HAMPSHIRE are the oldest team on the circuit, but they have reached the NatWest Trophy semi-finals with vigorous cricket and, judging by yesterday's annihilation of Middlesex, look capable of winning the competition.
Apart from Robin Smith, the captain, Hampshire have no star quality among this band of veterans, though John Stephenson can boast one England cap from nine years ago.
Six of the side are the wrong side of 30, with no doubt hardly a knee cartilage among them, and Shaun Udal is 29. That leaves only four players fitting the accepted pattern of the limited-overs game, in which youth is assumed to be important or even crucial.
One feature of the match was the MCC's success in ordering construction work on the media centre to stop after some deafening clanks and hammering had gushed over ground from the Nursery End, so loud that the din had threatened to interfere with play.
Hampshire promptly filled the quiet with the ringing sound of willow on leather, punctuated with the thud of ball against boundary board that made Middlesex supporters among a crowd of about 4,500 wince.
A ferocious assault in the final 20 overs of Hampshire's innings altered the complexion from an even contest to something beyond Middlesex's reach. The last 10 overs produced a torrent of 112 runs.
Hampshire did not seize the opportunity afforded by the fielding restrictions during the first 15 overs, and they took time to accelerate from a four runs an over jog.
Firm blows by Giles White and Adrian Aymes knocked away their opponents' light grip on the tempo, and extraordinary hitting by Dimitri Mascarenhas, at 20 Hampshire's only callow youth, had Middlesex's shoulders sagging, with their shortage of bowling pedigree exposed.
Richard Johnson conceded 18 off an over, Tim Bloomfield and Paul Weekes 17 each during a period of mayhem that only Angus Fraser, conceding no boundaries in his 12 overs, managed to resist.
Aymes, who had hit a lean spell of form, batted crisply for 73 not out off 95 balls, which gave Mascarenhas the chance to swing the bat for 29 off 12 balls. Nixon McLean's six-ball slog added a flamboyant sign-off.
To describe Cardigan Connor as a menacing veteran might sound like an oxymoron. Yet here was a man who had destroyed Essex, the holders, in the previous round with three wickets in the first over of the day.
This time Connor had a part in guaranteeing Middlesex's demise with the wickets of Mike Gatting, lbw prodding forward, and Owais Shah, who pushed out to give Aymes a diving catch.
McLean swept away Mark Ramprakash, and Peter Hartley, the oldest player at 38, picked up two middle order victims.
Mercifully, Middlesex did not attempt to spin out their overs allocation, going down with just over 17 unused. It was not their heaviest defeat in terms of runs, but it was embarrassing enough.
Middlesex have not won a championship match for almost two months; they have failed in the two knockout competitions and have only the AXA League crown to fight for. Now there must be doubts they can maintain a challenge for that.
Gatting's hopes of bringing a distinguished career to an end with a final at his beloved Lord's have all but disappeared.