In a turn of surprising events, star Delhi Capitals (DC) batter Ashutosh Sharma, who is known for his skills with the bat has performed exceptionally well with the ball in his recent outing while representing Hampshire against Essex in the One-Day Cup on Friday, July 31 at the County Ground in Chelmsford.
Winning the toss, Essex skipper Tom Westley opted to bat first against Hampshire. However the batters produced a show display, with opener Noah Thain smashing a wonderful knock of 109 runs off just 96 deliveries, hitting 17 fours and one six. Towards the end Matt Critchley (43 off 53) and Grant Roelofsen (52 off35) scored strong knocks to guide Essex reach 317 runs at end of the first innings.
Brilliant bowling from Ashutosh Sharma
Despite Essex's strong batting show, star player Ashutosh Sharma, who is known for his prowess in batting, produced a marvelous five-wicket haul. The right-handed batter, who represents Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), finished the game with figures of 5/51 in 10 overs. It was a remarkable bowling performance from Ashutosh, as he is a primary batter in nature and his outing with the ball gave depth to Hampshire.
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Hampshire's close win over Essex
In response, Hamphsire kicked off their innings with some hiccups as Ali Orr got out on a duck before Nick Gubbins (53 off 50), Fletcha Middleton (47 off 55) and Tom Prest (51 off 48) tried to take control of the chase with their solid knocks. However, at the end James Fuller and Andrew Neal stitched a match-winning partnership with the help of their knocks of 58 off 31 and 33 and 24 runs respectively and Hampshire claimed a narrow three-wicket win over Essex.
Unfortunately, Ashutosh Sharma, who surprised everyone with the ball in the first innings, could not contribute much with the bat during the chase, as he gathered only 16 runs.