Vitality Blast 2023: Scorecards, Match Reports and Reactions - July 2nd All Matches
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Vitality Blast 2023: Scorecards, Match Reports and Reactions - July 2nd All Matches
Here are the Vitality Blast July 2nd 2023 Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions for all the matches being played today.
Top Tournament Stats - Vitality Blast 2023
North Group
July 2: Birmingham Bears v Durham (Edgbaston, Birmingham)
Birmingham Bears completed their buoyant Vitality Blast group campaign with a club record seventh successive victory, by eight runs over Durham at Edgbaston.
Already sure of finishing top, the Bears rounded off their group games with an 11th win out of 14 despite an untidy batting display which saw them bowled out for 141 in 19.4 overs. Only Rob Yates (53, 42 balls) lasted long against accurate bowling led by Aussie pair Ashton Turner (three for 20) and Nathan Sowter (two for 23).
Durham faced a moderate target but it was well beyond them as they mustered just 133 for nine (Henry Brookes three for 15). They finish one from bottom in the group and exit the tournament after a staccato campaign which included two ties and a no result.
The Bears, meanwhile, remain on a roll as they prepare for Thursday evening’s home quarter final. Another satisfying day for them was clouded only by a worrying injury to standout performer Dan Mousley, who left the field after hurting a hand attempting to take a return catch from Turner.
After the Bears chose to bat, their top order misfired except for Yates who has scored 286 runs in his last five Blast knocks.
Alex Davies blasted 19 from eight balls but then cut Turner to George Drissell at point. Drissell enjoyed an effective hour, adding another smart catch in the same position to remove the fit-again Sam Hain and bowling four overs of tidy off-spin for just 23.
The Bears big-hitters have powered their side into the last eight but this wasn’t their day as Chris Benjamin, Glenn Maxwell, Mousley and Jake Bethell each lasted fewer than ten balls. Yates completed a 38-ball fifty but then edged Turner behind and Dominic Drakes launched his Bears career with a golden duck when he slogged Sowter to long on.
Brookes landed a couple in the crowd but when Ben Raine castled Jake Lintott, it was nine down and the spectators had the unusual T20 sight of a number 11 blocking out the 18th over to keep the innings alive. It concluded in fittingly messy fashion when Olly Hannon-Halby embarked on a single, Brookes didn’t and the former was run out by Alex Lees’ throw.
Durham’s required a relatively modest run rate but appeared in a big hurry which cost them early wickets. Graham Clark skied Drakes to mid off, Lees was bowled backing away to cut Mousley, Ollie Robinson played on to Brookes and Michael Jones (26, 14) swept Mousley to short fine leg. The Bears spinner delivered only two more balls before suffering his injury.
Brookes came on to complete the over, immediately removed Turner lbw and followed up with the wicket of Brydon Carse, caught by Yates at long on. Liam Trevaskis hoiked Lintott to deep mid-wicket before the fall of Raine pretty much summed up the Blast campaigns of these two teams. Sub fielder Ethan Brookes brilliantly retrieved a hit inches inside the rope and the batters, instead of celebrating four runs, found themselves together in the middle of the pitch when Brookes’ throw arrived. Jonathan Bushnell biffed a T20-best 40 (34 balls) was it was too little too late to rescue his team.
July 2: Derbyshire Falcons v Worcestershire Rapids (County Cricket Ground, Derby)
Mitchell Santner delivered a top all round performance as Worcestershire Rapids beat Derbyshire Falcons by 28 runs at Derby to book a place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.
The New Zealander hammered 64 including five sixes off 46 balls as the Rapids raced to 222 for 5 with Adam Hose smashing an unbeaten 42 from 21 balls,
Wayne Madsen scored 63 from 32 balls but the Falcons were bowled out for 194 with Pat Brown taking 3 for 35, Usama Mir 3 for 38 while Santner claimed 1 for 28 from his four overs.
The result means the Falcons miss out on a place in the last eight while the Rapids finish third in the North Group.
Brett D’Oliveira’s decision to bat was vindicated and he set the tone by driving Alex Thomson over long on for six.
Jack Haynes matched him by pulling Zak Chappell over wide long as 15 came from the second over but the fast bowler responded in his next over when D’Oliveira sliced him to cover.
The Rapids reached 70 for 1 at the end of the powerplay after 17 came from George Scrimshaw’s second over with Haynes and Santner both picking up boundaries.
Mattie McKiernan stemmed the flow with two tight overs but the Rapids reached the halfway stage handily placed on 94 for 1.
The Falcons spinners were keeping the Rapids in check but when Scrimshaw returned, Santner cut him over point for six and drove him square for another four.
The stand was worth 72 off 55 balls when Zaman Khan bowled Haynes with a swinging yorker and conceded only three from the 13th over.
But Santner tore into McKiernan in the 15th, smashing the leg-spinner for four consecutive sixes as 29 came from the over.
Chappell returned to york Santner as he made room to drive and Scrimshaw had Kashif Ali caught at deep midwicket before Khan pinned Ben Cox lbw with another full length ball.
But Ed Pollock smashed a free hit for six and cleared the ropes at deep square before Adam Hose cut loose in the final over.
He pulled and ramped Chappell for three sixes and with 27 coming off the over, the Falcons had leaked 43 from the last two with Hose and Pollock plundering 43 from 11 balls.
It left the Falcons with a tough chase and Tom Wood went in the third over when he pulled Dillon Pennington to deep square leg.
Haider Ali went in the fourth when a pull at Brown looped to mid on but Harry Came gave the Falcons hope by pulling Pennington for six and four.
The Falcons were 57 for 2 after the powerplay and Came and Madsen kept them on track by adding 71 from 38 balls before Came was stumped off a wide from Usama Mir.
Madsen hoisted Mir for a big six onto the top deck of the media centre but Leus du Plooy was well caught at long off by Jake Libby when he tried to clear the ropes
But Madsen was still there and after reaching yet another 50 from 26 balls, he drove Adam Finch for his third six before Brooke Guest pulled the seamer over the ropes.
The Falcons were starting to believe but off the last ball of Finch’s over, Madsen sliced a drive and was brilliantly caught by Brown running in off the cover boundary.
Guest fell to Santner in the next over and as the asking rate climbed, the Falcons fell to earth with Brown striking twice in the final over to seal a memorable day for the Rapids.
July 2: Lancashire Lightning v Northants Steelbacks (Old Trafford, Manchester)
Lancashire made it through to the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a comfortable six-wicket victory that also ended Northants Steelbacks qualification hopes.
Phil Salt smashed a 51-ball 74 as Lancashire chased down the Steelbacks 138 for seven with twenty balls to spare.
The result means the Lightning will return to Emirates Old Trafford next Friday, where they are now unbeaten in 21 home games, to host their quarter-final tie against Surrey.
Northants struck two early blows as the hosts set off in pursuit of their target, Jos Buttler cracking a short ball from David Willey to Saif Zaib on the cover boundary for 11, immediately after he had hit the bowler for six and four from consecutive deliveries.
Steven Croft swiftly followed after top edging Tom Taylor to AJ Tye for 5.
That left the Lightning ending the powerplay on 43 for two but Salt picked up the scoring with a six off Freddie Heidreich during a 35-run partnership in five overs with Liam Livingstone.
Livingstone, the stand-in Lightning skipper, went for 11 slicing Taylor to Ricardo Vasconcelos at gully as Lancashire reached halfway on 74 for three but Daryl Mitchell was quickly into his stride driving Taylor for six into the pavilion seats.
Salt continued to score freely as the hosts reduced their target to a-run-a-ball 44 before a mix-up saw Mitchell run out for 17.
Undeterred, Salt reached a 40-ball half century by smashing AJ Tye for six over long-on, and then took four, six, four off Justin Broad in the fifteenth over as the Lightning raced towards their target.
The opening bat ended the contest in style with six off Taylor in the seventeenth over to finish unbeaten on a Lancashire-best 74 alongside Dane Vilas (10 not out).
A fine opening spell of two for 14 from three overs by Wood, after Livingstone had put the visitors in to bat, had Northants quickly on the back foot at the start of their innings.
Vasconcelos was brilliantly caught for 12 by wicketkeeper Buttler diving to his left, followed by Emilio Gay who chipped the left arm quick to Luke Wells at mid-on two balls later.
Northants then suffered a big blow when Willey departed for 10 attempting to hit Liam Livingstone over midwicket to leave the Steelbacks struggling on 47 for three, midway through the seventh over.
Chris Lynn led an initial fightback launching Livingstone for consecutive sixes in the ninth over but he was then bowled for 35 aiming a big heave at Luke Wells with the visitors on 74 for four, one ball into the eleventh over.
Saif Zaib pulled Mitchell to Wells at fine leg for 12 and the Steelbacks only managed to get any impetus into their innings during a 40-run partnership for the sixth wicket between McManus and Broad.
McManus hoisted a slower ball from Tom Bailey into the hands of Wood at long-on having made 22 while Broad smashed a six over midwicket in his unbeaten 34 off 26 balls.
Wood (three for 17) returned to bowl Tye for 1 as Northants closed on 138 for seven.
That proved to be well below par as Lancashire marched into the quarter-finals for the sixteenth time in 20 seasons.
July 2: Notts Outlaws v Leicestershire Foxes (Trent Bridge, Nottingham)
Injury-hit Notts Outlaws confirmed their place in the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast after defending a total of 168 for eight to beat Leicestershire Foxes by four runs despite a career-best unbeaten 83 from 50 balls for the visitors by South African Wiaan Mulder.
Rishi Patel made 37 for the Foxes, who looked favourites after posting 70 for two in the powerplay but could not build well enough on that start as two wickets each from Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Matt Carter and Calvin Harrison restricted them to 164 for eight.
Wicketkeeper Tom Moores top scored for the Outlaws for the second match in a row with 68 from 40 deliveries to earn his side an away tie with Somerset as they bid to clinch a place at finals day for the seventh time.
Captaining for the first time after Steven Mullaney (side strain) was ruled out, Alex Hales won the toss and opted to bat first. As his first scoring shot sailed over the extra cover boundary for six he would have had hopes of leading from the front with a trademark Hales innings.
With Colin Munro and Samit Patel also (still) sidelined, the Outlaws needed something of that nature, but after a start bristling with intent Hales fell on 26 when he drilled a Finan full toss straight to extra cover. Joe Clarke had already gone and Matt Montgomery was bowled without scoring as Roman Walker struck in his first appearance of the season.
A powerplay 52 for three became 58 for four in the seventh as Lyndon James was well caught at point. At 77 for four from 10, Moores got the scoreboard moving with four and six off Colin Ackermann but then Haseeb Hameed lost his middle stump to the excellent Tom Scriven (4-0-19-1).
Moores continued in the vein of his stand-out innings in Friday’s defeat to Birmingham Bears as he and Imad Wasim added 52 for the sixth wicket but the ball after Moores was dropped on the boundary on 57, Imad slogged Finan straight to wide long-on. Shaheen Shah Afridi perished first ball going down the pitch and Moores holed out in the penultimate over as Outlaws finished 168 for eight.
The Outlaws were again without Olly Stone as they sought to defend the score but though Afridi struck with his first ball as Foxes skipper Peter Handscomb chipped straight to mid-on he could not repeat Friday’s extraordinary four-wicket opening over and the Foxes were well placed at 70 for two from six, albeit with Patel gone, victim of a brilliant one-handed grab by Hales at wide mid-on.
Mulder was dropped at backward point off Jake Ball on 39 but leg-spinner Calvin Harrison kept the Outlaws in the game with two wickets for just two runs in the 10th, watching Ackermann give an easy catch to cover before bowling Lewis Hill behind his legs as the Foxes touched halfway at 92 for four.
Two wickets for Imad Wasim as the Outlaws spinners applied the brakes saw Louis Kimber and Nick Welch fall cheaply seeking to break the shackles and at 103 for six, still 60 short and with 42 balls left, the Foxes were under pressure for the first time in the match, although a couple of good blows by Scriven and 15 in one over by Mulder off Harrison brought that down to 32 from the last 24 deliveries.
Yet only 12 runs off the next three with Scriven top-edging Matt Carter to short fine leg and a third catch for Hales on the run to remove Roman Walker left 20 to get off the final over bowled by Ball, which Mulder opened with a six over backward point but ultimately proved five too many.
South Group
July 2: Glamorgan v Middlesex (Sophia Gardens, Cardiff)
A superb all round performance from Ryan Higgins saw Middlesex to victory over Glamorgan, despite a fastest ever T20 half century for the Welsh county by captain Kiran Carlson.
Higgins hit 71 off 36 balls to steer his side to a total of 200, then took 3 for 20 with his seam bowling, including two wickets in two balls to change the momentum of the match.
For Glamorgan had looked to be romping to victory when they were 95 for one off 6.4 overs when Carlson was out for 77, scored off just 29 balls.
It was a consolation victory for bottom of the table Middlesex, Glamorgan just one place above them, with Ethan Bamber and Luke Hollman also taking three wickets each as Glamorgan slipped to 151 all out.
Middlesex openers Stephen Eskinazi and Joe Cracknell treated the early deliveries from left arm spinner Prem Sisidoya with respect, but a reverse sweep slog for six off the final ball of the opening over lit the blue touch paper.
With plenty of ramp and reverse hit shots, they accelerated to 69 without loss at the end of the powerplay, with both openers 33 not out.
Spin was proving harder to get away and the first wicket fell with Cracknell out trying to ramp Sisodiya. Eskinazi followed soon after, bowled giving himself room against Peter Hatzoglou.
Max Holden was caught off a ramp shot to Hatzoglou, while the medium pace of Andy Gorvin trapped John Simpson LBW trying a reverse sweep.
Luke Hollman hit a six first ball and was out second, bowled by Sisodiya, but as the wickets kept falling at the other end Higgins kept going whenever he was on strike.
He went to his 50 with a six off Tom Bevan over midwicket and two runs off the last ball took his team to 200.
Glamorgan were looking for an even faster start, Carlson scoring 19 out of 20 taken from the first over by Joshua De Caires.
The opening partnership reached 39 before the end of the third over, when Sam Northeast went for just 2 – showing how dominant Carlson had been in the early stages.
The 50 came up in the fourth over. Carlson brought up his 50 two balls later off just 15 deliveries. Glamorgan reached 87 at the end of the powerplay with Northeast and William Smale having contributed two runs each compared to 70 from Carlson.
Carlson was finally out for 77, caught and bowled by Hollman clutching onto a fiercely hit flat batted shot. Carlson’s runs came off just 29 balls.
However the atmosphere changed as Glamorgan lost two wickets in two balls Smale LBW to Higgins and the Chris Cooke caught behind first ball.
Another burst of two wickets in two balls changed the momentum back to Middlesex, Colin Ingram was LBW to a ball which appeared to pitch comfortably outside leg stump, then next ball van der Gugten was caught and bowled by Ethan Bamber to give him his third wicket.
Another caught and bowled, this time to Higgins, saw the end of Bevan, Sisodiya also skying the ball to depart after a brief cameo as Glamorgan subsided to 151 all out.
July 2: Hampshire Hawks v Gloucestershire (Rose Bowl, Southampton)
John Turner led a destructive bowling performance as defending champions Hampshire Hawks thrashed Gloucestershire by eight wickets and booked their place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals.
Fast bowler Turner took his Blast wicket tally to 18 with 3-15, with Chris Wood’s 3-18, Benny Howell’s 2-18 and miserly spells from Nathan Ellis and Liam Dawson restricting Gloucestershire to 105.
Despite losing two early wickets, James Vince returned to the top of the scoring charts with 55 not out – his eighth fifty of the season – as he and Joe Weatherley knocked off the runs with 33 balls to spare.
Hampshire will definitely take their place in the quarter-finals but need Essex to chase down 196 against Surrey to claim a home fixture.
Other than Grant Roelofsen’s promising 26 and Zaman Akhter’s tail-end 11, no other Gloucestershire batter reached double figures against some intelligent bowling on a slow pitch.
Turner, in his debut Blast season, struck with his fifth ball as a zipping delivery found Miles Hammond’s edge before Ben Charlesworth chopped Wood to cover.
Ben Wells was brilliantly caught at mid-off two balls after Benny Howell brought him up as Gloucestershire fell to 32 for three in the powerplay.
South African overseas Roelofsen dispatched the only six of the innings over midwicket but from that point the visitors lost their fluency and wickets tumbled.
Howell, against his former county, had Roelofsen slicing to deep point, Ellis had James Bracey picking out long on, and Graeme van Buuren’s attempted slog sweep of Dawson messed up his stumps.
Turner returned to knock back Zafar Gohar and Jack Taylor’s leg stumps with virtually identical deliveries, with Wood seeing off David Payne and Tom Smith in the final over.
Ben McDermott and Tom Prest didn’t get the memo about attempting to overhit the ball as both fell attempting to muscle the ball to the ropes.
But Vince played the pitch and wasn’t scared for his strike-rate to dip below 100. There were moments of aggression; an advance and swing back over van Buuren’s head and a pair of swats through the covers.
His half-century came in 37 balls as he past 600 runs for the season for the third time in his career – he now has 638 runs in this year’s Blast which is already the eighth most in a single series with potentially three more innings to go.
Weatherley was equally sensible with his approach in his unbeaten 29 off 26, in the unbeaten 81 run stand, as he minimised his risk-taking and ran hard - although it was Vince who sweetly struck the winning runs through the covers.
July 2: Surrey v Essex Eagles (The Oval, London)
Feroze Khushi hit the last ball of the match for six, despite Chris Jordan trying to flick the ball back to Jamie Overton as he went over the boundary rope, as Essex dramatically gave themselves a chance of clinching a Vitality Blast quarter-final place.
The Eagles will need South Group leaders Somerset to beat Kent at Taunton if they are to progress but Khushi’s 35 not out from 26 balls at least meant they did not waste an Essex T20 record stand between Michael Pepper and Dan Lawrence as they chased down Surrey’s 195 for six to win by three wickets in a thrilling finish.
Khushi and Shane Snater had taken five singles from the first five balls of Sean Abbott’s final over, to leave Essex needing three to win from the last delivery. Khushi swung hard and high, Jordan sprinted round from long on to grab the ball as his momentum took him over the ropes but Surrey’s captain could not throw it back infield for Overton to complete the catch – and Essex celebrated.
Pepper and Lawrence certainly deserved to be on the winning side, smashing 140 for the second wicket from just 11 overs in a blitz of boundaries that featured nine sixes and 11 fours.
Sunil Narine had earlier blasted six sixes and seven fours in a 38-ball unbeaten 78 but then both Pepper and Lawrence produced hitting of similar ferocity to score 75 from 39 balls and 58 off 32 balls respectively.
By the 10-over mark Essex were totally in control at 130 for one as Pepper, who struck five sixes and six fours, and Lawrence, with four sixes and five fours, entertained a 15,000 crowd in exhilarating fashion.
Surrey’s bowlers looked incapable of stopping the carnage, and even West Indies mystery spinner Narine – one of the best T20 bowlers in world cricket - conceded 19 from his first over, the eighth of the innings, as Pepper reverse-swept and straight-drove him for sixes and also swept him conventionally for four.
Lawrence, who has signed to play for Surrey from next April, reached his fifty from 26 balls to Pepper’s 24 and launched Narine for one final six from the first ball of the 12th over before falling two balls later to a catch at long off.
But Pepper fell attacking Jordan in the next over, and Surrey fought back as Paul Walter, Matt Critchley – brilliantly run out by Jason Roy – Daniel Sams, who did swing Sam Curran for six, and Simon Harmer all fell cheaply while Khushi kept chipping away at the runs required. Twenty off three overs finally became eight off the last over – and the 24-year-old Khushi, at the last, prevailed.
Narine had earlier also struck seven fours in his own superb exhibition of clean hitting while Roy made 28 from 24 balls on his return to action after almost two months on the sidelines with a calf injury.
Surrey were 57 for two after the six-over powerplay, after Essex had chosen to field, with Roy clubbing Sam Cook for a six and two fours – the first an extraordinary scoop past short fine leg – in the fifth over.
Laurie Evans went cheaply, flicking Aaron Beard to deep square leg, but Will Jacks drove the same bowler high and wide of mid off for four and pulled him for six before being yorked by Cook for 23.
Sam Curran fell to Harmer for only three but Narine warmed to his task by smearing the off spinner over the deep mid wicket ropes and then lofting Snater straight for another six.
Overton took two sixes in an over off Sams during a quickfire 23, before being caught in the deep, and Narine went on his merry way by thumping Walter’s left-arm seamers straight into the Pavilion and then over wide long on into the Bedser Stand.
Narine finished the innings in style by hitting Sams over the long on boundary and then clipping the last ball of the 20th over off his stumps to the fine leg ropes.
Essex’s reply began badly with Adam Rossington mis-hitting Sam Curran to mid on but the England all-rounder’s next over, the third of the innings, went for a remarkable 31 runs as Pepper began and ended it with sixes and took two fours besides. With a wide, two free hit no balls and a Lawrence boundary thrown in, the Eagles were suddenly 41 for one after just three overs and flying.
Gus Atkinson was then struck for two straight sixes by Lawrence, the second of them from a full toss no ball, as both he and Pepper did as they pleased with the Surrey attack.
July 2: Somerset v Kent Spitfires (County Ground, Taunton)
Kent Spitfires’ hopes of grabbing the last quarter-final place in the Vitality Blast were dashed by the Somerset juggernaut as the runaway South Group winners pulled off a 15-run win at Taunton.
Will Smeed led a typical assault by the home side after losing the toss, smashing 61 off 28 balls, while Sean Dickson (41), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (31) and Lewis Gregory (37) made significant contributions to a score of 221 for seven. Grant Stewart claimed four for 48, but left-arm spinner George Linde was the pick of the Kent bowlers with two for 25.
In reply, the Spitfires, looking to overtake Essex in the table, posted 206 for seven, Joey Evison cracking 46 off 24 balls, Jack Leaning 41 and skipper Sam Billings 36. It was Somerset’s 12th victory in 14 group matches, a record for the competition.
Despite claiming the early wicket of Tom Banton, caught and bowled off a waist-high Grant Stewart full toss, the visitors were unable to prevent Somerset scoring 63 off the initial six-over power-play.
Smeed was soon taking advantage of a true batting pitch with a short boundary on the town side of the ground. He and Kohler-Cadmore responded to the loss of Banton with a string of sweetly-struck boundaries.
Both cleared the ropes in the power play and had taken the score to 72 in the eighth over when Kohler-Cadmore was caught at long-on off Stewart, having faced just 18 balls.
Smeed went past 2,000 T20 runs with his fourth six, launched over cover off Stewart, before going to a 23-ball fifty that delighted a packed crowd at the Cooper Associates County Ground.
Another exhilarating mixture of muscular blows and deft touches ended when 21-year-old Smeed, yet to play in a first class match, swept a ball from Linde and was caught at deep backward square, with the total 103 in the tenth over.
Tom Abell also fell to a sweep shot off Linde, Jordan Cox taking a brilliant diving catch. But Dickson ensured there was no slowing of the scoring rate, hitting 3 sixes and 2 fours in a stand of 47 in less than five overs with Gregory.
The former Kent player was eventually caught behind off what would have been a wide from Stewart, but Gregory’s 19-ball innings guaranteed Somerset a challenging total.
Kent’s hopes of chasing it down suffered an early blow when opener Tawanda Muyeye, already dropped by Dickson at deep mid-wicket, hit a six off Matt Henry’s first ball of the second over before lifting a catch to mid-on off the next delivery.
Alex Blake threatened briefly, smashing a big six off Henry in racing to 24 off just 10 balls before being run out backing up as the New Zealand seamer fingertipped a drive from Billings onto the stumps.
Billings began watchfully, but cleared the ropes for the first time off Ben Green in the seventh over, fetching a ball from outside off stump and dispatching it over deep square. The Spitfires had ended the power play on 63 for three, still in the game.
Billings greeted the introduction of leg-spinner Ish Sodhi with a six over long-on and was warming to his task with successive boundaries off Gregory before Somerset’s captain struck back by bowling him with the last ball of the ninth over.
Leaning responded with a six over deep square off Overton and followed up with a four to third-man as 17 came off the 11th over.
Experienced leg-spinner Sodhi had Linde caught at long-off and Kent required 103 from the last eight. Some defiant blows from Leaning and Evison reduced the target to 69 from five.
Evison then hit Green for six as 16 came off the 16th over. Leaning followed up by clearing the ropes off Davey, but when he fell to Gregory two overs later, having faced 30 balls, Somerset regained control and Evison’s impressive effort ended when he was caught off Henry to kill off Kent hopes.
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