Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions: Vitality Blast 2023 June 2nd - All Matches
©Cricket World / John Mallett
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Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions: Vitality Blast 2023 June 2nd - All Matches
Here are the Vitality Blast June 2nd 2023 Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions for all the matches being played today.
North Group
Scorecard: Derbyshire Falcons v Birmingham Bears (County Cricket Ground, Derby)
Wayne Madsen’s remarkable run in the Vitality Blast continued as the Derbyshire Falcons ended Birmingham Bears winning streak in the North Group with a 17 run victory at Derby.
Madsen came into the game on the back of three fifties and a hundred and delivered another white ball masterclass with an unbeaten 71 off 52 balls out of 174 for 5.
Tom Woods hammered 39 from 19 as he and Madsen plundered 79 off 41 balls with Glenn Maxwell taking 2 for 19 in four overs.
The Bears hopes of equalling their best ever start in the T20 with a fifth victory quickly faded as they slipped to 45 for 4 in the powerplay with England’s Moeen Ali falling for 16.
Maxwell briefly threatened with 29 off 22 balls before Dan Mousley and Ed Barnard added 49 off 30 but the Bears came up short on 157 for 9 with Zak Chappell taking 3 for 32 and Zaman Khan 3 for 34.
Ali, playing his first game for his home county for 17 years, had elected to bowl first on a sunny evening at the Incora County Ground.
Luis Reece swung Maxwell for six before pulling Henry Brookes into the hands of deep square which brought in the prolific Madsen who cut his first ball for four.
He drilled Craig Miles past mid on for another four as the Falcons ended the powerplay on 43 for 1 and Haider Ali greeted Jake Lintott by launching him over the ropes at wide long on.
His attempts to do the same to Maxwell was pouched by Mousley at deep midwicket but Madsen was the wicket the Bears most wanted.
Maxwell beat Leus Du Plooy’s charge to end his impressive spell but Madsen was finding the gaps and after surviving a hard caught and bowled chance to Mousley on 47, pulled the spinner for his ninth four to reach yet another 50 off 40 balls.
It was an impressive display of timing and placement on a slow pitch and when Tom Wood opened his shoulders to club Brookes for two fours and a six in a penultimate over which cost 27, the momentum had swung to the Falcons.
Wood pulled Miles to deep midwicket to end a stand of 79 off 41 balls but he had helped take the Falcons to a competitive score.
Ali launched the chase by lofting Chappell over long on which resulted in the ball being changed but when Alex Davies tried to emulate his skipper he skied a catch to mid off.
It is difficult to keep Madsen out of the game at the moment and the 39-year-old plunged forward at cover in the fourth over to hold a fine catch when Ali checked a drive at Khan although he appeared to hurt his right knee in the process.
Maxwell dispatched George Scrimshaw’s first two balls to the ropes but the fast bowler responded by bowling Sam Hain when he backed away to drive.
The Bears were in deep trouble when Chris Benjamin gloved a pull at Chappell through to the wicketkeeper with everything now resting for the visitors on Maxwell.
But he drilled Mattie McKiernan to long off in the 10th over and despite Mousley and Barnard’s rally, the Falcons kept their discipline to record back-to-back wins.
Derbyshire fast bowler Zak Chappell said: "I think that was the best we've been and I don't think it's the best we can be, there are still players who have a lot more to give.
"They are so talented and so skillful that when they hit the right tune they are going to fly but that's the best performance so far.
"Hats off to Mads (Wayne Madsen) again, he's a different gravy at the moment, his consistency is frightening. He's been unbelievable for us this year, especially in white ball cricket, and the batters got us to a score that was going to be hard to beat.
"I knew it was competitive, I didn't think we were before 150 but at 170 we were in the game. They've some class players like Moeen Ali, Glenn Maxwell and if they have a night out they can win the game but we bowled well and did well."
Bears first team coach Mark Robinson said: "It wasn't an easy wicket to bat on, it was probably a 150 wicket, anything in that region would take some chasing so they were 25 runs over par. and when you are four down in the powerplay, you don't win many games.
"We knew what to do, we just didn't execute but we've had four great games and as you say you're going to lose one on the way. We didn't get it right today but you move on.
"We've got outplayed today and that's going to happen every now and again and the outstanding innings of the game was from Madsen who played the spin in particular really, really well and got his team a score that makes it really difficult in the chase.
"We had those bad three overs where it really got away from us and as I say we lost wickets and couldn't really get that partnership but we've been brilliant for four games and today we've been outplayed and that can happen."
Scorecard: Durham v Lancashire Lightning (Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street)
Durham made it three wins out of four in their Vitality Blast campaign after defeating Lancashire Lightning by six wickets at Seat Unique Riverside
The home side put in an impressive effort to limit a formidable batting unit featuring Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt to only 152 from their 20 overs. Nathan Sowter, Ben Raine, Bas de Leede and Wayne Parnell claimed two wickets each, while Steven Croft top-scored for the Lightning, who were made to rue a poor end to their innings mustering only 18 from their final four overs.
After making a rapid start to their innings, Durham were always ahead of the rate. Michael Jones was the standout batter with an innings of 43 and was supported by another good knock from Ollie Robinson to secure the win and put Durham well in the mix for a top-four spot in the North Group, while the Lightning fell to their third defeat on the bounce.
Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat, and Buttler looked to get back into touch after a lean spell in his last four T20 matches, including his dismissal for one against Yorkshire. However, he lasted just 11 balls after he miscued a short ball from De Leede to Jones at mid-on. Salt's timing was on point to notch four boundaries, and he lined up another strike to the fence from Brandon Glover's second delivery, only to pick out Liam Trevaskis on the fence.
Despite the fall of Buttler and Salt, Croft propelled the visitors to a healthy 58 for two at the end of the powerplay. Livingstone made a slow start after scoring only eight from his first 10 balls. The England international found his range to dispatch De Leede for back-to-back sixes. But, Livingstone was caught at long-on by Jones going for a third maximum. Daryl Mitchell displayed his class from ball one, powering a straight drive over De Leede's head to the boundary.
But, Durham held their composure with the ball through the impressive Sowter and Raine to haul back the Lightning. Croft found his scoring opportunities limited by Sowter and eventually lost his patience and then two of his stumps to the leg-spinner. Sowter took his second when he removed Tom Hartley before Raine claimed the vital wicket of Mitchell for 31.
Parnell closed out the innings to prevent Lancashire from reaching the 160-mark. Jonathan Bushnell took an incredible diving catch on the rope to hand the South African his first wicket before he bowled Tom Bailey.
Durham made a rapid start to their chase of 153 as Graham Clark continued his run of good form with a quick-fire 26 from 13, including two sixes. Hartley made the breakthrough to pin Clark, but Alex Lees and Jones kept Durham ahead of the rate. Lees looked in prime touch, only to miss a straight delivery from Livingstone just after the powerplay.
Jones and Robinson settled in for the chase, and with the home side comfortably ahead of the rate, the two players nurdled the ball around the field to provide a match-winning platform reaching their fifty stand in 38 deliveries. Jones upped the ante in the 13th over with back-to-back straight sixes against Matt Parkinson reducing the rate below six an over.
The Scotland international's knock was ended for 43 attempting to pull Luke Wood over the rope. Robinson and Ashton Turner whittled the total to single digits to put the hosts on the precipice of victory. And although Robinson fell for 39, Turner was there at the end to see his team over the line with 10 balls to spare.
Scorecard: Northants Steelbacks v Leicestershire Foxes (County Cricket Ground, Northampton)
Chris Lynn made a spectacular return to Vitality Blast form with a blistering 106 not out to power a rejuvenated Northamptonshire Steelbacks to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Leicestershire Foxes.
The Australian who smashed an unbeaten century against the same opposition last season had managed just 66 runs in four innings so far this year and came out in determined mood ready to entertain a packed Wantage Road. He put the Foxes to the attack, plundering five sixes and 13 fours, sharing an 81-run stand in 8.5 overs with skipper David Willey (20) as the Steelbacks reached their target of 165 with seven balls to spare.
Earlier Ben Sanderson made a stunning return to the Steelbacks side taking three wickets for 12 runs in his first two overs in his first T20 game this season. Sanderson took a wicket off the second ball of the game and conceded just a single in his opening over to put the pressure firmly on the visitors who had started the competition with four straight defeats.
Louis Kimber hit a spirited 41 off 27 balls (2 fours, 3 sixes) to help push the visitors into three figures. Although the Foxes lost four wickets for 48 in their last seven overs with Andrew Tye taking three for 30, Naveen-ul-Haq clubbed 25 off just eight balls to ensure the visitors posted a competitive total, albeit around 15 to 20 runs below par.
Earlier Sanderson (3 for 25) his side’s leading T20 wicket taker last season opened his account by bowling Nick Welch before having Rishi Patel caught at mid-on and knocking over Colin Ackermann’s stumps three balls later.
Lewis Hill (31), dropped off Sanderson on 8, hit Willey over long on for four and took on the hook shot, garnering a six and two fours through balls which flew behind the stumps. His innings ended though with the introduction of Freddie Heldreich’s spin who had him well stumped by Lewis McManus.
Kimber led a recovery with useful support from Rehan Ahmed in a stand worth 47 in 5.4 overs. Kimber dented Sanderson’s figures by swinging him for a huge six over deep midwicket and pulling him for four in the same direction before dispatching Heldreich over long on and long off for two maximums. He offered a steepling caught and bowled chance on 31 but James Sales could not hold on. He finally perished attempting a big swing against Tye with the Foxes 103 for five after 13 overs.
Ahmed (16) fell when he advanced down the pitch and attempted to hook Willey only to top edge the ball for the Steelbacks skipper to take a simple catch.
Tye then chipped in to knock over Callum Parkinson’s (16) stumps before Harry Swindells offered him a steepling catch off his own bowling in the final over which ended with Naveen-ul-Haq blazing consecutive sixes.
When Northamptonshire batted, Emilio Gay (13), opening in place of the inform Ricardo Vasconcelos who is nursing a wrist injury, played some attractive shots before he was the first wicket to fall caught behind off Naseem Shah.
Lynn though soon powered through the gears targeting Parkinson with a pair of fours off the third over. He smashed Naveen-ul-Haq through extra cover and cut him slightly squarer for another boundary before dispatching Ackermann and Parkinson for sixes over cow corner and brought up his half-century off 42 deliveries.
He was especially severe on Josh Hull’s second over, taking 20 runs from it, including a big six over the family stand at deep midwicket and crashing him through extra cover.
Willey meantime also found the ropes after being dropped in the deep off a difficult chance off Ahmed on 8. He hit the young England leg-spinner out of the ground over deep midwicket for six but finally fell to a boundary catch off Naveen with the Steelbacks needing 45 from 41 balls.
That wicket stemmed the Steelbacks’ progress thanks to some tight bowling from Naveen, Shah and Rehan. Saif Zaib (15*) broke the shackles with a couple of boundaries before Lynn swept Parkinson for six and hit him for four down the ground to go into the nineties. He reached his century and brought up the Steelbacks win by clubbing Rehan for six and two fours off consecutive deliveries.
Northamptonshire Steelbacks opener Chris Lynn scored a century against Leicestershire Foxes off 66 balls for the second year running – his T20 third century for the club overall. No other Steelbacks batter has scored more than one. He said: “It's a huge result. Obviously, the Foxes haven’t gone the way they would have liked as well. So, throughout this tournament, being 14 games, you’ve got to make sure you beat the teams below you. We did that tonight. It wasn't our most polished performance, but we're building. We had a similar win at Derby, fell short against the Bears the other night, but got the win on the board tonight and hopefully just grabbed that little bit of momentum, bit of belief. The boys have just lacked a little bit of belief so far, and we're in a good spot at the minute. But that's one game. We’ve won two for the season, we're going to have to win seven or eight to make the playoffs. So, it's a steppingstone. But there are some good signs.
“We’re a team that just needs to do the basics well. We've probably looked too far ahead and lost a bit of process. But tonight, we stuck to our guns, stuck to our plans. We've done a lot of planning and previous games we've gone away from that. So, if we do that, we know we've got the skills. But it's not getting too far ahead of ourselves. That was a good performance tonight.
“You want to try and win as many games as possible but to win the home games. Here at Northampton, we're not just about the cricket club, we're about the community. We've got the rugby boys coming in, we’ve got guys from other sports, we’ve got kids flying through the gates, and it's great to see. It's a great time of year here – if it warms up another five degrees! But it's very important to win your home games, not just for the cricket club, but the community.
“I've got a couple of starts this year and a couple of low scores, but that’s just the nature of the game. One thing I'm happy with myself about is I haven't panicked at all, even though I've got a couple of low scores. I’ve trusted in what I've done in the offseason before coming over and stuck to it.
“Getting back into cricket mode and using that cricket IQ you've built up over the last 16 years is so important and I’m starting to slowly get momentum. I'm not at my peak yet. So hopefully there are a lot more runs in the tank. But yeah, I'm looking in the front windscreen, which is much bigger than that rear vision.
Leicestershire Foxes batter Lewis Hill who scored 31 said: “Chris Lynn’s innings was superb, the way he paced himself. And then he kind of turned into a baseball player at the end and played very well. But we left 15 runs out there with the bat and that was the big thing.
“We thought it was a 170, 175 pitch so when we got to 164, we didn't think we were too far away, but we needed those early wickets really. Obviously, we didn't get them and credit to Chris Lynn.
“They come round quickly these games and we've got to win nine out of nine now to stand any chance of getting qualification So yeah, the guys are hurting, it’s been a tough start, but we'll keep turning up each day and putting our best foot forward and trying to win games for Leicester.”
Scorecard: Notts Outlaws v Worcestershire Rapids (Trent Bridge, Nottingham)
Worcestershire Rapids made it four wins from four matches in the Vitality Blast after their 226 for five - the second highest total in their history in the Twenty20 format - proved way too many for North Group rivals Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge, who lost by 56 runs.
Michael Bracewell (55), Adam Hose (51 not out), Brett D’Oliveira (44) and Jack Haynes (42) were the chief beneficiaries as a depleted Outlaws attack were largely taken apart after opting to bowl first on a good pitch, only skipper Steven Mullaney (two for 28) emerging with credit as injured trio Jake Ball, Olly Stone and Luke Fletcher were badly missed.
Alex Hales led a positive powerplay on the way to 71 from 35 balls and Shaheen Afridi provided some late excitement with four sixes in the same over but with D’Oliveira claiming a career-best four for 11 from his two overs of leg spin and Pat Brown four for 25 the Outlaws, who would have needed to make their biggest score chasing, were never really contenders.
Rapids piled up a massive 87 without loss in the six powerplay overs, D’Oliveira setting the pace with 44 from 20 balls, Bracewell not far behind with 38 from 17. Both cleared the ropes twice.
The pair put on 98 in 41 balls for the first wicket, although Bracewell had a let-off on six when chipping Afridi to short midwicket, where Colin Munro stretched an arm above his head but could only push the ball behind him. That came during an eventful over that saw the Pakistan star visibly aggrieved over a no-ball call for having too many fielders outside the ring, his mood not helped when the extra ball flew off the edge of Bracewell’s bat for four.
A breakthrough for the Outlaws arrived when D’Oliveira holed out to deep square leg off Samit Patel in the seventh over, after which two wickets in consecutive overs hinted at a fightback as Bracewell was bowled making room to cut and Mitchell Santner, back from the IPL to start a third stint with the Rapids, gave Mullaney an easy caught-and-bowled.
But at 125 for three in the 11th, Jack Haynes was joined by Adam Hose to add another 53 from 22 balls, the former cracking a couple of slog-swept maximums before Matt Montgomery completed a fine catch on the run at deep extra cover to end his progress on 42 from 25 balls.
Mullaney, easily the pick of the Outlaws bowlers, conceded only two from the 17th but the last three overs saw Afridi and Conor McKerr surrender another 41 for the solitary wicket of Kashif Ali as Hose finished 51 not out from 27 balls with three fours and four sixes, two off McKerr in the penultimate over and an audacious scoop for another off Afridi in the last.
Needing more than 11 runs per over to go close to the Rapids’ total, the Outlaws were comfortably ahead of that with 76 on the board from the powerplay, although they lost one of their key weapons when Joe Clarke, after an escape on 17, was caught at short fine leg for 25 off 16 balls.
Hales was finding the gaps in the field with ominous regularity, reaching his third fifty of this season’s Blast in 21 balls with two sixes, carved over extra cover off Adam Finch and off-spinner Bracewell, as well as seven fours, but a couple of tight overs from Bracewell and Santner’s left-arm spin brought the first element of scoreboard pressure and yielded a dividend for the Rapids when their former team-mate Colin Munro, another who might have done some serious damage, skied one off Brown to be caught at long on.
Two more wickets lost in the next over, as new Montgomery and Tom Moores both found fielders in their efforts to put the pressure back on the visiting side against D’Oliveira’s leg spin, left the Outlaws 99 for four after 10 overs with Hales seemingly now their only hope of making a game of it.
But he lost more partners when Bracewell bowled Lyndon James and Mullaney was caught on the extra cover boundary by a diving Hose off D’Oliveira, Hales departing in the same over, throwing everything into a similar shot but falling to a superb catch, again by Hose, who parried the ball above the rope and caught it as it dropped.
Afridi’s four sixes off one Bracewell over provided a flurry of late entertainment but he, Samit Patel and Matt Carter predictably perished in their desperate pursuit of runs as the Outlaws were bowled out for 170 in the 19th over.
Rapids head coach Alan Richardson said:
“Brett (D'Oliveira) will be very modest about it but he set the tone today, the way he batted in the powerplay with Michael Bracewell was crucial to setting a big score before Jack (Haynes) and Adam (Hose) continued the momentum brilliantly well after we’d lost a couple of quick wickets.
“And with the ball it was tough because of the short boundary on one side but Brett got some really crucial wickets for us.
“We’ve been on the wrong end of a few games here in the past. It is a tough place to come against a team with a proud record in this competition but all the captain asked before the start of play was that we were aggressive and had that intent and the boys executed that brilliantly well.
“It has been good to see so many different players contributing so far rather than relying on one player to get the runs or the wickets because we are going to need the whole squad if we are going to go as far as we want to in the competition.”
Outlaws head coach Peter Moores said:
“We are struggling without three frontline bowlers and that hurt us tonight but having said that we didn’t play well, which is frustrating because we lost control of the game right from the start. Steven Mullaney and Matt Carter bowled well on a really good pitch but the other lads didn’t quite get it right.
“It is tough chasing that kind of score. Alex Hales played an outstanding knock but no one else really got going. Although we had a decent powerplay with the bat and were ahead of the rate at that stage you needed two guys to go on and get scores.”
“The lads are just going to have to dust themselves down and get ready for tomorrow because it is one of those losses you can over-analyse when really we just got outplayed in all departments.
“We’ve got work to do. We’ve got two games in the next two days and if you win those you are in pretty good shape. It is a tough schedule but the goal is still the same, to qualify for the quarter-finals and to do that you’ve probably got to win eight games, so we need to pick up a couple more quite quickly.”
South Group
Scorecard: Essex Eagles v Hampshire Hawks (County Ground, Chelmsford)
James Vince followed up becoming the Vitality Blast’s highest run scorer by chalking up his fifth T20 century as Hampshire Hawks annihilated Essex.
Vince is now only behind Michael Klinger in Blast hundreds having overtaken Luke Wright in the run charts on Wednesday, and only Wayne Madsen has more than his 280 runs in this year’s competition.
His supreme 103 laid the foundations for a huge 215 target for the Eagles, which Nathan Ellis’ three for 10, Scott Currie’s three for 21 and Liam Dawson’s four for 21 made sure was never chasable.
Defending champions Hampshire eventually won by 118 runs – the Hawks’ highest margin of victory after bowling the hosts out for 96 – with 35 balls to spare to hand Essex their first T20 defeat of the year.
Vince continued from his back-to-back unbeaten 88s, and his record-breaking, by pumping Aron Nijjar for two massive sixes back over his head with his first two balls faced having been asked to bat first.
Ben McDermott was adjudged caught behind while Toby Albert took nine balls to get off the mark but Vince was terrorising the crowd and local residents – his eventual eight sixes threatened the slate and chimneys of the houses at the Hayes Close End.
He monopolised the run-scoring, including 60 of the 101 stand with Albert – who improved his hitting to reach 38 before he was stumped.
Vince was cleanly striking anything that was sent his way and brought up his century with another pulled maximum in 45 balls.
He was furious when he slapped a Matt Critchley long hop to the deep midwicket boundary which began five wickets falling for 35 runs.
Joe Weatherley had made a well-compiled 29 before he was caught at cover to follow Ross Whiteley, Aneurin Donald and James Fuller’s short stays.
But a tame finale was avoided when Liam Dawson slog-swept three successive sixes to take 21 off the final over and give Hampshire 214. Daniel Sams was the only bowler not to go at a double figure run-rate for his three for 28, although Simon Harmer also pilfered three wickets.
Essex tried to swing their way to victory but plays and misses dominated, despite Adam Rossington pumped two early sixes before unfortunately been given caught behind after the ball appeared to clip his stump rather than his bat.
Dan Lawrence was lbw after 22 off 14, Feroze Khushi yorked by Dawson, Paul Walter stumped, Robin Das swatted to long off, Tom Westley drilled to cover and Nathan Ellis bowled Harmer. It had been a spell of five wickets in 23 balls for 20 runs.
Dawson pinned Nijjar before Sams gave Vince his third catch of the night and Ellis his third wicket to finish off the comprehensive away victory.
Essex all-rounder Daniel Sams:
"Vince is a world class player and we caught him on one of his nights. He came out hard and put us on the back foot and we weren't up to scratch.
"A player like him has got a lot of cricket reps under his belt and has complete trust in his game. You saw the sixes he hit, and most of them would have been sixes not just on this ground but a lot of grounds. There was complete trust in his swing. You have plenty of players bludgeoning the ball in T20 cricket and then you have classy players like this coming out still smacking sixes and they are the ones who are more consistent.
"I was happy with how I went about things but in the end it looked like there were going to get 250 or something, so any time you can keep a team to 200 on this ground you feel like you are in with a chance but we didn't get going.
"Rossington's wicket was unfortunate and Khushi got hit on the arm and couldn't get going. We stalled a bit and couldn't build any momentum. We kept losing wickets but I think this is a good learning curve. We can think about that total and try and get it in the back end and not try and go so hard so early. We do play like that and we won't stop taking the positive options but when we get under pressure situations we need to soak it up better
"Tonight is a blip on the radar. In a long tournament you can't win all of them so this is probably a good time for it."
Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson:
"It is a huge win. It is always a tough place to come and to win like that is very pleasing.
"Vince was exceptional and proved how good a player he is. That hundred is the difference in the game.
"I think he is getting better. He has been so consistent in his run scoring over the last couple of years. T20 is a high risk game and the amount of times he scores runs is more often than not. He is getting better with age and is brilliant to have in our team.
"I back myself in this format and enjoy playing it. I made a conscious effort to go more yorkers than I usually would and it came off tonight.
"Wins give you confidence, especially coming here where our record isn't great. It isn't hard to have a better start to the season than we've had in recent years but two wins is good and if we beat Sussex tomorrow we are in a really good position."
Scorecard: Glamorgan v Kent Spitfires (Sophia Gardens, Cardiff)
For the second successive match it was Glamorgan’s leading run-scorers in T20 cricket, Colin Ingram and Chris Cooke, who secured an impressive victory over Kent in the Vitality Blast.
The Glamorgan stalwarts shared a stand worth 109 after Eddie Byrom had set a strong platform as the home side chased down a target of 190 to win by seven wickets with 18 balls remaining.
Kent’s innings had a strong start thanks to a career best score from Tawanda Muyeye and a powerful finish thanks to their lower order but a stutter in the middle overs prevented them from setting a truly competitive total.
This win was Glamorgan’s third from four matches while Kent now have two wins and two losses.
Kent were put into bat and it looked as if Glamorgan had made the wrong call as Daniel Bell-Drummond and Muyeye raced along inside the PowerPlay. It was Muyeye who was the main aggressor as 63 runs were scored off the first six overs with Jamie McIlroy and Zain-ul-Hassan struggling to keep the Kent openers under control.
It was the introduction of Australian leg-spinner Peter Hatzoglou that brought Glamorgan back into the game. Hatzoglou made the first breakthrough with his sixth ball of the game when he bowled Bell-Drummond for 19 when the Kent opener attempted a slog sweep.
Joe Denly attempted to keep the momentum going as he smoked a massive six over the mid-wicket boundary to get himself off the mark. That attempt to inject some impetus didn’t last long with Denly’s dismissal the first of three in the space of just 10 runs as Hatzoglou and Prem Sisodiya did a good job of pinning down the Kent middle order to bring themselves back into the game. When Muyeye was dismissed for 63 his team were 103 for four after 11 overs with two new batters at the crease.
Jordan Cox, Jack Leaning and George Linde did a fantastic job of covering up the cracks caused by that cluster of wickets as they all made meaningful contributions as Kent reached 189 for six off their 20 overs. The Cox innings was the most eventful, especially when he offered two catching chances to Kiran Carlson off two successive deliveries, neither of which were claimed by the Glamorgan captain.
Glamorgan had a similarly quick start to their innings, with Eddie Byrom scoring 43 out of a 51 opening stand with Sam Northeast. Byrom smashed 20 runs from Wes Agar’s first over, and despite the bowler hitting his helmet he managed to guide the ball immediately after the blow over third man for six.
Grant Stewart was given similarly brutal treatment and had conceded 19 runs from his first five balls before he had Byrom caught by Jordan Cox at mid-on.
The one Kent bowler who kept things under control in the PowerPlay was Michael Hogan who was back in Cardiff for the first time since his departure from Glamorgan over the winter. Welsh cricket supporters were given a reminder of what they lost when Hogan made the decision to finish his career at Kent when his two PowerPlay overs brought just seven runs and the wicket of Northeast.
A truly remarkable catch by Agar at fine leg ended Carlson's innings but that brought together Cooke and Ingram who got themselves set before taking the game away from Kent in a stand that was professionally managed, with both batters happy to take boundaries when they were offered and singles when the ball was not there to be hit.
It was a no ball from Agar that took Glamorgan to their victory target with three overs to spare as Kent failed to find any answers to the Cooke and Ingram partnership.
Scorecard: Somerset v Middlesex (County Ground, Taunton)
Rampant Somerset made it five victories from as many Vitality Blast South Group games with a nine-wicket demolition of winless Middlesex at the Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton.
In reply, Somerset breezed to 142 for one off just 13.3 overs, Tom Kohler-Cadmore leading the way with 64, off 31 balls, with 7 fours and 4 sixes, and Tom Banton making 27 before retiring hurt.
The victory was as emphatic as the formbook suggested it would be and left Middlesex without a point from their first five group matches.
Having been rested for the previous game against Kent, a refreshed Craig Overton steamed in from the River End at the start of the game, bowling four fiery overs for just 15 in a single spell.
The accurate Davey profited at the other end, scattering the stumps of Joe Cracknell and Pieter Malan in his first two overs to leave Middlesex 14 for two.
Max Holden threatened briefly, hitting a straight six and 2 fours in the sixth over, bowled by Davey, but despite his efforts the power play ended with his side 40 for two.
Holden also pulled a six off Peter Siddle, who ended his nine-ball frenzy by bowling him for 22, attempting a big shot through the off side.
It was 59 for four when Roelof van der Merwe’s second delivery of left-arm spin saw Stephen Eskinazi, on 18, loft a catch to long-off and 68 for five when Green struck in the following over, the 11th of the innings, Ryan Higgins being caught at long-on for six.
Five runs later, Luke Hollman chipped a catch to mid-off to give Lewis Gregory his first wicket. Davies and Martin Andersson then produced the most substantial stand of the innings, adding 43 before Andersson, who had struck a six and 2 fours in his 25, aimed a reverse pull off Davey and guided the ball straight to Tom Abell at backward point.
Davies hit sweetly-timed sixes off van der Merwe and Siddle, as well as 3 fours, before departing in the 19th over, caught at deep mid-wicket off Green.
Toby Roland-Jones fell to the next delivery and Green wrapped up the innings by dismissing Nathan Fernandez via a boundary catch by Kohler-Cadmore.
A target of 137 never looked likely to test a Somerset team brimming with confidence. So it proved, as Banton and Will Smeed set about the task in typically positive fashion.
Smeed has struggled for runs in the early group games and the scorer of the first ever century in The Hundred was relieved to survive a loud lbw appeal from Roland-Jones with his score on five.
The response was a straight six and pulled four in the same over from the talented 21-year-old, who had another scare in Roland-Jones’ next over when dropped by Hollman, a low chance running in from deep mid-wicket.
Smeed’s luck ran out at the start of the fifth over when bowled by Tom Helm for 26 off 14 balls. By then the scoreboard read 39 for one and he was replaced by Kohler-Cadmore, making his 150th T20 appearance.
Another catch went down when Banton, on 18, top-edged a pull shot off Helm and Roland-Jones spilled a skyer. With such a small score to defend, Middlesex could not afford such generosity.
At the end of six overs, Somerset were 58 for one and in command. Kohler-Cadmore audaciously uppercut Helm for six and also hit 2 fours as 17 came off the seventh.
At 75 for one, Banton had to hobble off with a suspected side strain, but by then the outcome was almost beyond doubt. Kohler-Cadmore signalled as much with a straight six off Roland-Jones as Somerset reached the halfway stage of their innings needing only a further 31.
The former Yorkshire player reached his half-century off 28 balls before ending the game with a huge six off Roland-Jones, Tom Abell (25) providing solid support in an unbroken stand of 67.
Scorecard: Gloucestershire v Surrey Cricket (County Ground, Bristol)
Matt Taylor produced a gritty all-round performance to help Gloucestershire edge past Surrey in a thrilling Vitality Blast contest beneath the Seat Unique Stadium floodlights.
He took 3-21 with the ball and then scored a crucial eight not out under pressure as Gloucestershire chased down a modest victory target of 125 with two wickets and five balls to spare on a low and slow Bristol surface.
Ollie Price top-scored with 25 and James Bracey contributed 22, but Surrey took wickets at key moments to keep up the pressure, with Sam Curran returning figures of 3-20 to help take the game into the final over.
Gloucestershire won the toss, inserted the visitors and produced their most complete bowling and fielding performance of the campaign so far to restrict Surrey to 124-9 from their 20 overs. Left-arm seamers David Payne and Matt Taylor claimed 3-21 and 3-27 respectively, while veteran spinner Tom Smith took 2-24 and Zafar Gohar sent down four overs for 15 runs.
Surrey never recovered from the wreckage of 29-4 in the fourth over, Jamie Smith top-scoring with 29 and Jordan Clark and Chris Jordan contributing 25 and 24 respectively as only four batsmen made it into double figures in an innings that yielded a mere 12 boundaries.
Gloucestershire's second win in five matches breathed renewed life into their attempt to progress from the South Group, but Surrey, beaten for only the second time, lost ground on leaders Somerset, who comfortably beat Middlesex at Taunton to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Gloucestershire came at Surrey hard with the ball, Payne conceding just one run off the bat in a parsimonious first over. Slow left armer Smith, having been hit for a four and six off consecutive deliveries by Laurie Evans, made amends when Will Jacks holed out to Price in the deep as Gloucestershire effected a breakthrough with 18 on the board in the second over. Having smashed a match-winning 83 not out against Hampshire at Southampton two days earlier, Jacks mustered a mere six on this occasion.
Clearly unsettled by Gloucestershire's new-ball intensity, Surrey then suffered a triple blow, losing three wickets in as many balls with the score on 29. Matt Taylor removed the Curran brothers without scoring in successive deliveries in the third over, Sam caught in two minds and bowled by a ball that came back into him and hit middle and off, while Tom, cramped for space, drove to Jack Taylor at mid-off. Worse followed for the Londoners when Payne, now operating from the Bristol Pavilion End, had Evans held at cover point for 16 off the first ball of the fourth over to spark pandemonium among a vociferous home crowd.
Determined to fight fire with fire, the fifth wicket pair of Clark and Smith went on the attack, plundering six boundaries between them in the next three overs as Surrey still managed to raise 58 from the six-over powerplay. But such a high-stakes strategy is not without risk and Clark, having scored 25 from 22 balls and dominated a stand of 34 in 23 balls, hoisted Smith high to long-off as Surrey further subsided to 63-5 in the eighth over.
Spinners Zafar, Smith and Price kept things tight to increase the pressure on the middle order as the visitors limped to 73-5 by the halfway point of their innings, a parlous situation that was not helped when loan signing Danny Lamb induced former West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine to edge a short-pitched delivery behind with the score on 78 in the eleventh over.
Economical in the extreme, Zafar further heightened Surrey's discomfiture, the visitors failing to record a single boundary between the ninth and 18th overs as Gloucestershire's bowlers turned the screw. Having accumulated 29 runs from 33 balls and partially rebuilt the innings in a partnership of 29 with Jordan for the seventh wicket, Smith attempted to accelerate, only to send a leading edge spiraling to mid-off as the returning Payne struck in the 17th over.
Realising the pressing need to stage a big finish, Jordan ended the boundary drought by heaving Lamb over mid-wicket for six, but Jamie Overton succeeded only in holing out to cover as Payne further reduced the tail in the penultimate over. Matt Taylor also finished with three wickets, removing Jordan, whose innings of 24 from 26 balls was not sufficient to haul Surrey to a competitive total.
Gloucestershire's new-look opening partnership of Grant Roelofsen and Ben Charlesworth posted 28 in four overs before the latter was held at mid-off off the bowling of Sam Curran, while Jordan bowled Miles Hammond for four to reduce the home side to 34-2 in the sixth.
Tied down by Narine's wily off breaks in the previous over, Roelofsen played an injudicious shot against Cameron Steel and sliced to backward point for 21 with the score on 37, after which Zafar and Price found the going tough against the spinners. Zafar had made 11 when he was bowled by Narine in the act of reverse sweeping with Gloucestershire still requiring 67 from 59 balls.
No doubt relieved to have seen off Narine, who took 1-16 from four overs, the fifth wicket pair of Price and Bracey brought reassurance in a stand of 36 that served to calm any nerves. These two took 11 runs off Steel's final over to ease the pressure, only for Bracey to then hit the returning Sam Curran to long-on and depart for a 17-ball 22 with the score on 94 in the 15th over.
Gloucestershire needed 23 more runs from 25 balls when Price lofted Gus Atkinson to mid-wicket, and the pressure was right back on when captain Jack Taylor hit Jordan to mid-off and departed for one in the 17th over.
Charged with the task of seeing their side over the finish line, Matt Taylor and Lamb obliged in a gritty alliance of 19 from 14 balls. By the time Lamb fell to Sam Curran for 11, Gloucestershire were virtually home and dry. With two needed off the final over, Smith hit the winning runs when glancing Jordan off his legs to the boundary fence.
Gloucestershire seam bowler Matt Taylor said: "We knew what we had to do, but it was pretty nervy out there at the end. We did really well to restrict Surrey to 124, but we knew it would not be easy to chase down on a two-paced wicket with the slower balls sticking in the pitch. Danny Lamb played really well with me there at the end and, fortunately, we were able to get over the line. That was probably due to Ollie Price more than any other player.
Young players are having to stand up for us in this competition this season and his innings of 25 proved absolutely crucial in the end. I know it was a really close one, but we batted smart and this win will give us a lot of confidence going into the Middlesex game here on Sunday.
We always look to take wickets early on and we did that, but a few loose balls meant they were still able to score quickly. In the end, we were able to pull it back and, all things considered, it was a good display from the bowlers and fielders. Our spinners are so experienced, and they kept things really tight."
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