Hampshire 145 for 1 (McDermott 83, Vince 54*) beat Middlesex 142 for 7 (Holden 35, Davies 34, Dawson 3-14) by nine wickets

There have been swingers in Radlett - famously so, as they were once the subject of a Channel 4 documentary - but sadly, as far as Middlesex were concerned, they were not of the cricketing variety. When it came to games between bat and ball there was hardly a nod and a wink to be had as Middlesex's innings rarely got off the straight and narrow.

Middlesex did not bowl well at McDermott. Too often, they were short and straight, and seven of his nine sixes were walloped into the square-leg arc. They know as well as anyone how to defend Radlett's small boundaries and the pitch was slow and low, but with only 142 for 7 in the bank and McDermott flexing his muscles and thinking "club ground", there was little to be done against such a combative assault.

The upshot was a nine-wicket victory for Hampshire, who won with eight overs to spare. Vince, England's lost stylist, collected an unbeaten half-century to round things off. Hampshire escaped the foot of South Group as a result and they looked a likelier side than Middlesex to be in the shake-up when the group stakes reach their climax this time next month.

It's well known how small the ground is here and normally how good a wicket it is, but in the middle we thought it was actually a par score on that wicket," McDermott said. "We got off to a good powerplay and I just thought 'I'm going to keep going here' and try and kill the game, which I was lucky enough to do. I sort of mishit a couple of those for six and got a bit lucky at times with the wind swirling around and making the boundary even shorter. We've got to get on a little bit of a roll now and keep winning games."

Radlett is one of the Blast's quainter settings. It is an affluent Hertfordshire town, just inside the M25, and the sort of place where sixes are likely to plop into well-tended privet hedges to ripples of applause and where spectators murmur "buzzers", somewhat self-consciously, whenever there is an overthrow. If they played music between balls, it would probably be Beethoven's Für Elise with the only debate about which version to choose.

Middlesex's runs have come in the top three all season and they had perished by the 10th over, 70 on the board. All fell to variants of the mid-off loft: Stephen Eskinazi fatally advancing down the pitch; Joe Cracknell muscling a ball of full length; and Max Holden, who had his stylish moments, opening the front leg but failing to find lift-off.

That was soon 94 for 6 as Middlesex failed to find a boundary (not all that far away) for 34 deliveries. Batting promotions were made as much because if the need to juggle limited resources as conviction. Luke Hollman, pushed up to No. 4, mistimed a legside hit, and Chris Green, in at No. 7, lost his middle stump to one that hurried through low.

From the moment that Thilan Walallawita spiled 18 from his first over (the second of the reply), Hampshire's authority was clear. They took their cue from that. By the time Middlesex introduced Green, Hampshire were 103 after eight overs - perhaps the McDermott vs Green match-up was a contest they did not fancy, as there could be little other reason. But no match-up curbed McDermott and Martin Andersson had taken more punishment than anybody when Eskinazi brought it to an end by clinging on to a skier at deep mid-off.