The Analysis: London Spirit triumph at their home from home

NICK FRIEND AT THE AGEAS BOWL: Armed with Hampshire's Blast-winning bowling attack, London Spirit did a job on Southern Brave, defending a middling total with the same ruthless efficiency that brought the county the title only last month

All the intrigue at the Ageas Bowl was around how Hampshire's captain would fare against Hampshire's bowling attack.

But one ball into Southern Brave's run-chase, James Vince was walking back – belatedly, after a review for bowled – and the crowd would be left without an answer to its burning question. Glenn Maxwell, another with a Hampshire connection but eight years on from his previous stint, beat him on the outside edge and clipped his off-stump.

Brad Wheal, Nathan Ellis, Liam Dawson and Mason Crane – all county teammates of Vince and T20 Blast winners together under a month ago – were returning to their home ground, only in the away dressing room, but their knowhow hadn't gone anywhere. "They obviously know the ground really well and they obviously know Vince and James Fuller extremely well," said Daniel Bell-Drummond, named player of the match. "They're class bowlers, Ellis has been brilliant all summer."

"Hampshire play on used wickets here, they push the boundaries out with Mason [Crane], [Liam] Dawson, [Danny] Briggs over the years, and taken pace off the ball and used variations," added Eoin Morgan, London Spirit's captain.

Dawson bowled two sets of 10, doing as he does at a venue where he has played 202 times in first-team cricket, targeting the stumps and watching the batters' feet. He had Marcus Stoinis stumped and ought to have had Alex Davies dismissed in the same manner, only for Dawson's angle past leg-stump to defeat Adam Rossington behind the stumps.

James Fuller, the only Hampshire bowler in the Southern Brave line-up, was similarly economical. Their Blast title win wasn't built on good fortune, but rather on the runs of James Vince and Ben McDermott, as well as a streetwise bowling attack and solid, pragmatic plans.

^{Southern Brave lost their perfect winning record at home (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

Wheal's wicket of Tim David – spliced out off a heavy length – was a prime example. When Jordan Thompson came to defend 20 runs in the final over, he looked to hit the tramline with his yorker, affording himself the swathes of open space on the off-side.

As with most of the evening, the plan worked: Zak Crawley, stationed at a deep backward point as one of three men on the off-side rope, was placed perfectly to catch Fuller's scythe that might otherwise have headed for six.

It was noticeable how those with experience of the particularly sizeable square boundaries fared better. And despite his success at the death, it was perhaps no coincidence that Thompson, Spirit's most expensive bowler, was playing his first T20 game on the ground. Hampshire won 12 of their last 13 Blast matches after losing their first four, and there were shades of the same ruthless efficiency in the way that Spirit – in a comfortable environment so familiar to their bowlers – strangled their hosts. If anyone was likely to break Brave's perfect home record in the competition, it made sense for this to be the night, beaten at their own game by their regular-season teammates.

The introduction of Crane was delayed by Eoin Morgan until the halfway stage, and he was immediately handed a 10-ball set. With the ninth, he had Davies caught at long-off. Spirit use those elongated sets more than any other team, and while Bell-Drummond hasn't been privy to the bowlers' meetings, he can appreciate their benefits from a batter's perspective.

"If a guys bowled five good balls, sometimes you want to get out the over and target the next guy," he explained. "It can be tough for the bowlers, but I think it's a brilliant idea if the first five has gone well for the bowlers."

It also meant that Spirit – by not pausing to change the game up – ended the night with five boundary-riders, having been bitten earlier in the tournament for falling foul of the shot-clock.

Spirit were a shambles in 2021 – "I loved the tournament last year, and we were crap," as Morgan put it ahead of the start of the second edition – but they have come back a more organised, better-drilled unit this time around. When Maxwell was the third man out before the halfway mark in the first innings, a third consecutive victory hadn't looked likely. Four balls later, when Morgan was run out by the fingertips of Jake Lintott at the non-striker's end, it was yet more improbable.

^{Ross Whiteley top-scored for Southern Brave (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)}

The game turned on a flurry from Bell-Drummond, who pulled over mid-on and slid multiple fours past short third man in a middle-order cameo that dragged Spirit to a winning total.

The runout of Quinton de Kock – a chaotic episode that ended with both batters mid-pitch and Bell-Drummond's throw only sufficient because de Kock was far enough from his ground that Ellis could run it back to the stumps – merely toughened the task for the reigning champions, who were indebted to Ross Whiteley for their revival.

He put on 41 runs in 24 balls with Fuller – another Hampshire pairing thriving on home soil – including a sizeable six off Ellis in one of several instances of friendly fire, reaching fifty shortly before his demise.

In the process, he almost doubled his highest T20 score on the ground, even having spent this summer as a Hampshire player for the first time. By his own admission, it has been a lean period and, interestingly, he insisted that the team's Blast success hadn't relied on much time spent facing one another in the nets. "Mason was probably the only one who I really have, but obviously you see it from the sides and you understand their plans a little bit more," he said, reflecting on the benefits of batting against an attack that he knows so well.

"They're great bowlers and they know how to bowl on that surface. They've shown it, winning a trophy this year, and they've done it again tonight."