HAMPSHIRE Hawks all-rounder Benny Howell declared his side "just" in with a T20 Blast chance after his heroics sealed victory on Friday.

Howell hit 62 not out with four sixes and five fours to smash and grab victory with a boundary on the final ball against Gloucestershire.

The Englishman had already taken two wickets in the first innings at the Utilita Bowl before facing only 27 balls in his mammoth haul with the bat.

Hampshire are four points behind fourth-place Essex with just three matches left to play, with three top four teams in Surrey, Somerset and Essex to play.

Howell, speaking after the win against Gloucestershire, said: "It was about time I finished a game. To win against my old team and do it like that was a nice feeling.

“I have played with those boys many times, especially Paine, so there was a lot of thinking going on.

"Working out what he was thinking and what he thought I was thinking. I back myself to do the little dink and knew if I hit it I would get a boundary.

“For me it doesn’t matter how many runs I get, I just want to finish games. I was trying to stay calm because if I get too excited a swing through it.

"You always need big overs when the rate goes above 13s, we probably let the rate get a little bit high. It takes a couple of big overs to get back in the game and you have to have belief.

“We are still in the hunt…just. It is a hard ask but we are still in it. We need to win on Sunday, then win on Thursday and then Friday.

“We were pumped up when we won. I was pumped up for sure, I didn’t know what to do, I just threw my helmet on the ground and gloves everywhere!”

Gloucestershire captain Jack Taylor admitted: “It was a fantastic game and we’ve had a lot of games go down to the wire – I’m disappointed not to come out on the right side of it.

“We wanted to bat first as historically it is a good ground to chase on. We were really happy at the halfway point of our innings – Hammond and Bancroft gave us a fantastic platform – and even though we lost our way we would have taken that score.

“Having Tom Smith back was massive. We are really pleased for him that he has his fitness back and he took three really important wickets. Benny had a day out there and we couldn’t get over the line.

“We had really clear plans and the guys executed them well but he played a blinder. It was a one in 50 innings and it is a shame we didn’t see it more from him when he played for us.

"Hats off. We still have a small glimmer of hope going forward but that one hurts.”