DARREN Sammy is aiming to end his Hampshire stint by keeping the county’s faint T20 hopes alive - with two wins in as many days.

The West Indies captain ends his month at The Ageas Bowl with two games in less than 24 hours, starting against Essex at Chelmsford tonight, writes Simon Walter.

A few months after leading the Windies to the World T20 title, Sammy will be helping Hampshire try to avoid a fifth successive T20 defeat for the first time, against the only side below them in the south group.

Hampshire have to win at least six of their remaining seven games to have a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals for the eighth successive season.

But after tomorrow’s ‘family festival’ home game against Gloucestershire (1.30pm) they will be without Sammy for the rest of the tournament, as he will be captaining the St Lucia Zouks at the Caribbean Premier League, from Wednesday.

Sammy will be replaced by Ryan McLaren, who will be re-registered as Hampshire’s second overseas player in time for the Specsavers County Championship match against Somerset, which starts at The Ageas Bowl on Sunday.

All-rounder Sammy’s 11 overs have cost an expensive 9.81 runs each, on average.

But he has taken five wickets at 21.6 apiece and his 59 runs at 14.75 have come at a strike rate of 137.2 that has only been bettered by Shahid Afridi and Sean Ervine.

His best performance was taking 2-20 after a 15-ball 27 in Hampshire’s solitary win, at home to Kent in Hampshire’s second game.

Had Hampshire’s top order performed better, he would no doubt have been more consistent.

Hampshire director of cricket Giles White said: “We’re very proud of our T20 record in recent years so it’s been a disappointing competition for us, but it’s been delightful to have Darren in the team.

“He’s been great to have around and we saw glimpses of what he can do in a couple of games. He nearly got us over the line at Kent.”

Hampshire have received a boost ahead of tonight’s game with the news that Essex overseas star Wahab Riaz has had to leave earlier than expected to join up with the Pakistan squad, which is training at The Ageas Bowl ahead of their opening tour fixture at Somerset on July 3.

It means Essex are without their main overseas players tonight as Adam Milne has already been ruled out for the rest of the competition because of injury.

Hampshire (from): Afridi, Ervine, Dawson, Alsop, Berg, Carberry, McManus, Wheater, Crane, Best, Andrew, Sammy.