Batsman overcomes dental surgery to spearhead Hampshire's success

Hampshire's Rilee Rossouw has revealed he geared up for his match-winning 125 in the Royal London One-Day Cup final by getting stuck in a hotel lift.

The night before the 50-over Lord's showdown, Rossouw spent 80 minutes trapped in a malfunctioning lift, capping a turbulent fortnight where he also lost both front teeth when struck by a ball.

Rossouw's stellar innings drove Hampshire to a record one-day final total of 330, and their eventual 61-run victory over Kent.

The 28-year-old had emergency dental surgery after his facial injury in Hampshire's one-day semi-final victory over Yorkshire, then hit his maiden County Championship century four days later against Lancashire.

"I'll take all the bad luck in the world to win a final," joked Rossouw, happy to relax in victory after two weeks in the wars.

"I'm very pleased with my performance today. I wanted this very badly and I'm so happy that the team pulled it off.

"I was stuck in the lift for 80 minutes in the hotel last night, on my own.

"I was actually on my way down to see my wife and my little baby. So I wasn't happy.

"And with my teeth, I dropped a catch in the semi-finals, it went straight through my hands, hit my front teeth, broke the front two right off and chipped a third. The front two are completely gone. I've got a good dentist though, so the credit goes to him.

"It feels great to pay back the club for what they have invested in me, I'm very happy."

Former Kent star Sam Northeast fired an unbeaten 75 as Hampshire took total control, but suffered a barrage of boos from the Kent supporters in the 20,000-plus Lord's crowd.

Kent skipper Sam Billings criticised those fans of his club who opted to boo his former team-mate.

Asked if he was happy with the reception for Northeast, Billings replied: "In a word, no, that's not really cricket is it.

"Sam's a classy player, he showed that today, he played very well.

"It's a huge disappointment for us to lose this game, but full credit to Hampshire, they played very well on the day.

"I'm very proud of how we've gone about it in this tournament. Huge credit to them and the club. We've come a long way in a short time.