Liam Dawson: Focus is on Hampshire glory not England

The all-rounder was in superb form with bat and ball, scoring 108 and then picking up two wickets for 39 off 10 overs.

He missed out on the England squad despite many calling for him to be included.

But he’s not going to left international ambitions distract him for playing at his best level for his county and he was thrilled with the Hampshire performed to continue their good form posting 307 all out before bowling out Surrey for 254.

He said: ‘I am not thinking about England. If I was to get called up, brilliant. But you can’t worry about it.

‘This was a massive win for us after the loss against Essex at Chelmsford, and it really sets us up for Thursday’s game against Sussex at home, which is another huge match.

‘We want to win the group because then you go straight to a home semi-final and you’re only one match away from a cup final.’

Dawson feels he has benefited from opportunities that have come his way and helped him to focus his game.

He added: ‘With the bat I tried to be sensible when I got in and things came off for me. Playing a lot of franchise cricket, even though it’s T20, has helped me to react to pressure situations.

‘Getting 300 was a decent score and we were confident about defending it even on a good wicket.’

Surrey head coach Michael Di Venuto felt his team again struggled to find all the pieces of the jigsaw in the 53-run defeat.

He said: ‘We don’t seem to be able to put together a whole game in this competition so far – our bowling wasn’t bad and I thought it was a total we could get on a good surface with one short boundary and a fast outfield.

‘We started pretty well and we needed around 150 from the last 20 overs with seven wickets in hand. But then we played some pretty ordinary cricket.’