The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action from the latest round of matches in the 2024 Vitality Blast
Worcester: Worcestershire 141-6, Nottinghamshire 100-3 - Nottinghamshire win by one run (DLS)
Alex Hales helped Nottinghamshire celebrate their first win of the summer in the Vitality Blast after overcoming Worcestershire Rapids by one run on DLS at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
The Outlaws had lost their opening five matches in the competition including the meeting with the Rapids at Trent Bridge nine days ago.
But a disciplined bowling performance by their seamers restricted the home side to 141 for 6 under heavy skies. Then Hales batted responsibly to ensure there was little threat of Notts falling behind on DLS.
He scored 50 not out from 37 balls to guide his side to victory by the narrowest of margins. For Worcestershire it was a third successive defeat.
Leicester: Lancashire 162, Leicestershire 137-9 - Lancashire win by 25 runs
Lancashire Lightning continued their strong start to the North Group by making it five wins from six matches, overcoming Leicestershire Foxes by 25 runs in their Vitality Blast clash at the Uptonsteel County Ground.
The group leaders failed to bat out their full 20 overs, dismissed for 162 in 18.5 by a Foxes bowling attack led by seamer Scott Currie's 4 for 25 and on-loan left-arm spinner Lewis Goldsworthy's 2 for 25.
It was a total that looked potentially a little below par after Lightning's Luke Wells (35 off 18 balls), Matty Hurst (32 from 24) and veteran Steven Croft (29 from 20) had all been dismissed when threatening to inflict major damage but in the face of some disciplined Lancashire bowling the Foxes were always behind the required rate.
Rishi Patel hit 43 from 31 balls including two sixes, and skipper Peter Handscomb 33 from 26, but only two other batters made it into double figures as Wells, George Balderson and Luke Wood returned some mean bowling figures as the Foxes were restricted to 137 for 9.
Hampshire were left frustrated by the rain (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Derby: Northamptonshire 193-8, Derbyshire 123-3 - Derbyshire win by 24 runs (DLS)
A brilliant innings from Aneurin Donald gave Derbyshire Falcons a 24-run win over Northants Steelbacks under Duckworth DLS in the North Group match at Derby.
Donald smashed eight sixes in a 26 ball 68, equalling his own record for Derbyshire’s fastest T20 50, to put the Falcons ahead of the run rate on 123 for 3 after 11 overs when a violent thunderstorm ended the game.
Matthew Breetzke batted superbly to score a T20 best 94 from 54 balls, sharing a stand of 81 with Sikandar Raza, as the Steelbacks reached 193 for 8.
Rain left Falcons with a revised target of 187 from 19 overs but Donald’s demolition shredded the bowling before David Lloyd, 33, and Cam Fletcher kept the home side ahead of the game before the heavens opened.
Edgbaston: Yorkshire 145, Birmingham 151-6 - Birmingham win by four wickets
Birmingham Bears returned to winning ways after successive Vitality Blast defeats with a comfortable four-wicket victory over Yorkshire Vikings at Edgbaston.
The Vikings, who had won three of their first four games, were undone by spin, bowled out for 145 in 19.5 overs as the Bears' three twirlers harvested a combined 10-0-61-7.
Joe Root (39) and Dawid Malan (38) lifted their side to a promising 77 for 1 but the rest folded against an attack led by Jake Lintott (3 for 15) and Danny Briggs (3 for 26).
The Bears then reached 151 for six with 11 balls to spare thanks to violent contributions from Mousley (41) and Jake Bethell (32) and a wise one from Sam Hain who passed 4,000 career T20 runs on his way to an unbeaten 53.
Taunton: Somerset 55-6 (5), Kent 46-5 (5) - Somerset win by nine runs
Tom Kohler-Cadmore played a whirlwind cameo with the bat as Somerset beat Kent Spitfires by 14 runs in a tense Vitality Blast contest reduced by rain to five overs a side at the Cooper Associates Ground in Taunton.
The former Yorkshire batsman smashed 24 runs off nine balls as Somerset raised 55 for 6 from their five overs, Nathan Gilchrist taking 2 for 12 on his debut, while Charlie Stobo and Grant Stewart claimed a wicket apiece.
Charged with the task of chasing a revised target of 61 off five overs, Kent imploded in the face of tight bowling from Somerset's Australian quick Riley Meredith and Jake Ball, who returned figures of 1 for 15 and 1 for 19 in two overs respectively.
Kent came up short at 46 for 5 as Somerset claimed their fourth win in six games to retain leadership of the South Group.
Kia Oval: Gloucestershire 170-6, Surrey 170-9 - match tied
David Payne grabbed a breathless tie for Gloucestershire against Surrey, dismissing both Tom Curran and Sean Abbott in a brilliant final over in which he also conceded just four runs plus a scampered bye to the keeper.
Surrey needed just six runs to win after Tom Curran's breezy 18 had followed up Jason Roy's 55 and Ollie Pope's 48, which had spearheaded a thrilling chase under the Kia Oval floodlights, but finished on 170 for 9.
But the veteran Payne was equal to the task, yorking Curran with his first ball and having Abbott caught in the deep off his third.
Then came the bye, and a two driven by Jordan Clark. But, with scores level and the field in, Payne fired in another yorker that Clark could only dig out back towards the bowler. He set off for the winning single but Payne only had to move a few yards to his right to take the ball and, jubilantly, to run him out at the bowler's end.
Jake Ball helped Somerset defeat Kent (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Chelmsford: Essex 178-9, Sussex 181-2 - Sussex win by eight wickets
A masterful exhibition of stunning hitting from openers Harrison Ward and Daniel Hughes gave Sussex the platform to an eight-wicket victory with 26 balls to spare against an Essex team who had axed their Vitality Blast captain Simon Harmer.
The first-wicket pair put on 99 inside eight overs – including 32 from a Daniel Sams over – as 10 sixes rained down all around the Chelmsford ground. The Australian Hughes claimed four of them in his 18-ball 47, and Ward chipped in with three in his 68 from 36.
However, it was left to John Simpson to hit Luc Benkenstein for 10 off two balls in the 16th over to complete Sussex's fourth success in five Blast matches this season.
Southampton: Middlesex 113-8, Hampshire - no result
James Fuller took 2 for 11 in vain as rain caused Hampshire Hawks' Vitality Blast clash with Middlesex to be abandoned.
Fast bowler Fuller was miserly in his bowling, with John Turner also picking up two wickets as Hawks appeared on course to roll Middlesex over for around 120.
But two bursts of heavy rain curtailed their ambitions with the points shared at Utilita Bowl.
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