Vitality T20 Blast: Kent beat Somerset
Kent downed South Group leaders Somerset by five runs in a high-scoring thriller at Canterbury to book their place in the last eight of the Vitality Blast T20.
Kent downed South Group leaders Somerset by five runs in a high-scoring thriller at Canterbury to book their place in the last eight of the Vitality Blast T20.
Kent's seventh win of the campaign brought an end to Somerset's seven-match winning streak in their final group game.
It also extended the West Country county's winless T20 run against Kent to 11 matches dating back to 2011.
Batting first, Kent scored 231 for five to equal their best-ever T20 total.
Captain Sam Billings led the run spree with an unbeaten 57 from 35 balls, but he was well-supported by Sean Dickson's cameo 20 from nine balls and a belligerent 42 from 22 deliveries by Alex Blake.
Somerset chased manfully throughout, and needed a six off the last ball to tie only for Mitch Claydon to send down a near-perfect yorker to seal the triumph.
The visitors had earlier conceded six penalty runs for failing to bowl their overs in the allotted time, which in the end proved crucial.
With their place in the last eight already assured, Somerset elected to bowl after winning the toss, but Jerome Taylor's second over conceded a brace of boundaries to Daniel Bell-Drummond and 14 in total.
Joe Denly, Kent's leading T20 run-getter, plundered a straight six in Jamie Overton's first over that ended with a deft late cut for four, as the hosts - aided by six Somerset wides within five overs - raced to 50 after only 4.3 overs.
Taylor had Denly caught at short third man for 26 from the penultimate delivery of the powerplay to make it 67 for one then, with 37 off 21 balls to his name, Bell-Drummond pushed inside the line of a Max Waller leg-spinner that clipped off stump.
Waller and Roelof van der Merwe, the slow left-armer, stemmed the flow of Spitfires' boundaries until Heino Kuhn broke the stranglehold with a reverse sweep for six against Johann Myburgh as Kent reached the midway point on 99 for two.
Kuhn perished attempting to repeat the shot against a Waller full-toss, picking out Corey Anderson at point, but Blake opened his boundary account with a straight six off Waller and greeted Overton's return with another maximum into the retirement complex adjacent to the ground.
Waller finished his stint with two for 29 as Kent reached 150 in their 16th over with Blake and Billings posting a 50-run stand in 4.4 overs.
Billings unfurled his ramps, paddles and pulls to collect three successive boundaries in a Taylor over that cost 25 in total, but the partnership ended on 82 when Blake was superbly caught overhead by Overton at long-off.
In a dramatic finish, Kent's skipper reached his third 50 of the campaign before Taylor was taken out of the Somerset attack for his second beamer and the visitors were hit with six penalty runs.
Chasing 232 at 11.55 an over, Somerset lost Myburgh after 15 balls to a stunning over-the-shoulder catch by Imran Qayyum that gave T20 debutant Grant Stewart his maiden wicket.
Steve Davies and Peter Trego, the former Kent all-rounder, clattered a quickfire 59 in five overs before Trego holed out to deep square leg for a rapid 30.
Davies then blotted his copybook by chipping Qayyum's second ball of the night straight to extra cover, having made 45 off 24 balls.
Qayyum conceded a huge leg-side six to James Hildreth as Somerset reached 102 for three after 10 overs but, with the required rate rising to almost 13, the big-hitting Corey Anderson (23) heaved against Calum Haggett and saw Billings cling onto a skier running back towards third man.
With 82 needed from 30 balls, Hildreth (45) hooked a Claydon bouncer straight to long leg and despite late clubbing from Gregory - who smashed an unbeaten 44 off 15 balls - and Tom Abell, Somerset just fell short.
Dan Lawrence struck an outstanding 86 as Essex recorded only their second win of the Vitality Blast campaign against basement boys Middlesex at Lord's.
The 21-year-old, who like his team-mates has struggled in Twenty20 cricket this year, chose Lord's to strike his first half-century of the campaign, plundering four sixes and seven fours in a 46-ball effort.
His heroics enabled Essex to chase down Middlesex's 210 for three - a record score for the hosts against the men from Chelmsford in the format.
For Middlesex it was a familiar story of their bowlers having no capacity to defend a big total that owed to superb half-centuries from Paul Stirling (78) and Eoin Morgan (77).
It meant a seventh successive defeat for Daniel Vettori's side, who must now beat Sussex at Hove on Friday night to have a chance of avoiding the South Group wooden spoon.
At the start of Middlesex's innings, Dawid Malan struck boundaries off his first two deliveries but then edged Sam Cook through to Adam Wheater.
Thereafter Stirling dominated the powerplay with a mixture of craft, ingenuity and brute force, two sixes and seven fours carrying him to fifty off 29 balls.
The Ireland international and John Simpson added 66 before the latter was caught and bowled by Simon Harmer for 16.
Stirling struck another incredible flat six over square cover but was soon acting as the foil to Morgan's stunning innings.
The 31-year-old left-hander began slowly before three sixes in an over off Paul Walter helped catapult him to 50 off 30 balls.
Stirling eventually holed out at long-off, but Morgan's response was to strike three maximums in an over for the second time, Matt Coles the bowler on the receiving end.
James Fuller, promoted to number five, then weighed in with 25 off 11 balls as he and Morgan shared a stand of 58 from the final 23 deliveries.
Aussie paceman Peter Siddle (one for 33) was the pick of the visitors' attack though many onlookers were left to wonder why Ravi Bopara (nought for two) bowled just the one over.
Needing 211, Essex soon lost Wheater to a stunning catch by Stevie Eskinazi off Fuller's first ball.
New batsman Walter hit Steven Finn for an enormous straight six but the former England fast bowler extacted almost immediate revenge when another attempted big hit found Malan at mid-off.
Despite the wickets runs came quickly, Lawrence hoisting Fuller for six and Varun Chopra too clearing the ropes at long-on, Finn again on the receiving end as the visitors reached 60 by the end of the powerplay.
The 50-run stand came in 25 balls and the 100 was up inside 10 overs.
Lawrence was the main aggressor and his fifth four coupled with two sixes carried him to fifty in just 24 balls, only the second Essex batsman to achieve the feat in the 2018 Blast.
Then came a huge moment in James Franklin's first over when Chopra on 35 carved a ball outside off in the air towards the boundary at square cover where young George Scott spilled the chance.
Chopra made the most of the reprieve, moving through to his own half-century off 31 balls as the century stand was realised.
The hosts needed a breakthrough and James Harris returned at the Pavilion End to bowl Chopra for 51, leaving Essex 137 for three in the 14th over.
Lawrence motored on, depositing another six into the grandstand off Franklin.
At the other end the experienced Bopara was missed off a skier by a combination of Fuller and Franklin and as Middlesex's outfielding fell apart he was dropped again by Finn in the deep.
Lawrence departed before the end, bowled around his legs by Finn, but Bopara (31) and Ashar Zaidi (20) saw Essex home with four balls to spare.
Yorkshire remained on course for the Vitality Blast quarter-finals as David Willey and Adam Lyth helped them to a crushing seven-wicket win at Northamptonshire.
Willey (79) and Lyth (66) shared 150 for the second wicket and while neither could see Yorkshire over the line, the visitors still eased home with 27 balls to spare.
Yorkshire face Nottinghamshire in their final game at Headingley on Friday, when the winner will claim North Group's final spot in the last eight, but a no result would open the door for Birmingham to leapfrog both.
Josh Cobb starred with the bat for Northants, hitting an unbeaten 68 as the home side posted 162 for eight having won the toss, but their attack never looked like defending it.
Yorkshire were on top from the start as Matt Fisher removed both Northants openers in his first over - the game's fifth.
With his first ball, Charlie Thurston edged to third man where Kane Williamson ran in to take a smart catch and with the final delivery of the over Ben Duckett edged to backward point where Lyth held on.
Cobb drove his opening boundary past extra-cover and his hitting helped the home side reach the halfway point at 72 for two.
Alex Wakely, after a patient start, flicked Liam Plunkett wide of midwicket for four but chipped the same bowler later in the same over to mid-on to fall for 14.
Steven Crook arrived and immediately struck both Lyth and then Plunkett straight down the ground for six, but he soon holed out to deep cover for 18.
And when Seekkuge Prasanna swung and missed at a Jack Brooks slower ball and lost his leg stump, Northants were 106 for five in the 15th over.
Cobb hit Willey for consecutive sixes out of the ground to pass fifty in 32 balls but just when Northants had built some momentum, Willey bowled an extraordinary triple-wicket maiden in the 19th over.
He had Luke Procter caught behind, Graeme White pouched at deep square next ball before Brett Hutton gloved behind off the fifth delivery.
Yorkshire lost Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the first over of the chase but fellow opener Lyth was in the mood, taking 22 from the fifth over bowled by Richard Gleeson as the White Rose raced to 74 in the powerplay.
Lyth passed fifty in 26 balls while Willey was again in great touch against his old county, hitting seven sixes and four fours.
Yorkshire were cruising but as they approached victory, Lyth miscued a drive to extra-cover from the last delivery of the 14th over before the next ball saw Willey pull Sanderson to deep midwicket.
The visitors did not have to wait long for victory, though, with Gary Balance soon hitting the winning runs.
Sussex boosted their hopes of a Vitality Blast quarter-final place with a four-wicket South Group win over Gloucestershire at Bristol.
The home side posted a disappointing 159 for nine after winning the toss, skipper Michael Klinger top-scoring with 59.
Spinner Rashid Khan claimed three for 24, while there were two wickets each for seamers Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan.
In reply, Sussex were given a great start by opener Phil Salt, who contributed 60 to a stand of 85 in nine overs with Harry Finch (33) and, despite two wickets with successive balls from both debutant spinner Jacob Lintott and Benny Howell, never looked in serious trouble.
They reached their target with an over to spare, David Wiese making 38, and can clinch a top-four spot by beating Middlesex at Hove on Friday when Gloucestershire's bid for a home quarter-final sees them face Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.
Gloucestershire's tame innings featured only two sixes, one struck by Kieran Noema-Barnett in the 14th over and the other by Klinger in the 18th.
Even the prolific Australian found it hard to break loose, taking 45 balls to reach his half-century, despite an opening stand of 41 in 4.3 overs with Miles Hammond, who hit six fours before being stumped for 29 off a Khan leg-side wide.
Ian Cockbain and Howell fell cheaply and, although Noema-Barnett (25) helped Klinger add 56 for the fourth wicket, he was bowled swinging at a delivery from Khan to make it 128 for four with only 3.2 overs remaining.
Klinger's 50-ball innings ended when he was caught at wide long-on off Jordan and when three wickets, including a run-out, fell in the final over Gloucestershire looked short of a par score.
That appeared even more certain when Sussex openers Salt and Finch plundered 60 off the six-over powerplay, the former hitting six fours and a maximum in moving to 41.
There was no let-up as Salt moved to fifty off 27 balls and celebrated with his second six, sweetly struck over deep-square off Howell.
He fell in the same over, caught at wide long-on of Howell, but by then Sussex had 85 on the board and were well on course for victory.
It was then that Gloucestershire introduced 25-year-old left-arm spinner Lintott, who struck with the fifth and sixth balls of his debut when Laurie Evans fell to a catch by Klinger at extra cover for a single and Delray Rawlins was bowled.
Taunton-born Lintott, whose only previous county appearance came for Hampshire in a T20 game against Somerset last season, conceded only eight from his first two overs and finished with two for 26.
Howell (three for 37) removed Wiese and Finch with consecutive deliveries in the 16th over, but only after Wiese had hit him for four and six to cement Sussex's position.
Only 15 were needed off the last three overs and although Gareth Roderick produced a stunning diving catch down the leg side to dismiss Archer, Sussex got home comfortably.
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