Afridi stars as Middlesex are routed

Shahid Afridi took 3 for 16 as Hampshire, the leaders of the Friends Life t20 South Division, thrashed bottom-placed Middlesex by seven wickets with three overs to spare at Uxbridge.

Afridi, who has now taken 13 wickets for 83 runs in 18 overs in the competition, dismissed Scott Newman and Neil Dexter with successive balls as Middlesex collapsed from 61 for one to 74 for 6, before struggling to 121 for nine.

It was a pathetic score on a fast-scoring ground where Gloucestershire piled up a record 254 for 3 last Sunday, and the result was never in doubt once Jimmy Adams and James Vince had put on 51 in six overs for Hampshire's second wicket.

Hampshire, who won the competition last year, have now won nine of their 12 matches, while Middlesex have been beaten nine times in 11 games.

Middlesex lost Paul Stirling in the third over when he was caught and bowled by Dimitri Mascarenhas, but they were going well when Adam Rossington and Newman were putting on 41 in four overs for the second wicket.

Then Rossington, who had made 25 off 17 balls with a six and three fours, was bowled by Mascarenhas and Middlesex stalled.

Afridi had Newman caught at long off for 24, Dexter fell lbw next ball and when John Simpson was brilliantly caught and bowled by Imran Tahir and Ryan McLaren was run out by Vince's direct hit, Middlesex had lost five for 13 in four overs.

Sam Robson offered some resistance with an unbeaten 28 off 30 balls, but there were only two boundaries in the last 13 overs.

Hampshire's Adams hit as many as that off his first two balls from Stirling, and though he struck only two more, he anchored the innings with an unbeaten 38 off 50 balls.

Vince provided the fireworks by hitting 39 off 22 balls with two sixes and four fours before he holed out to long on off Steven Crook, while Sean Ervine completed the job with 22 off 14 balls, including four fours.