Vitality Blast 2023: June 21st All Matches - Scorecards, Match Reports and Reactions
©Cricket World / John Mallett
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Vitality Blast 2023: June 21st All Matches - Scorecards, Match Reports and Reactions
Here are the Vitality Blast June 21st 2023 Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions for all the matches being played today.
Top Tournament Stats - Vitality Blast 2023
North Group
Northants Steelbacks vs Derbyshire Falcons - 21st June
Derbyshire Falcons skipper Leus du Plooy led from the front with a crucial unbeaten 40 from 23 balls to keep his side’s Vitality Blast quarter-final hopes alive with victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks.
Du Plooy guided the Falcons over the line at Wantage Road with four deliveries to spare after they appeared to be wobbling at 112 for four, despite a third-wicket partnership of 68 from 47 between Harry Came and Wayne Madsen.
Falcons’ Pakistan international seamer Zaman Khan had earlier claimed three for 27 – including eye-catching yorkers to dismiss Emilio Gay and AJ Tye – as Northamptonshire were restricted to 156 for eight.
The result enabled Derbyshire to leapfrog their hosts to go sixth in the North Group table, just a point off the quarter-final places.
Having won the toss and opted to bat, the Steelbacks lost Ricardo Vasconcelos in the opening over, pinned leg before by off-spinner Alex Thomson (two for 20).
That wicket ushered Chris Lynn to the crease and the big-hitting Queenslander pulled a short ball from Zak Chappell over midwicket for six, combining brute power with shrewd placement as he reached 33 from 23.
However, attempting to smash Thomson’s first ball after the powerplay over the top, Lynn picked out the long-on fielder and Derbyshire cemented control as George Scrimshaw sent Justin Broad’s middle stump cartwheeling.
Scrimshaw also picked up the prize wicket of David Willey, caught behind off a miscued pull and that meant the Steelbacks needed Gay, who had seen little of the strike early on, to hold their innings together.
The left-hander seemed on the verge of his second T20 half-century, having steered Zaman to the cover boundary to reach 47 – but the Pakistan international had the last word with his next delivery, a fast swinging yorker that took out Gay’s leg stump.
It was a similar tale for Saif Zaib, whose leg-side maximum off Zaman took him to 25 from 13, only to punch his next ball straight to long-off and it needed Ben Sanderson’s audacious ramp for four in the final over to haul Northamptonshire above 150.
However, the Falcons found it hard to get the ball away at the start of their reply, stuttering to 37 in the powerplay for the loss of Luis Reece and Haider Ali – the latter giving Tom Taylor the charge and skying into the gloves of Lewis McManus.
Taylor was unfortunate not to add the scalp of Madsen, who survived a compelling lbw appeal before he had scored and capitalised on that close call by drilling the bowler back down the ground for four.
There was also frustration in the field for Taylor, who did well to prevent Came’s drive off Freddie Heldreich from crossing the long-off fence, but could not hold on after palming the ball back into play.
Madsen continued to milk the bowling cleverly until Willey brought himself back on to bowl the veteran for 35 from 24 and, with pressure building, Came holed out to deep midwicket soon afterwards.
But du Plooy kept the scoreboard moving along, finding the boundary regularly enough to keep Derbyshire in touch and drove Sanderson for six in the penultimate over before Taylor conceded four wides to end the contest.
South Group
Glamorgan vs Somerset - 21st June
Somerset went clear at the top of the South Group thanks to a comprehensive win in their Vitality Blast fixture against Glamorgan in Cardiff.
Despite career best batting performances from Kiran Carlson and Timm van der Gugten, Glamorgan’s total of 171 all was not enough as Somerset won by eight wickets with 17 balls to spare.
Three wickets each for Craig Overton and Jack Brooks pegged back Glamorgan’s batting efforts before fifties from Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Will Smeed took the visiting team to victory.
This win puts Somerset clear of Surrey at the top of the Blast table with 18 points. Glamorgan currently sit outside the Quarter Final qualification spots and will most likely need to win all three of their remaining fixtures to make the knockout stages.
It was a lacklustre start from Glamorgan who struggled in the opening overs having been put into bat. The early wickets of Will Smale, Billy Root and Sam Northeast reduced them to 14 for three with Jack Brooks claiming two wickets and Craig Overton one.
There was a 40-run stand between Carlson and Chris Cooke that took the home team past the fifty mark, but it was Carlson who was doing all the scoring. Cooke had made seven runs when he attempted to carve Overton over the extra cover boundary for six. The ball looked as it was going to clear the rope before a superb one-handed grab at full stretch from Kasey Aldridge sent Glamorgan’s leading run scorer in this competition back to the dugout.
When recently arrived overseas signing Cam Fletcher was out for a duck two balls later when he pulled a ball to Sean Dickson at mid-wicket Glamorgan were 53 for five and in danger of crumbling to a total of under 100.
What followed was a record stand for the sixth wicket between these two teams as Carlson and van der Gugten put on 91 runs to give the home side some hope of winning this contest.
Carlson’s 71 took him past 300 runs for the first time in a Blast season and was his first innings over over fifty in the format since 2018. Van der Gugten made 48, his fourth important contribution with the bat in his six Blast matches this season as he continues to show off his all-round ability.
The Somerset chase got off to a roaring start thanks to Smeed, but he should have been dimissed in the second over when he was on just 17. He pulled a ball from van der Gugten straight to Billy Root on the deep square leg boundary but the chance wasn’t taken. It was parried over the rope for six and Smeed took full advantage of the life he was given.
Tom Banton was the one wicket to fall inside the Somerset PowerPlay when he was caught at fine leg by Andy Gorvin when he tried to scoop Ruaidhri Smith but that was the only success for Glamorgan until the 13th over as Smeed and Kohler-Cadmore took the game away from them. Smeed crashed eight fours and three sixes in an innings of 66 that lasted just 36 balls. By the time he was dismissed by Smith the required rate was down to less than a run a ball.
Smeed’s dismissal slowed things down a little bit with the support of Tom Abell, Kohler-Cadmore guided Somerset home with 61 not out. The only moment of further alarm for the visitors came when Andy Gorvin had Kohler-Cadmore caught on the mid-wicket boundary but it was off a no ball.
This comprehensive victory is the ninth of Somerset’s Blast campaign and they are closing in on a home Quarter Final.
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