Gutted Will Jacks admitted Surrey “have a lot to get better at” after losing a thriller to Hampshire by five runs at the Kia Oval.

They reached the halfway point of the Vitality Blast qualifying stage with three wins and three defeats in the six-team South Group. Only the top two are certain of reaching the knockout stages, Hampshire eight points clear of the rest having completed a double over Surrey.

Despite missing skipper James Vince through injury, the visitors raced to 215 for five from their 20 overs, capped by taking 24 off the final one bowled by Sean Abbott.

Toby Albert (39), Hilton Cartwright (40) and Joe Weatherley (43) made much of the early running, Tristan Stubbs finishing off with 30 not out from 18 balls with his six off the final ball of the innings proving decisive. Jacks and Reece Topley, taking two for 29, were the only bowlers to keep control.

Surrey lost Jason Roy from the first ball of the reply, looking set for a heavy defeat when Ollie Pope (five) and skipper Sam Curran (six) followed. But Jacks and Dan Lawrence rallied the innings with a partnership of 88 from eight overs, only broken when Jacks was bowled by Liam Dawson for 70 from 42 balls.

After that it was down to Lawrence, playing almost a lone hand in his superb unbeaten 94. Two of his six sixes came at the end of the 18th over off left-arm spinner Dawson, giving the hosts a sniff as they needed 28 off 12 balls, only for Scott Currie to concede just six off the 19th.

That left 22 required from the last and Lawrence took 14 off the first four balls. He lost strike from the next delivery, though, and Chris Jordan was unable to hit the final ball for six. Chris Wood (three for 32) and Currie (two for 24) were Hampshire’s heroes with the ball.

“It was very frustrating to come so close,” admitted Jacks. “In the field I think we let them get too many. I think we could have been a bit smarter in the way we bowled.

“We did really well to recover from losing early wickets – Dan played absolutely brilliantly.

“Three wins, three losses – we know we’ve got a lot to get better at. I think we’ve been slow starters in a few games. We’d love to be in a better position than we are and to qualify we’ll need to play better than that.”

Surrey had made short work of Middlesex two nights earlier, beating them by eight wickets to complete a double in the London derby.

The visitors stumbled to 130 for seven from their 20 overs, rarely looking as if they would put together a challenging total, and needing Ryan Higgins (27) and Luke Hollman (31 not out) to stage a modest recovery from 54 for five. Topley (one for 21) and Abbott (two for 16) were Surrey’s key bowlers.

Although Jacks fell for 24 early in the reply, Roy’s 46 and Pope’s 51 not out ensured the runs were knocked off in 14.1 overs.

Surrey’s hopes of winning back the Rothesay County Championship title were hit when Indian leg-spinner Rahul Chahar’s arrival was delayed by a hold-up over his visa. It meant he missed this week’s four-day game against Hampshire.

By Richard Spiller