Finals Day beckons for James Vince this Saturday and to call it familiar territory would be an understatement. This is Hampshire’s 11th appearance at the T20 Blast’s annual jamboree – a record they share with Somerset – and their captain is the only man to play in every one.
However, Hampshire’s relationship with Finals Day is one of extremes: three titles, in 2010, 2012 and 2022 – a fourth would be the outright record – and seven times on the first bus home after a semi-final exit. “We have never lost a quarter-final either,” says Vince, in a freewheeling chat over the phone that spans his new freelance life, England and even sandpaper.
“It’s one hell of a day,” adds Vince, his side having won in Durham last week to set up a semi‑final against Northamptonshire, with Somerset v Lancashire the other. “Every player wants to be there. It is so hard to call too – often the team that is written off or seen as outsiders wins it, like Gloucestershire last year. Funny stuff can happen.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve been written off but no one considered us a banker this season. But 11 times shows we have a knack of getting the job done, even when we’ve not dominated the group. We may not always have names that jump off the page but we always have spirit and belief.”
Vince is doing himself a disservice here, given that, with 6,293 runs, he is the tournament’s leading run-scorer. His Hampshire teammate Liam Dawson misses out this year because of England duty – it would have been his 10th Finals Day appearance – while the seamer Chris Wood is a third homegrown product who has played all but the semi-final defeat in 2011 when he was injured.
Things are a little different for Vince these days; different certainly from his first taste of Finals Day back in 2010 when, as a willowy teenager already tipped for international honours, he was run out for a duck in a thrilling tie against Somerset won on fewest wickets lost. “All I remember is a dodgy call from Jimmy Adams,” he jokes, regarding the club’s current batting coach.
Now 34, Vince is coming to the end of his first summer as a white‑ball freelancer based in Dubai. It was a decision that was made for him, he says, his family leaving the country last October, and now happily settled in their new home, after some frightening and as yet unexplained attacks on their home.
Vince has been a loss to the County Championship, no question, a stellar first-class career of more than 13,000 runs halted by the early-season clash with the Pakistan Super League and a cap on his working days in the UK. His relationship with Hampshire may have changed contractually but the emotional bond remains the same.
“I’ve actually not retired from red-ball cricket,” Vince says. “A return is probably unlikely given how things have panned out but then I didn’t think I’d be living in Dubai 18 months ago, so I don’t want to rule it out.
“It was a little strange watching the Champo at the start of the season from overseas, then coming back for the Blast. And maybe I was a little apprehensive coming back. But when I did, it was like I’d never been away.”
Vince says success with Hampshire remains “that bit more special”, citing relationships such as those with Dawson, Wood and the coaching staff. But he also points out he is not the full-blown team-hopper often associated with the modern landscape, having settled into long-term stints at Sydney Sixers (six seasons), Karachi Kings (four) and the International League T20’s Gulf Giants (three).
This being an Ashes year, the conversation inevitably turns to England and for many what was an international career that could have been very different. There was a World Cup winners’ medal as a squad member in 2019 and 13 caps in Test cricket. Just one century from 61 innings across formats was too few given his eye-catching elegance and talent.
“A long time ago,” replies Vince, when asked about his most recent contact with the national-team setup. “So yeah, I think that’s in the past now. I had my opportunity, although I do think it’s a different environment to play in these days. When I played there were regulars and then guys like me who might get a couple of series before someone else got a crack. I’d like to think the guys going in now feel like they’ve got a decent opportunity.”
The great sliding doors moment remains the opening day of the 2017-18 Ashes at the Gabba, when Vince gracefully cruised to 83 only to be run out by Nathan Lyon. It set the tone for England’s tour as a whole, an uncompetitive 4-0 defeat in which his other innings of promise – a confident pushback in Perth – was terminated on 55 by a freakish delivery from Mitchell Starc.
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“Having the opportunity to play an away Ashes was cool … but we got walloped,” says Vince. “You start the tour with excitement but at the back end, once the series had gone, it became a bit challenging mentally.”
And the Starc ball? “I remember Cookie telling us not to worry about the cracks,” Vince says of Alastair Cook. “He said they rarely produce a wicket – the ball either misses you or you have to wear the odd one. And then I got one which was missing leg and took my off stump out!”
While that dismissal was a one‑off, the tour remains one that raises English eyebrows given Australia were caught using sandpaper to tamper with the ball in Cape Town two months later. Cook has since said he suspected something was occurring against England, while Stuart Broad openly wondered why, if it wasn’t, Australia had changed their methods to achieve reverse swing.
Did Vince ever wonder? “I have played with Steve Smith a bit at Sydney Sixers and he’s actually a very nice guy,” he says. “But I did have a lighthearted crack at him, that he ruined my Test career because the ball was reversing all the time [in that Ashes series].
“I don’t know how far [ball-tampering] goes back. Over a number of years they got the ball reversing. But they also had guys who bowled at 90mph and if the ball is going to reverse a bit, that [pace] will usually find it.”
As for any advice he might give first-timers in Australia, Vince says that is best left to players such as Joe Root and Ben Stokes. But there is a reminder that England’s players will be subject to intense scrutiny, citing the example of Jonny Bairstow’s “head-butt” on Cameron Bancroft in a Perth bar – what turned out to be an odd form of greeting – as one example.
“I think a few of us might have had too many to drink that night,” says Vince. “I don’t remember, I wasn’t there for the actual incident. But for the lads going there [this year], yeah, the media can latch on to anything.
“With Australia’s uncertainty over the top three and the way England are playing, I think everyone’s quite optimistic. They’ve got a team that can give it proper go and hopefully get the job done.”
Out the other side with England, and seemingly enjoying his new life, Vince has a job of his own to get done this Finals Day.
