Bullish Ervine eyes Twenty20 glory
Sean Ervine insists Hampshire are a force to be reckoned with for this year's Twenty20 Cup as he declared: We can win it.
The Hawks all-rounder turned in a stellar performance in front of the Sky Sports cameras as his man-of-the-match display saw his side claim a vital six-wicket win in their do-or-die clash against Essex and book a quarter-final trip to Northants.
But after such a dismal record in the competition since its introduction, Ervine is determined to make the most of only a second quarter-final appearance and get the Hawks to finals day at Edgbaston.
Ervine said: 'Since the Twenty20 competition began we haven't performed as we know we can.
'It's about time that changed. But we're playing some good stuff, we've got a good blend in the team and all of the boys are doing their bit.
'If we can play like this, I see no reason why we can't be a real threat in this competition.'
Ervine was in impressive form with both bat and ball as he picked up three wickets for 26, held two important catches and then swung the bat for 39 not out, delivering the knockout blow with the first ball of the 20th over that thundered into the oak tree at long-on.
He chuckled: 'I've been smashed into that tree a few times off my bowling down the years so I thought it was about time I had my own back. It was a nice way to finish.
'But I thought our bowling was exceptional – especially early on. We lost a bit of momentum towards the end of their innings but we always knew we were in with a shout.
'I was pleased with how my bowling went.
'I ran in really hard and just tried to get it on a back of a length at every opportunity.
'Then we had a good start with the bat.
'Lumb and Carberry put on a good partnership and it was just left to myself and Dimi to finish things off at the end there.'
The Zimbabwean was also delighted with his early catch to dismiss Varun Chopra as Ervine raced to his right to dive and hang on to a massive drive into the air.
Ervine said: 'I was getting a bit of stick from behind me as the ball was coming down.
'I could hear the Essex crowd urging me to drop it, but we knew we wanted to set a good tone from the start and that definitely helped.'
Ervine also attempted to explain the decision behind sending tail-ender Imran Tahir in ahead of him at number four in the batting line-up – a move that confused just about everyone else in the ground, although thankfully it had no major bearing on the result.
Ervine said: 'Immy has been doing alright with the bat. He can clear the ropes, but he's been a bit unlucky lately. It was just to try to get a bit of momentum before myself and Dimi came in.'
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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