Hampshire hope James Vince could play in Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final if he misses out on England side

Hampshire are still holding out hope that James Vince will be available for their Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final on Sunday.
There is hope James Vince could still feature for Hampshire if he doesn't play for England. Picture: Harry Trump/Getty ImagesThere is hope James Vince could still feature for Hampshire if he doesn't play for England. Picture: Harry Trump/Getty Images
There is hope James Vince could still feature for Hampshire if he doesn't play for England. Picture: Harry Trump/Getty Images

The skipper scored 430 runs in the group stage, the fourth highest in the country, which included a county record 190 against Gloucestershire, writes Alex Smith.

The talismanic batsman is currently away with England for their one-day series with Pakistan.

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But Sam Northeast has revealed Hampshire could still play Vince against either Lancashire or Middlesex, if he doesn’t play for his nation at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday.

‘We are still waiting on Vincey’s availability so we are hoping he might be free if he doesn’t get a game for England,’ said Northeast, who would skipper the side in Vince’s absence.

‘We don’t know when we will hear. England have a game the day before so it might be quite late. We are in the hands of the ECB.’

Holders Hampshire will definitely be without their leading run scorer so far in the competition, Aiden Markram, who has joined up with South Africa’s World Cup squad.

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But Northeast is confident that without Markram, and potentially Vince, Hampshire have enough strength in depth – with Joe Weatherley scoring a century for the second team on Wednesday.

He added: ‘When you lose two of your big batters it is always a big loss.

‘There are quite a few boys in the twos scoring runs, (Aneurin) Donald has come in and opened the batting and scored some crucial runs and given us some fliers.

‘The squad has a lot of depth to it and I have a lot of faith that whoever comes in will do a really good job.

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‘Joe’s been in really good touch for the last month which is really pleasing to see. He has gone back to the twos and churned out the runs and put himself back in the frame to be selected.

‘There is absolute confidence that he will come in and do a role.’

Northeast reckons there is confidence oozing out the Ageas Bowl dressing room.

He said: ‘Hampshire’s one-day record has been really good here and there is a lot of confidence that we are a really good white-ball side.

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‘There is a lot of belief that whenever we turn up at a cricket ground for a 50-over game that we can win it.

‘If we play at our very best we will be tough to beat and we did do it last year so there is a belief we can do it.

‘We are very hungry to defend the title as that doesn’t happen very often.’