Preview, T20 Blast | Tournament royalty Hampshire face ever-resilient Northants with spot in final at stake

For the first seven years of the T20 Blast, Hampshire made it to the quarter-finals just twice while bowing out in the group stages the other five times. However, since the turn of the decade, the county has not only won the tournament thrice but also made it to 11 Finals Days -- a record only equalled by fellow semi-finalists Somerset. Their last triumph came not too long ago in 2022 but both in the year prior and following it, Hampshire were knocked out in the semi-finals, a fate they would be desperate to avoid this time around under the leadership of recently-turned white-ball specialist James Vince.

Northamptonshire barely managed to eke their way into the quarter-finals as they finished fourth in the North Group with eight wins in 14 games, just one better than the net two teams in the table. However, they proved their credentials once and for all with a victory over mighty Surrey in the quarter-final, led by a record-breaking century from veteran Ravi Bopara in a rain-curtailed encounter.

Northants:  W L W W L

Hampshire:  W L W W W

The Northants have clashed just once against Hampshire in the shortest format, that too 16 years ago. In the 2009 quarter-final, they prevailed in a low-scoring thriller courtesy of a three-fer from Andrew Hall that helped defend a paltry target of 136 by bowling out Hampshire for 121 .  

Northants 1-0 Hampshire

Edgbaston is generally a high-scoring venue, as evidenced by an average first innings score of 186 across the eight games played here in Vitality Blast 2025, the latest of which saw Northamptonshire drum-up an astonishing 240/6. Five of those eight games have been won by the chasing team, while no sub-200 target has been defended at the venue this year.

Following persistent showers early in the day, the rain is expected to relent by the time the second semi-final rolls around albeit another dose is forecast towards the back end of the match. The temperature should hover around the 15°C mark, with the sun peeking through the clouds and a pleasant breeze blowing across the stadium. 

The Northants are expected to field the same line-up that got them over the line in the quarter-final.

Hampshire will be missing the services of Liam Dawson, who is with the England squad to take on South Africa in the T20I series where their other two starlets Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius are also involved. Joe Weatherley and Tom Prest are the frontrunners to fill in for Dawson.

Hampshire Probable XI: Toby Albert (wk), Chris Lynn, James Vince (c), Hilton Cartwright, James Fuller, Benny Howell, Joe Weatherley, Ben Mayes, Scott Currie, Chris Wood, Brad Wheal     

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