behind for 57 by Tim Ambrose off Darren Maddy.

Katich struck five boundaries in his unbeaten 35 as Hampshire threw down the gauntlet to Warwickshire.

Openers Maddy and Varun Chopra took a different approach to Hampshire, putting on 53 for the first wicket at a measured pace.

But the inability of Warwickshire’s batsmen, with the exception of Bell, to build on strong starts to their innings proved to be the Bears’s undoing.

Chopra was caught by Adams off a Chris Wood slower ball for 26 and Maddy then went for 35 after chipping Liam Dawson to mid-wicket as Warwickshire slipped to 89-2.

Ambrose smashed Katich for two fours as he and Bell guided Warwickshire past the 100 mark before the wicketkeeper was caught behind off Wood for 26.

When Troughton followed soon after for five, the responsibility for Warwickshire’s double bid had fallen squarely on Bell’s shoulders. The England batsman enjoyed taking on the Hampshire bowling, scoring nine fours and a six as he guided Warwickshire to the brink of victory.

With 10 overs remaining, Warwickshire were on 191-4, exactly where Hampshire had been at the same point in their innings.

Wood bowled Rikki Clarke for 24 but Bell still led the chase, launching 13 from one Kabir over before finally succumbing, caught in the deep by Carberry off Woakes.

Warwickshire still required 27 from the final three overs and Woakes did his best with an unbeaten 24, including successive boundaries off Wood to leave the Bears requiring seven from the last six balls.

When Kabir bowled Blackwell, that equation changed to five from three before Carter’s sublime cover drive brought the scores level. But amid unbearable tension, with many on the Warwickshire balcony unable to watch, Carter could not get a bat on the final delivery of the match.

Wicketkeeper Michael Bates did brilliantly to gather Kabir’s full delivery and preserve the dot ball, the most celebrated dot ball of Hampshire’s triumphant season.