Vitality T20 Blast review: Lanchasire beat Yorkshire at Old Trafford

The Red Rose captain hit six sixes in a team total of 176 for two in just 14 overs at Emirates Old Trafford after the match was reduced by rain.

England Test captain Joe Root made an unbeaten 51 off just 22 balls and Adam Lyth added a brilliant 60 from 26 deliveries as Yorkshire went close.

They needed 17 from the final over, with young seamer Toby Lester keeping them to 15 in a one-run win to leave the Lightning top of the North Group with five wins from six.

A crowd of 22,515 - a record for a Blast game outside London and Finals Day - packed in for this star-studded clash of the old rivals, with Jos Buttler available for Lancashire.

In all, there were 14 players with international experience involved.

Yorkshire, having won the toss, should have had Livingstone in the first over when he skied a David Willey delivery, only for Kane Williamson, Steve Patterson and Lyth to leave it to each other.

The Lancashire captain then crunched two consecutive sixes off the bowling of Tim Bresnan in the second over.

Buttler joined the fun in the third over, hitting Willey for six onto the Yorkshire team balcony.

Buttler, however, was run out for 16 later in the over after a mix-up with Livingstone left him short at the bowler's end, with Liam Plunkett hitting the stumps.

Livingstone brought up his half-century from 26 balls with a huge six off Adil Rashid, his fourth maximum, and added two more from Azeem Rafiq in the ninth over to take Lancashire into three figures.

Root's stunning diving catch at mid-off helped Patterson get rid of Livingstone shortly afterwards before Arron Lilley and Jordan Clark continued the onslaught, both hitting sixes off Rashid in the 11th over.

The leg-spinner - who has been tipped for an England Test recall - conceded 44 from his three overs.

Lilley finished with 42 from just 20 balls, while Clark added 34 from 16.

Lyth punished Lester's second over, hitting three sixes and a four as Yorkshire made 46 off their power-play. Lyth reached his half-century in just 20 balls.

Livingstone had a hand in his dismissal, caught on the boundary as he tried to launch Matthew Parkinson into the stands for what would have been his seventh six.

And the young leg-spinner struck in his next over as Willey was stumped by Buttler for 20 as Yorkshire's chase began to falter at 90 for two in the ninth over.

Plunkett and Root, however, kept the visitors in it, with Plunkett hitting 19 off nine before he was bowled by Clark in the 12th.

Bresnan made 17 from nine before he was caught on the boundary in the penultimate over by Lilley off the bowling of James Faulkner.

It left Yorkshire needing 17 from the final over bowled by Lester, playing just his fourth Lancashire T20 game.

Three boundaries from Root reduced that to five from two balls, and a single meant four to win off the last. But Lester kept his cool, with Williamson only managing two as Yorkshire finished on 175 for four.

Ben Stokes put on a clinic with bat and ball to guide Durham Jets to a dominant seven-wicket victory over Worcestershire Rapids in their Vitality Blast clash at Chester-le-Street.

The England all-rounder was imperious with the ball, claiming career-best Twenty20 figures of four for 16 from his four overs as Worcestershire were dismissed for 121.

He then scored 43 off 24 deliveries with the bat, while fellow opener Graham Clark made 55 as the home side eased to victory with 32 balls to spare.

Durham have won their last three matches and are well in contention to reach the knockout phase of the competition, while the Rapids suffered a second successive defeat.

The Jets won the toss and elected to bowl, with Stokes coming into the line-up for Paul Collingwood.

Worcestershire had England's Moeen Ali back in their ranks and he hit the second ball of the innings to the boundary over point, but James Weighell responded to dismiss him in the next ball.

New Zealand international Martin Guptill struggled to get the ball off the square and fell victim to a Stokes' delivery that kept low.

Travis Head's form at the crease allowed his side to post 40 from their opening six overs, but Nathan Rimmington turned the momentum in favour of Durham by removing Daryl Mitchell.

Head continued his knock, although his strike rate did not get away from the home side.

But the Australian fell for 40 as he was undone by a straight delivery from South Africa spinner Imran Tahir, which sparked a collapse.

Stokes returned to the attack to have both Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox caught on the boundary, while Tahir notched his second strike of the innings as Ed Barnard was caught behind.

Luke Wood continued the procession of wickets, drilling Weighell straight to Liam Trevaskis in the deep.

Stokes claimed his fourth scalp by bowling Dillon Pennington, while a fine piece of fielding from Rimmington ran out Patrick Brown to end the innings with four balls unused.

Clark and Stokes got their side off to a flying start in their chase.

Both openers were able to find the boundary with regularity, putting the home side comfortably ahead of the required rate, and they reached their half-century partnership at the end of the fifth over.

Stokes dispatched Moeen over long-on for a huge six to reach 43, but his England team-mate had a semblance of revenge as Guptill took a catch on the fence from the following delivery, ending the opening partnership at 77.

Clark continued Durham's progress, reaching his 50 off 35 balls.

The opener fell before the Jets could close out the victory, with Trevaskis eventually hitting the winning runs.

Worcestershire captain Moeen said: "Stokes was good, he bowled well and batted very well. It's always great to see an England player do that.

"I'm glad if anyone was going to score runs and take wickets against us, it was him."

James Hildreth and Corey Anderson shared a fifth-wicket partnership of 97 as Somerset beat Glamorgan by 30 runs in the Vitality Blast clash at Sophia Gardens.

Hildreth (56 not out) and Anderson (59) steadied the ship to lead their side 190 for five - Timm van der Gugten claiming three of their wickets for 36 runs - after being put in to bat first and then restricting the hosts to 160 for nine in their reply.

Glamorgan made the best of the early stages after a delayed start as they claimed three Somerset wickets for 45 in the powerplay.

Kiran Carlson took two leg-side catches in the deep in successive overs, removing Steven Davies (15) off Michael Hogan in the fifth, and Johann Myburgh (23) off Van der Gugten in the sixth, an over which also saw Peter Trego (two) caught behind by Chris Cooke.

Tom Abell (10) then hooked behind to Cooke off Van der Gugten, while Hildreth and Anderson came together in the ninth over and added 97 in 8.1 overs.

Anderson struck sixes off successive Andrew Salter overs after the pair had brought up the fifty partnership.

But Glamorgan soon had the big breakthrough when Anderson holed out at mid-on to Carlson off Hogan for 59, having struck six fours and four sixes.

The runs flowed once more, however, as Hildreth reached his half-century from 31 balls and ended a innings with six fours as the visitors ended on 190 for five.

In reply, it took just six balls for Glamorgan to lose their first wicket as leg-spinner Max Waller trapped Aneurin Donald leg before for one.

White-ball skipper Colin Ingram and Australian overseas Usman Khawaja steadied the ship with a series of boundaries in the powerplay, but Ingram (25) skied to mid-off from Craig Overton to leave the Welsh side 52 for two.

A series of Khawaja boundaries boosted Glamorgan with the left-hander glancing Somerset captain Gregory for two fours at the end of the powerplay.

Burns soon went cheaply as he advanced down the track having been deceived by the left-arm spin off Roelof van der Merve.

Bowler turned fielder to dismiss Glamorgan top scorer Khawaja (44), who drove off Johann Myburgh with the hosts needing a further 107 runs from the halfway point.

The wickets continued to stumbles as Chris Cooke was caught at long-on by Van der Merwe off Waller.

Myburgh dropped Carlson at backward point off Jamie Overton - before the batsman pulled a huge six over Craig Overton's head - but his luck ran out when he was caught on the cover boundary by Gregory for 33.

When Graham Wagg (13) was caught at long-off by Abell off Van der Merwe in the 17th over, Glamorgan's hopes of victory were all-but over at 130 for seven.

Craig Meschede, however, launched the biggest six of the night into the grandstand off Jamie Overton in the eighteenth over, before he was run out by wicketkeeper Davies for 10.

Salter was caught by Van der Merwe off Craig Overton for eight as Somerset sealed victory as the Welsh side fell well short of their target.

Ben Raine continued to make his mark in this season's Vitality Blast competition with a stunning innings to help Leicestershire Foxes take the bragging rights in the east midlands derby.

Raine scored 83 as the Foxes reached 193 for six, scoring his runs from only 43 balls, with six fours and five maximums as his side completed a 17-run victory over Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge.

Jake Ball was the pick of the home attack as he finished with three wickets for 40 runs.

Notts appeared to be romping towards victory in the early stages of their reply as opening batsman Riki Wessels rattled his way to a 22-ball half-century - a landmark reached with back-to-back sixes off Zak Chappell.

Wessels (58) then fell to man-of-the-match Raine, who also held a steepling catch to remove Samit Patel.

The defending champions could only muster 176 for nine, with Mohammad Abbas taking career best figures of three for 32.

At the start of the evening, the Foxes - invited to bat first - lost both openers inside the powerplay overs; Neil Dexter checked a drive off Harry Gurney to cover for 30 and fellow opener Cameron Delport, who scored a century in this fixture last season, lost his wicket to Ball for 21.

Mark Cosgrove, who earlier in the day extended his Leicestershire contract until the end of the 2020 campaign, was bowled in Steven Mullaney's first over, leaving the visitors on 89 for three at the halfway stage.

Raine, a week after registering his maiden century in the format, launched an assault on the Outlaws' attack from the moment he arrived in the middle. He sped to his 50 from only 28 balls, reaching the milestone with a huge pulled six off Dan Christian, his fourth.

The left-hander added 57 in just six overs with Colin Ackermann, the Foxes' skipper, who made 29 before falling to Ish Sodhi.

In the penultimate over, Ball secured his third wicket when he bowled Raine to bring an excellent innings to an end.

Notts recovered from the early loss of opener Will Fraine thanks to Wessels, who scored 50 of the first 54 runs.

Tom Moores made 23 from only 12 deliveries, alongside him, but both players fell within the space of nine deliveries to leave Notts only narrowly ahead after nine overs.

Abbas swung the contest decisively towards the former three-time winners, with the cheap wickets of Christian and Ball in the 13th over and the Foxes could relax completely once the same bowler removed Billy Root for 23.

Fittingly, the last blow belonged to Raine, who finished with two for 47 after bowling Sodhi in the final over.

The outcome leaves both sides with identical records of three wins and three losses in the ultra-competitive North Group, with neither having yet won a home match.

Aaron Finch put on a batting exhibition as Surrey piled on the runs against Kent before rain killed off the Vitality Blast South Group contest in Canterbury.

Surrey posted 250 for six, the fourth-highest total ever recorded in English domestic T20 cricket, with Finch making 83 from 38 balls.

However, a heavy downpour in the innings break forced the match to be abandoned, with the teams taking a point each.

Kent, with three wins from four previous matches in the competition, would have needed to score at an asking rate above 12.5 runs an over but were spared the task.

Batting first after winning the toss, which was made with a commemorative Queen Anne solid silver shilling from 1709 - the year these two clubs first met - Surrey's Finch hit a boundary from the first delivery.

Visiting openers Rory Burns and Finch set the tone, hitting quick-fire fifties, making hay against a Kent attack hamstrung by a soapy ball and a wet outfield; the result of constant light drizzle.

Finch bludgeoned off back foot and front at every opportunity to post a 19-ball half-century with eight fours and a brace of sixes, while Burns, standing in for the injured Jason Roy, reached the milestone from 27 balls for his maiden fifty in the short-form game.

The pair posted 87 in the six-over power-play and had 119 on the board when Burns chased a wide, full delivery from Calum Haggett to edge through to keeper Sam Billings.

Surrey reached three figures after seven overs as Finch plundered on. The burly Australian heaved across the line to be bowled by left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum to make it 144 for two.

Qayyum picked up a second scalp when he pegged back Ben Foakes' leg stump after the right-hander charged down the pitch but missed an attempted leg-side smear.

Rikki Clarke marched in with licence to thrill and reaped havoc, the all-rounder joining forces with Nic Maddinson to club three sixes in an over from Qayyum but, in looking for a fourth, Clarke holed out to long on to go for 16.

Maddinson's fun ended with the very next delivery when he too chased a wide one from Haggett to feather the ball through to the keeper to depart for 29.

Surrey sailed past 217, their best score against Kent in the short-form game and, by the end of the 18th over had posted their highest T20 total, beating the 224 for five they achieved against Gloucestershire in Bristol in 2006.

Ollie Pope and Sam Curran continued to blaze away in the final four overs making Surrey the fourth side to post 250 or more in domestic T20 history before Pope holed out off the final delivery of the innings as Surrey added 50 in their last four overs.

Qayyum finished with three for 40 and Haggett two for 53, but Carlos Brathwaite, one of the world's highest paid T20 bowlers, leaked 55 from his three overs of Surrey onslaught.

Hampshire ended their winless start to the Vitality Blast as Colin Munro scored his first half-century of the competition in a comfortable 21-run victory over Middlesex.

New Zealand international Munro hit 63 from 40 balls at the Ageas Bowl before taking two for 20 with his medium pacers as Hampshire's three-match losing streak came to an end.

Middlesex's James Fuller took the Blast's best figures of six for 28 as Hampshire were bowled out for 184, but the visitors' chase fell well short.

After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Vince sent Steven Finn for three boundaries.

But Finn had his revenge in his second over as the Hampshire skipper picked out Fuller on the square boundary, with Sam Northeast also following him in the powerplay after swinging to deep midwicket.

The hosts reached 62 in the first six overs thanks mainly to the big-hitting of Munro.

The New Zealander had struggled to get going in his opening three Blast innings but hit a trio of sixes as he reached a half-century in 26 balls and put on 72 runs with Rilee Rossouw for the third wicket.

But the wicket of Rossouw, caught on the upper-cut for a sprightly 32, sparked a collapse which saw Hampshire lose seven wickets for 56 runs in 43 balls.

Fuller was the architect of the collapse, as he had Tom Alsop chopping-on first ball and Munro well caught by Max Holden at deep square-leg.

Liam Dawson was the next to depart as he slogged to Dwayne Bravo at deep midwicket.

Fuller claimed his maiden Twenty20 five-for when Gareth Berg tickled behind, before adding a sixth as Lewis McManus flicked to the midwicket boundary.

Chris Wood hit a late 13, but Hampshire were bowled out with two balls unused.

The visitors' reply got off to a poor start as Paul Sterling was bowled by Wood from the final delivery of the first over.

But Holden, on the back of his format best 84 against Somerset on Thursday night, got his side back on track with a quickfire 36 - before two wickets stunted the visitors in the sixth over.

Spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman responded to England batsman Dawid Malan hitting him over long off by having him caught while attempting a reverse sweep.

Three balls later Holden was run out by the Afghan following a mix-up to give the early advantage to Hampshire.

Munro joined the wicket-taking when Eoin Morgan, on his 250th Twenty20 appearance, dragged a cut to Rossouw - who made up good ground to complete the catch.

After a 40-run stand for the fifth wicket between John Simpson and Bravo the former skied to Vince at cover, before Ashton Agar was run out while backing-up.

Bravo struck three massive sixes in his 38 before falling to Munro, who took a steepling catch off his own bowling.

Fuller and Tom Helm were the last to depart as Middlesex ended up 163 for nine.

Gloucestershire's quest to defeat Essex Eagles and move clear at the top of the Vitality Blast South Group was frustrated by rain at Cheltenham.

Varun Chopra scored a half-century as Essex reached 172 for seven in 18.2 overs before the heavens opened, leaving umpires Ben Debenham and Alex Wharf no option but to take the players off.

When conditions failed to improve by 7.30pm, they decided to abandon the match, with each side taking a point.

Essex have won just one of their five games and find themselves at the wrong end of the table, while Gloucestershire have seven points from five matches.

Put into bat on a flat track, Essex engineered a position of strength courtesy of an opening stand of 50 between Chopra and Adam Wheater, the third time they had achieved that landmark in four matches.

Wheater departed for 24, caught at the wicket off Kieran Noema-Barnett, but Tom Westley contributed 20 in a second-wicket partnership of 58 in six overs with Chopra to keep the Eagles in the ascendancy.

Chopra continued to hold sway even after Westley had been bowled by Tom Smith, raising his second Blast fifty of the season from 35 balls.

He had advanced his score to 61 from 42 deliveries, accruing eight fours and a six, and Essex were well placed at 117 for two in the 13th over when Michael Klinger swung the momentum Gloucestershire's way.

Running in and picking up at short extra cover with one stump to aim at, Gloucestershire's inspirational captain pulled off a brilliant direct hit to run out Chopra, who failed to make his ground after being sent back by Ryan ten Doeschate.

Klinger's heroics in the field prompted a mini-collapse, the Eagles losing five wickets for 32 runs in five overs.

Ryan Higgins located Ten Doeschate's outside edge and Gareth Roderick pouched a catch behind to increase Essex discomfiture, while Dan Lawrence, having survived a missed stumping on seven, hoisted Smith to Andrew Tye at deep cover point for 14.

A master at exerting pressure in these situations, the wily Smith then pinned Simon Harmer lbw to return impressive figures of three for 39 in four overs.

Expensive with the new ball, overseas star Tye then got in on the act, inducing Ravi Bopara to direct a firmly-hit drive straight to Klinger at mid-off.

Neil Wagner (16 not out) and Adam Zampa (four not out) were in the process of a partial recovery when heavy rain called time on proceedings.

Birmingham Bears and Northamptonshire Steelbacks fought out a thrilling tie in the Vitality Blast at Edgbaston.

Former England batsman Ian Bell's first Twenty20 century of his long career almost dragged the hosts to victory, but he departed to the first ball of the game's final over after a brilliant 131.

That left Birmingham needing 10 runs from five balls to successfully chase Northants' 231 for five, but Nathan Buck restricted the hosts to nine to leave the scored tied.

Despite conceding 229 and 220 bowling first in their last two games, Birmingham chose to field first again - and the Steelbacks piled up the runs.

Richard Levi smashed an unbeaten 95 from 52 balls, during which he passed 5,000 T20 runs, and Josh Cobb struck 61 off 35.

Bell's knock came from just 62 deliveries, which included seven sixes, and he shared a world-record T20 third-wicket stand of 171 with Adam Hose (64 off 39).

Steelbacks openers Levi and Ben Duckett started quickly, with 40 from 19 balls before the latter edged behind at the start of a wicket-maiden from Boyd Rankin.

But Levi, reprieved on 22 when he was caught at deep square-leg off an Aaron Thomason no ball, took with particular relish to former team-mate Olly Stone.

He thrashed 18 from four balls in Stone's first over and 28, including four sixes, when the paceman returned to bowl the ninth.

Cobb pulled Grant Elliott over the Hollies Stand and the second-wicket stand yielded 129 in 70 balls before Cobb lifted Thomason to deep mid-wicket.

Levi began the last over needing 10 to reach his fourth T20 century but could only manage five.

Birmingham's mammoth chase started badly with the loss of two early wickets, Ed Pollock lifting Buck to mid-off and San Hain chipping a slower

ball from Rory Kleinveldt to extra cover.

Bell and Hose batted steadily at first then gradually increased the tempo in their record-breaking stand, which ended with an unfortunate run out.

When Bell was coolly caught right on the extra-cover rope by Luke Procter the pendulum swung back the Steelbacks' way.

Colin de Grandhomme then appeared to put the visitors on the brink of a victory with a six from the fourth ball of the over, but with two required to win he was caught at long on by Steven Crook.

Thomason then struck a single off the last delivery to secure a point for each team.