YASIR Arafat is targeting a hat-trick of Edgbaston T20 Finals Day wins – as Hampshire aim for their first.

Hampshire’s sixth successive Finals Day appearance will be their fourth at Edgbaston - where they have lost at the semi-final stage in 2011, 2013, and 2014.

But limited-overs specialist Arafat has happier memories of Finals Days in Birmingham.

He took two early wickets and was at the crease with Darren Stevens when Kent beat Gloucestershire in the 2007 final.

Two years later his unbeaten 20 was followed by figures of 2-14 as Sussex beat Somerset.

That was his third Finals Day in as many years, having been in the Kent team that lost to Middlesex when the Rose Bowl hosted county cricket’s showpiece for the first time.

“Edgbaston has been lucky for me,” he said. “We lost off the last ball at the Rose Bowl in 2008, but hopefully it’ll be another win at Edgbaston!

“I’m very excited about our chances, if we play to our potential we can win it. We’ve got a very good side; good spinners, all-rounders and matchwinners - and Sean Ervine back after a long time out.

“We’ll keep it simple, focus on the semi-final and hopefully the final.”

Yasir, who opened the Kent bowling with Lasith Malinga in 2007, is second only to the great Sri Lankan on the world’s pantheon of top T20 wicket-takers (they have 291 and 272 respectively).

He was not at his best as Hampshire lost their Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final against Gloucestershire at Bristol on Wednesday.

But only Chris Wood has taken more than Yasir’s 17 T20 wickets for Hampshire this season, the former Pakistan international’s best performance being his 4-37 in the crucial win against Somerset at the end of the group stage.

He and Michael Carberry are both targeting their second domestic T20 title of 2015 after helping the Perth Scorchers win the Big Bash in January.

Yasir, who commutes from Chislehurst, Kent to play in white-ball cricket, will be cheered on by his wife and two year-old daughter when Hampshire take on Lancashire in the second semi-final (2pm).

His dad will also be in attendance, as he has been for much of his nomadic county career.

Yasir equalled a record when he joined Hampshire after spells with Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Somerset and, for ten games in 2012, Lancashire. “Marcus North is the only other player to have played for six counties,” he says proudly. “I’ve been made very welcome and hope to come back next year.”