Hampshire 95 for 1 (Middleton 54*) beat Warwickshire 93 (Dawson 7-15, Barker 3-28) by nine wickets
Left-arm spinner Dawson registered his best bowling performance in any format and sent an already faltering innings into freefall with three wickets in four balls as Warwickshire folded all out for 93.
Put in, the Bears were soon in trouble as former Edgbaston favourite Keith Barker took 3 for 28 in his opening burst. Sam Hain, who top-scored with 33 not out, could then only watch helplessly from the other end as his colleagues capitulated. Dawson bowled well but was assisted by some sieve-headed shot selection.
Hampshire eased to 95 for 1 in 19 overs – Fletcha Middleto making 54 not out from 65 balls – to book a place in the final on September 16 against Gloucestershire or Leicestershire at Trent Bridge. The visitors celebrated a job done almost to perfection while the big home crowd was left to digest Warwickshire’s latest knockout implosion after commanding the group stage.
It was a good toss for Hampshire to win, in grey, bowler-friendly conditions, but they exploited them brilliantly. Barker set the tone with a menacing maiden to start with and then removed Rob Yates, caught at mid-off, with his eighth ball.
Barker had Will Rhodes caught behind off a textbook outswinger before Ed Barnard, having again looked in sublime form, tickled a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Ben Brown.
Dawson tore through the rest. He turned a ball on to Michael Burgess’ off stump and bowled Jake Bethell through an reckless charge. At 91 for 5, Warwickshire desperately needed someone to stay with Hain but in the blink of an eye it was 91 for 8 after Ethan Brookes chipped to cover, Jake Lintott top-edged a sweep and Danny Briggs, having survived the hat-trick ball, fell lbw on the back foot to the next.
Henry Brookes edged behind and Olly Hannon-Dalby played down the wrong line and lost his off stump to leave Dawson with the best ever figures by a Hampshire bowler in one-day cricket.
Hannon-Dalby has bowled brilliantly throughout this tournament (24 wickets at 12.2 going into this game) but defending a feeble total of 93 was even beyond him. Hampshire openers Middleton and Nick Gubbins added 45 in ten overs before the latter fell lbw, although well forward, to Lintott.
Middleton advanced smoothly to his fifth List A half-century, from 56 balls with seven fours, and added a stress-free unbroken 50 in ten overs with Tom Prest, who struck the match-winning six to seal the most straightforward of victories in front of a slightly stunned home crowd.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo