Scores, Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions - Vitality Blast 2023 May 31st: All Matches
©Cricket World / John Mallett
<
>
Scores, Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions - Vitality Blast 2023 May 31st: All Matches
Here are all the Scores, Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions for all the matches played today, May 31st, in the Vitality Blast 2023.
Top Tournament Stats - Vitality Blast 2023
North Group
May 31: Northants Steelbacks v Birmingham Bears (County Cricket Ground, Northampton)
Match Summary
Birmingham 202 for six (20 overs)
Northamptonshire Steelbacks 181 for seven (20 overs)
Birmingham Bears won by 21 runs.
Rob Yates hit his highest T20 score as Birmingham Bears posted an imposing 202 for six against Northamptonshire Steelbacks to set up their fourth straight win in this year’s Vitality Blast by 21 runs. Yates scored 71 off 53 balls (eight fours, one six) and shared a 100-run opening partnership with Alex Davis (46 off 29 balls) a record for the Bears against the Steelbacks.
Freddie Heldreich stemmed the flow of runs by removing Davies and Australian dangerman Glenn Maxwell for 0 in the space of two balls, but while AJ Tye picked up two wickets in the closing overs, Sam Hain blasted 48 off just 27 balls to push the Bears past 200.
Northamptonshire’s chase got off to a flying start with Ricardo Vasconcelos hitting 65 off 39 balls (13 fours) but despite enterprising innings from captain David Willey (33) and Lewis Mcanus (29), wickets fell at regular intervals with Craig Miles returning career best T20 bowling figures of four for 29.
Willey conceded just a single off a tight opening over before Yates and Davies went on the offensive. Davies (five fours, one six) rode his luck amid a flurry of aggressive shots as the Bears reached 55 at the end of the powerplay.
Davies offered a difficult chance on 23 which Tye couldn’t hold onto running back. He then miscued Tom Taylor over the keeper’s head before Taylor himself put down a straightforward chance off Heldreich.
In between those moments of fortune he mixed some classic drives and late cuts with huge shots over the infield, swinging James Sales high over deep square leg for the first six of the innings.
Yates who had capitalised early on with consecutive boundaries off stray legside balls from Taylor, duly reached his half-century off 38 balls. He brought up the Bears’ 100 at the halfway mark by striking Tye for four and then swinging him high over fine leg for an big six.
But Heldreich held his nerve to strike with the first two balls of the eleventh over. First Davies was sharply stumped by McManus before Maxwell was well caught by Tye on the boundary as he aimed a big six down the ground.
Yates was joined by Hain in a stand of 49, the former disdainfully smashing Taylor straight down the ground and smacking him through the covers for consecutive boundaries before meting out similar treatment to Heldreich.
Yates’ innings finally ended when he pulled Willey high to deep midwicket where Cobb took a stunning leaping catch.
The next two wickets both fell to boundary catches by Taylor off Tye removing Dan Mousley, and Chris Benjamin. Ed Barnard fell to a boundary catch off Willey in the penultimate over before Hain struck Tye for four and a six in the final over to take the Bears past 200.
Vasconcelos motored through his innings. He punched dismissively down the ground and cut powerfully as he reached his half-century off 30 balls. He was particularly severe on Mousley, hitting him for three consecutive boundaries in his first over and two in his second.
Such was Vasconcelos’ dominance that Chris Lynn only made 7 out of their opening stand of 41 in 4.2 overs before the Australian was caught off Miles before Josh Cobb also fell cheaply to Mousley.
Vasconcelos looked well set before he sliced one from Miles straight to point with the hosts 81 for three in the tenth over. Saif Zaib played a cameo of 14 but was caught off Miles.
Willey and McManus put on 35 in 3.3 overs before the skipper was caught off Briggs at backward point. McManus picked up the mantle, carving Maxwell away for six and a four before he was caught on the boundary attempting another big shot. When Graeme White became Miles’ fourth victim, the game was almost over.
Birmingham Bears bowler Craig Miles said: “It’s always a tough place to come here, completely different to Edgbaston. So we knew what we were going to come up against and we had to make sure we were on the money with everything and I think the guys assessed conditions, batted really well and got us up to another 200 score. And then with 200 on the board, it’s always quite a lot of runs in T20. So, we just knew we had to execute our plans, take some wickets early, which we did in the powerplay and then pretty much sealed the deal from that.
[On Davies and Yates’ partnership] “To have a great power play and then get 200, it's almost the perfect innings and those guys I thought they were very watchful in the first few overs and then they progressed nicely
“It's a fast-scoring ground, I think the par winning score is 190, so we knew we had to get somewhere close to that or above.
[On career best T20 figures and taking a wicket in every over he bowled] “I’m pretty happy! I mean comparing it to the game at home the other day, where I didn’t bowl a ball, not required and then dropped a catch, it was kind of chalk and cheese in that respect! That’s what I think Davo’s turned to me for today. A key one in Lynn because obviously he can get going, and to take one every over, it just stems the flow of runs and brings us right into it.”
Northamptonshire Steelbacks batter Ricardo Vasconcelos said: “It was better than we were the last home game. But I think there are still a few areas that we need to get a lot better at. We just got outdone by basics really. Timekeeping for one, dropped catches, missed run outs. That’s what it comes down to really. There's your extra 20, 25, 30 runs just in that and then it’s a whole different chase chasing 180 rather than 200 plus.
“It's a high-scoring ground here. So the par is normally about 180, 185. I just think 200 plus it's always going to be hard as a batting side chasing that. You've always got to go continuously through the innings. You have two, three low-scoring overs, the rate jumps up to 12 to 12.5, so then it always makes it a bit hard. So, 180, 185, I think was where we were looking to restrict them to and obviously they got a few more than that.
[On being very similar to the Worcestershire defeat with lots of runs conceded in the final overs] “It's something we have been frustrated by and if we make it hard for ourselves in the early stages, then you pay for it at the back end when you're missing all those chances. And today when we had to bring an extra man into the ring [for the final over], that just adds another dimension to it so it's a few basics that we need to improve on.
[On his own innings] “I think everything I was trying was kind of working and just finding the middle of the bat and finding the gaps. There have been games where I've been middling it, but it's just been going straight to the field, today it just hit gaps luckily.”
South Group
May 31: Hampshire Hawks v Surrey (Rose Bowl, Southampton)
Hampshire Hawks vs Surrey at the Ageas Bowl
Hampshire Hawks 156/4 lost to Surrey 157/4 by six wickets
James Vince became the Vitality Blast’s all-time leading run-scorer but Will Jacks spoiled his night with 83 not out as Surrey beat Hampshire by six wickets.
Vince overtook former Sussex star Luke Wright to reach 5054 runs in 169 matches with a superlative-ridden 88 not out as Hampshire totted up 156.
But Jacks smashed eight maximums in an incredible riposte as Surrey extended their unbeaten run, going back to 2015, over Hampshire to 11 matches.
For Surrey it got them back to winning ways after defeat to Sussex Sharks, while defending champions Hampshire have lost two of their first three matches.
Having been stuck in, Vince was forced to wait 17 balls before he finally faced a ball, and he only saw eight balls in the powerplay – which saw Ben McDermott smash 18 before skying to square leg.
Even when he got a go, things were less than fluent between him and Tom Prest, with a pacy hybrid pitch helping the ball skid past the edges and made timing tricky.
There were hallmark Vince moments in there though, a powerful cover drive some swiveled pulls and he earned a life on 13 when Chris Jordan’s full stretch over his shoulder only pushed to the boundary.
His fifty, his 57th in T20s, came in 37 balls, with the 83 stand with scratchy Prest forming the basis of the Hampshire total. Prest would get stumped for a run-a-ball 33 and Joe Weatherley and Ross Whiteley came and went but the moment was Vince’s.
He overtook Wright in the most Vince way possible, a cover drive. When the stadium announcer Kris Temple informed the crowd of the record he reticently waved before dispatching the largest of his three evening sixes as a more apt celebration.
He is now the 18th-highest run scorer in T20 history, and a rare name on the top run scorer list never to have played in the IPL. He boasts the two best Blast seasons. And depending on the future of the Blast, his record may not be bettered.
Vince ended up with exactly the same unbeaten 88 as against Middlesex on Friday night, and had almost single-handily guided Hampshire to a slightly under-par score – despite facing less than half the balls.
Laurie Evans and Sam Curran also struggled to time the ball consistently and came and went, but Jacks found ways to power over the boundary. He flicked James Fuller over square leg before giving himself space to pump Nathan Ellis over extra cover.
Mason Crane was next for the Jacks six-hitting showcase with a pair of heaves leg side as he arrived at his half-century in 36 balls, but soon saw Sam Curran stumped.
Sunil Narine hit a six then holed out but Jacks continued his onslaught of Crane with a trio of sixes to swing the game toward the visitors. Jamie Smith assisted the cause with a 64-run stand with Jacks.
It was fitting that Jacks scored the winning run with seven balls to spare.
May 31: Middlesex v Glamorgan (Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood)
Match Summary
Middlesex 209-5
Glamorgan 238-3
Glamorgan won by 29 runs
Chris Cooke’s maiden Vitality Blast century led the onslaught as Glamorgan beat Middlesex by 29 runs in a hitting-fest at Merchant Taylors’ School.
Cook smashed 113 in 41 balls with seven sixes, moving from 50 to 100 in just 12 balls, as the Welsh visitors piled up 238-3. The wicketkeeper-batter shared a stand of 187 with South African Colin Ingram, a record for any wicket for Glamorgan against the Seaxes in T20.
Ingram finished 92 not out having thrashed six sixes of his own with the duo hitting 103 off the last five overs and 72 from the final three.
Blake Cullen was the only bowler to escape the carnage, returning 2-23, but teammate Tom Helm was flayed to the tune of 0-69, the worst figures ever by a Middlesex bowler in the format.
To their great credit Middlesex made a valiant fist of the chase, Joe Cracknell (77) and skipper Stephen Eskinazi (59) re-writing the home side’s record books with an opening stand of 145, a record for any wicket against the Welshmen in the competition. But Glamorgan’s spinners Peter Hatzoglou 2-28 and Prem Sisodya 2-34 bowled decisive spells to make sure the hosts came up short on 209-5.
There was little sign of the carnage to come when the hosts struck two early blows after Glamorgan opted to bat first. Sam Northeast drove Martin Andersson into the hands of Helm at mid-off and the successful bowler then produced a fine catch behind point to remove Eddie Byrom from the bowling of Cullen. And though Kiran Carlson threatened briefly, when he top-edged Cullen to fine leg the visitors were 51-3.
It was though to prove Middlesex’s last hurrah as Ingram and Cooke regularly peppered the spectators with blows clearing the ropes.
Ingram was initially the greater aggressor, cracking Andersson over cow corner before twice despatching young left-arm spinner Nathan Fernandes into the crowd on his way to 50 in 33 balls.
Cook caught the mood, striking the ball cleaning and went to his half century seven balls quicker with his eighth four.
As it turned out he was simply warming up, the six that followed raising the 100-partnership from 55 balls.
Six more sixes came from his blade with Helm’s last two overs going for 25 and 27 respectively.
Eskinazi and youngster Cracknell got the hosts off to a flyer in reply, the latter top-edging Jamie Mcllroy over square leg for a maximum and adding 10 further fours to race to 50 in 26 balls.
The Durham University graduate then muscled first Sisodya and then Hatzoglou beyond the ropes as his onslaught continued, yet remarkably Eskinazi reached 50 a ball quicker courtesy of 11 fours.
Such was the savagery, the stand realised 145 before Cracknell was stumped by Cooke off the last ball of the 12th over trying to reverse sweep Hatzoglou. The same shot then saw the demise of Eskinazi for 59 in the following over as the rate required climbed.
Max Holden struck one towering six in a bid to take up the cause but perished to a stunning catch by Byrom on the mid-off boundary trying to repeat the shot and ultimately 58 off the last three overs proved too many.
© CricDirect 2023
