Vitality Blast 2023: Scorecards, Match Reports and Reactions June 23rd - All Matches
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Vitality Blast 2023: Scorecards, Match Reports and Reactions June 23rd - All Matches
Here are the Vitality Blast June 23rd 2023 Match Reports, Results, Scorecards and Reactions for all the matches being played today.
Top Tournament Stats - Vitality Blast 2023
North Group
Lancashire vs Derbyshire, North Group, Vitality Blast
A blistering 83 off 36 balls by England’s Jos Buttler clinched a precious two points for Lancashire Lightning as they improved their chances of securing a place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a 27 run win against Derbyshire Falcons.
Buttler hit six sixes in his knock as he and England teammate Liam Livingstone constructed a devastating second wicket partnership of 101 runs off just 41 balls with the hosts reaching an intimidating 177 for four off 15 overs in a game delayed by 80 minutes due to rain.
In reply Falcons reached 150 for seven with 45 from Harry Came the only real highlight on a chastening night for the visitors who drop to seventh.
Lightning began their innings relatively conservatively scoring 23 off their first three overs before Phil Salt fell in the fifth, caught at point by Zak Chappell off Mattie McKiernan for 16.
With Livingstone joining Buttler at the crease, the fireworks began with the T20 specialists targeting Chappell, whose second over went for 20 runs and included a towering six from the skipper that landed on the roof of Emirates Old Trafford’s newly constructed hotel.
Livingstone repeated the trick in the eighth over, this time depositing the ball on the roof of the already built Hilton hotel, before Buttler took over hitting the unfortunate Alex Thomson for three consecutive sixes in the ninth over.
By the time Buttler was out, caught by Leus Du Plooy off Zaman Khan, he had become only the ninth player to hit 10,000 T20 runs, and the Falcons were left ruing their decision to insert the home side.
Cameos from Luke Wells and Daryl Mitchell added to the six count and with Livingstone finishing unbeaten on 47, Lightning were just one short of their record number of maximums in an innings with 12.
Faced with a daunting task, Falcons began brightly with opener Harry Came doing his best to find the boundaries but he soon lost Luis Reece and Haider Ali for company as the accurate seamers of Tom Bailey bore fruit.
When the talismanic Wayne Madsen found Luke Wood on the boundary off Mitchell for just 16 with the score 52 for three it felt like a hard task had become virtually impossible.
Wells accounted for skipper Du Plooy for 12 with a smart caught and bowled before Came departed stumped off Tom Hartley for a well-made 45.
A stunning catch from Rob Jones in the deep off McKiernan gave Wells a second wicket and with 38 runs required off the last over the game was up for the Falcons as Lightning went second in the North Group, requiring just one win from their final two games to qualify.
Leicestershire vs Northamptonshire, North Group, Vitality Blast
A traumatic couple of days for Leicestershire predictably ended on another low note as the Foxes concluded their home fixtures in the Vitality Blast with a crushing 92-run defeat at the hands of neighbours Northamptonshire Steelbacks.
Chris Lynn, who has hit Blast centuries against Foxes in each of the last two seasons, continued his assault with 62 from 35 balls, Saif Zaib hitting 55 off 25 as the two piled on 114 off 50 balls for the third wicket in a total of 210 for seven from their 20 overs. Mike Finan took two for 30 as the best of some modest bowling figures.
Rehan Ahmed made a spirited 49 off 32 balls but the Foxes were bowled out for 118 in 16.4 overs in reply, Ben Sanderson taking three for 20, with two wickets each for David Willey, Andrew Tye and Justin Broad, with wicketkeeper Lewis McManus involved in a county record five dismissals.
With Leicestershire’s head coach Paul Nixon placed “on leave” by the club on Thursday, bowling coach Alfonso Thomas and batting consultant James Taylor were in charge of the Foxes.
The circumstances behind the decision to relieve Nixon of his duties after six years in the job remain shrouded in mystery. The club’s website belatedly carried a statement from chairman John Thorpe essentially explaining that he could say nothing for legal reasons.
Chief executive Sean Jarvis was a little more forthcoming in an interview with BBC Radio Leicester, speaking of “comments” and “accusations” as he alluded to events over a period of months, suggesting Nixon’s departure was unrelated to the announcement - also made on Thursday - that senior players Colin Ackermann, Callum Parkinson and Chris Wright would be leaving at the end of the season.
Ackermann and Parkinson were both selected to face the Steelbacks, although Ackermann handed captaincy duties to overseas player Peter Handscomb.
The Australian won his first toss in the role, asking Northamptonshire to bat first. Steelbacks openers Ricardo Vasconcelos and Emilio Gay needed a couple of overs to get the measure of a slow pitch but still managed to rack up 49 runs in the powerplay.
Checked by a tight over by Rehan Ahmed, they were parted in an excellent over by Callum Parkinson, the eighth of the innings, when a top-edged pull by Vasconcelos dropped safely into the hands of Mike Finan behind square. Aussie Chris Lynn signalled his intent with three boundaries from his first six balls but Gay (30 from 27 balls) holed out to long-on as the Steelbacks reached halfway at 77 for two.
The remainder of the innings was one of increasing carnage for the home bowlers, Lynn and Zaib taking the total to 129 for two after 15 overs, Lynn getting lucky on 37 when he was caught off a Finan no-ball, before the final five overs piled on another 81.
The third-wicket pair took turns to clear the ropes as Tom Scriven and Matt Salisbury took the brunt of their assault, the former conceding 22 in one Salisbury’s worst over costing 23, including back-to-back sixes by Zaib, who followed his partner in being caught off a no-ball, on 54.
After they were parted two balls into the 19th over as Lynn picked out long-on, four more wickets followed, Finan dismissing Tye with his next ball, before Zaib was caught on the boundary. Willey was run out and Broad found the fielder on the cover point boundary to give Scriven some consolation in the 20th, although Broad’s 10 off four balls had taken the total past 200.
The Foxes had twice chased more than 211 to win in the Blast, including 219 against the Steelbacks in 2018, but on this season’s form it looked a tall order, more so after Handscomb was comprehensively bowled by Willey for three in the opening over.
By the end of the powerplay, the home side were 30 for four, Rishi Patel caught behind attempting to ramp Sanderson, who then bowled Ackermann first ball and had Wiaan Mulder edging behind. They might have been five down had a Sanderson direct hit been reviewed after Rehan, on six, was judged to have made his ground by the on-field umpire.
Rehan, sent in to open the innings with Handscomb, made the most of his reprieve, clubbing Freddie Heldreich for three sixes in an over, but with Nick Welch also caught behind, at the halfway stage in the chase the Foxes at 74 for five were scoring at barely half the required rate of 13.4 runs per over.
The young England all-rounder - about to joins up with Ben Stokes’s squad ahead of the second Ashes Test - looked set to celebrate with a half-century only for his luck to run out on 49 as he miscued Broad to cover, the South Africa-born German international following up by bowling Scriven in the same over.
Swindells, who had helped Rehan add 66 for the sixth wicket as the sole highlight in the Foxes innings, perished on 20 when he helped one into the gloves of McManus. Finan belted Heldreich for six but was stumped next ball as the ninth wicket fell in the 16th over before Salisbury was caught at midwicket to put the home crowd out of their misery in the 17th.
Warwickshire vs Worcestershire, North Group, Vitality Blast
Birmingham Bears secured a place in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals with a thumping 53-run victory over arch-rivals Worcestershire Rapids at Edgbaston.
Put in, the Bears started strongly and never lost momentum as they totalled 228 for four thanks to Rob Yates (59, 39 balls), Dan Mousley (51, 25) and Glenn Maxwell (44, 20).
Mousley then continued his brilliant Blast by adding four for 41 to his half-century as the Rapids totalled 175 for nine (Mitchell Santner 56, 32).
One more win from their last two games will secure the Bears a home tie in the last eight while, though the defeat is a setback for the Rapids, they remain in the thick of the qualification race.
The Rapids chose to field but Bears openers Yates and Alex Davies put 50 on the board in 30 balls. England’s most recent debutant Josh Tongue suffered a tough first over with three successive wides, each followed in crass fashion by repeated ‘wa-wa-wa-waa’ sounds presumably activated and authorised by persons who have never made a mistake in their lives. Tongue hit back well in his second over, beating Yates with three successive balls without getting the edge...how much of a batter’s game is T20!
After a strong powerplay (66 without loss), the Bears lost Davies (29, 17 balls), caught behind off Santner’s second ball but Yates galloped to his second Blast fifty in 24 hours before skying a return catch to Dillon Pennington.
Maxwell’s departure, well-held by Pat Brown at long off off Santner, brought together two of English cricket’s most vibrant young talents – Mousley and Chris Benjamin. They crashed 60 from 30 balls to leave the Rapids needing to score at 11.40 an over.
They received a perky start, 48 from 31 balls, from Brett D’Oliveira (28, 16) and Jack Haynes (34, 20) before the former tried to swat Mousley’s first ball to leg and was bowled. Haynes then swung Danny Briggs over mid-wicket for six but drilled the next ball to Yates at extra cover.
The Rapids had to go for broke and that pressure cost wickets. Briggs struck a big blow by luring former Bears team-mate, and fellow Ventnor product, Adam Hose to his doom, stumped by Davies. Kashif Ali smote Mousley far into the Hollies Stand but then dragged a swinging yorker from Hasan Ali on to his stumps in a superb over which cost three runs and sent the required rate into the stratosphere.
Santner landed some clean blows in his fifth T20 half-century (27 balls) but Mousley bowled Ben Cox and Usama Mir with successive balls to leave the Rapids needing 96 from five overs. When Mousley had Santner stumped to complete his four-for, the Bears were home, hosed and in the quarter-final beneath a Birmingham sunset as dazzling and glorious as any sunset anywhere in the history of the world.
Durham vs Yorkshire, North Group, Vitality Blast
Play was abandoned due to rain after only 8.1 overs in the Vitality Blast contest between Durham and Yorkshire Vikings at Seat Unique Riverside.
The home side won the toss and made an excellent start with the ball as George Drissell's first over went for just a single before Ben Raine followed up his efforts with a wicket maiden removing Adam Lyth for one.
Vikings captain Shan Masood led a fightback in the powerplay, smashing Raine over the long-off boundary for the first six of the game to propel his team to 34 for one at the end of six overs.
Masood led an acceleration to leave Yorkshire one shy of the fifty-run mark in the ninth over before rain stopped the action. The downpour continued through the evening to prevent further play, ending the game with both sides taking a point apiece.
The result effectively ends Durham's hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals, while Yorkshire still have a chance of a last-eight berth heading into their final North Group game against Lancashire Lightning.
Durham coach Ryan Campbell said: "It's not what we wanted. At the end of the day, there's nothing we can do about it. I was pleased about George Drissell coming into the team and bowling three overs of magnificent off-spin, which will give him a pep-up for the rest of the season. Wayne Parnell was pulled out of the team moments before the game, but this squad as they have done this season, continued to brush off anything that goes against them. The rain won in the end, but it was a positive night for Durham."
Yorkshire captain Shan Masood said: “One way to look at it is that we’ve scored more runs today than we have in the last three games. You don’t really have to score the 200s or the 180s on that wicket. It felt like one where you could give yourself a bit of time and get yourself in. The spinners become a very attacking option in terms of bowling.
"If there was a full game, I reckon something like 150-160 would have been a good score. It’s a tricky one. It leaves us relying on other teams now. That’s never a great thing. You want your destiny and fate to be in your own hands. But that’s the way it goes. Our job now is to play the Lancashire game like a quarter-final. Hopefully, other results go our way."
South Group
Kent vs Middlesex, South Group, Vitality Blast
A euphoric 111 from Daniel Bell-Drummond and a Grant Stewart hat-trick helped the Kent Spitfires to an emphatic 55-run win over Middlesex in the Vitality Blast at Canterbury.
Bell-Drummond’s joyous innings lasted 58 balls and included four sixes as for the second consecutive evening Middlesex shipped way in excess of 200. Kent posted 228 for three, but having stunned Surrey with a Blast-record run chase the previous evening, this time Middlesex subsided to 173 all out, with George Linde and Joey Evison also claiming three wickets apiece. Luke Hollman was the visitors’ top scorer with 48 from 20 balls, but the required rate became unmanageable and they were all out with an over to spare.
The Spitfire Ground was sold out on a sweltering Friday night, with over 5000 packed into the ground to watch the hosts, resurgent after five consecutive wins, take on a Middlesex side who were still bottom of the South Group, despite Thursday night’s miracle.
The memory of that staggering performance may have explained the visitors’ decision to field, but the same mixture of buffet bowling and Tufnellesque fielding they’d offered at The Oval saw Kent race to 72 without loss by the end of the powerplay.
An early chance went begging when Tawanda Muyeye, who was on eight, holed out to Toby Greatwood, only for Luke Hollman to miss an over-the-shoulder catch. Muyeye smote the next ball for six and the openers put on a stand of 127 before he was bowled by Josh de Caires for 50.
The run rate slowed slightly and Joe Denly was on 12 when Martin Andersson missed a difficult chance to catch him off Hollman, but it picked up again as Bell-Drummond reached his second Blast century with a classic cover drive for four off Greatwood and when Ryan Higgins’ 17th over only went for three it felt like a minor triumph for the visitors.
Bell-Drummond was one short of his best Blast score when he hoicked Max Harris to Jack Davies at square leg and he departed to a standing ovation.
Denly went for 30 driving Higgins to Andersson at long on but Sam Billings smashed 22 off the final over, meaning Middlesex had conceded exactly the same number of runs they did a week ago when Kent won the reverse fixture at Lord’s.
Hopes of a second miracle in 24 hours dimmed when the first three overs went for just six and Joe Cracknell swept Linde to Bell-Drummond in the fourth. Although Max Holden initially carried on where he’d left off against Surrey, with 10 off his first two balls, he was bowled for 11, playing on to Evison.
Linde then took two wickets in the eight over. Higgins then played on to the first ball before John Simpson fell to a diving catch by Evison on the boundary.
Stephen Eskinazi went for 32, flicking Evison to Grant Stewart and Davies rattled off a quick 24 before he was lbw to the same bowler.
Hollman and de Caires went down fighting, plundering 23 from Michael Hogan’s 14th over
and putting on 60 for the seventh wicket, but a nightmarish 16th over for Stewart ended with Hollman caught in the deep by Jordan Cox off the tenth and final delivery.
At the start of his next over Stewart had de Caires caught on the boundary by Jack Leaning and the bowler’s redemption was complete when Harris was taken just inside the rope by Cox.
The rout was sealed when Greatwood chipped Agar to Evison and Kent, having seemed dead and buried little more than a fortnight ago, stand every chance of reaching the knock-out stages.
Somerset vs Gloucestershire, South Group, Vitality Blast
Will Smeed proved the scourge of Gloucestershire for the second time this season as Somerset guaranteed themselves a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast with a four-wicket win over their neighbours at Taunton.
The visitors did well to recover from nine for three after losing the toss to post 186 for eight, Grant Roelofsen top-scoring with 52, while Jack Taylor (41 not out) and Graeme van Buuren (36) made significant contributions. Matt Henry was the pick of the Somerset attack with two for 28.
Somerset’s reply of 187 for six in 19.3 overs was dominated by opener Smeed, who followed up his 94 in the corresponding South Group game at Bristol, by blitzing 78 off 42 balls, with 5 sixes and 7 fours.
Ben Green (37) and Kasey Aldridge (32 not out) clinched victory with a sixth-wicket stand of 48 as the group leaders made it ten wins from 12 games, ensuring a top two finish as their closest pursuers, Surrey and Essex still have to play each other.
It seemed Gloucestershire would need a good start to stand a realistic chance of springing a surprise and they got exactly the opposite, losing Miles Hammond and Ben Charlesworth in Henry’s first over, the second of the game.
When Craig Overton had Ben Wells caught behind off a lifter, Gloucestershire were in disarray. James Bracey hit a quick 17, including a scooped six off Overton, but he somehow contrived to sky a catch to point off what would have been a leg-side wide from Josh Davey and at the end of the six-over power play, the scoreboard read 44 for four.
Roelofson and van Buuren then produced an excellent stand of 71 in 6.2 overs to revive Gloucestershire fortunes. The 11th over, bowled by the leading wicket-taker in the competition, Green, went for 20 as Roelofsen struck sixes over mid-wicket and square leg.
Off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, making his home debut for Somerset, bowled van Buuren, who had hit 2 sixes and 4 fours, with a ball that turned, but Roelofsen went to fifty off 36 balls before being run out by Tom Abell’s direct hit at the bowler’s end attempting a single to extra cover.
David Payne was also run out, at the non-striker’s end, by some sharp fielding off his own bowling by Green, but Taylor began to enjoy himself, clearing the ropes off Green before being caught at third-man off a Henry no-ball.
The reprieve saw Taylor hit a second six, off Henry, and Josh Shaw also managed a maximum off Davey, who responded by bowling the last over of the innings for just three runs.
Shaw began the Somerset innings with a wicket-maiden, having Tom Banton caught behind off his second ball. But Smeed retaliated with a six and a four off the second over, sent down by Payne.
Smeed then hit Ajeet Dale over mid-wicket onto the top floor of the flats as 17 came off the third over. But Payne hit back in the next, Tom Kohler-Cadmore skying to mid-on where Gloucestershire skipper Hammond pouched a comfortable catch.
Abell was bowled attempting to scoop a full ball from Zaman Akhter and Somerset reached the end of the power play of 53 for three, Smeed having effortless lifted another six over mid-wicket off Shaw.
Akhter then yorked Sean Dickson before Smeed went to a 26-ball fifty that thrilled another packed Cooper Associates County Ground crowd. His brilliant exhibition ended in the 13th over when he miscued a pull shot off Dale to van Buuren at long-on.
Green smacked a straight six off van Buuren’s left-arm spin as the 14th over went for 16, then cleared the extra cover boundary rope off Shaw. Aldridge provided excellent support and 27 were needed off the last three overs.
Green fell to a catch at short fine leg off Dale. But Craig Overton’s six over mid-wicket and straight four off Akhter left Somerset requiring eight off the last over, bowled by van Buuren.
An Aldridge four over extra cover was sandwiched between 2 twos and sealed the deal to the delight of home supporters.
Glamorgan vs Sussex, South Group, Vitality Blast
Sussex claimed victory over Glamorgan by 20 runs with Shadab Khan staring with bat to set up a straight forward win for his team.
Sussex were in trouble early in their innings but Shadab led a brilliant fight back to post an imposing 182 for for six. The Pakistan all-rounder was well supported by Michael Burgess and James Coles as the Sussex middle order took the game away from the home side.
The mainstay of the Glamorgan batting effort was New Zealander Cam Fletcher who made his first meaningful contribution for the side having been signed as injury cover for Colin Ingram. However there was little support for Fletcher and the Glamorgan innings fell away in the face of a professional Sussex bowling performance.
Both of these teams have a mathematical, if improbable, chance of making the knockout stages of the Blast but it will be difficult for either side to turn around the net run rate advantage held by other teams in the South Group.
It was an outstanding start from the Glamorgan bowlers inside the PowerPlay with Timm van der Gugten claiming three vital wickets in the opening overs. Van der Gugten dismissed both openers with full balls that were caught inside the circle and got Oli Carter caught at fine leg when he attempted a scoop shot.
Jamie McIlroy also chipped in with a wicket inside the fielding restrictions, with a stunning catch down the leg side by Chris Cooke sending the Sussex captain, Ravi Bopara, back to the dugout. That left Sussex 46 for four at the end of the PowerPlay and in urgent need of a partnership.
A 58-run stand between Michael Burgess and Shadab took Sussex past the 100 run mark and started to build a platform. Shadab was the player leading the fightback as he secured his second half-century of this Blast campaign, but Burgess played his part as he made 29 from 22 balls before he chopped a ball from Andy Gorvin on to his stumps.
Shadab found another willing partner in James Coles as they attacked in the back end of the Sussex innings after a successful rebuilding job. The final five overs saw 65 runs added to the visitor’s total. Shadab pased fifty from 39 balls but put on another 36 runs from the next 14 deliveries he faced to finish on 87 not out.
The Glamorgan chase got off to the worst possible start when captain Kiran Carlson was caught in the gully from the first ball of the innings, but Will Smale and Sam Northeast did a decent job of recovering from the early loss of Carlson with a stand of 37.
Smale looked to be really getting going before the extra pace of Tymal Mills did for him. He was bowled for 25 to leave Glamorgan 37 for two. Northeast, back to opening after a spell in the middle order, looked in fine form as he made 44 from 30 deliveries before he was caught on the boundary by Harrison Ward off the bowling of Bopara.
Chris Cooke was run out in bizarre fashion at the non-strikers end by Shadab. Cam Fletcher drilled the ball straight back at the bowler and Shadab stopped the ball with his foot with a touch that was worthy of Lionel Messi before calmly picking it up and running out Cooke.
The timing of that shot was indictive of how well Fletcher struck the ball throughout his innings. He had made just one run from his two previous visits to the crease for Glamorgan, but he found some form here on his way to 57 from 40 balls.
As wickets fell around Fletcher there was little he could do as the required rate crept up to make a win mathematically impossible by the time the last over started and he fell attempting to swing for the fences as Sussex closed out the victory.
Hampshire vs Essex, South Group, Vitality Blast
James Vince proved Essex’s nemesis again as his seventh fifty of the competition under-pinned Hampshire Hawks’ highest-ever Vitality Blast chase.
Feroze Khushi and Dan Lawrence had blitzed 127 for the first wicket – with the pair striking 61 and 70 respectively – as Essex set 209 for seven.
Vince had struck a century at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford earlier in the season and smashed 76 before James Fuller’s 57 and Benny Howell’s 34 not out got the Hawks over the line.
It condemned Essex to their third straight defeat and put Hampshire level on 14 points with the Eagles with the four-wicket victory.
Chasing, Ben McDermott was caught in the fourth over by Paul Walter – which gave him his 13th catch of the season, an Essex T20 record – with Toby Albert also falling in the powerplay.
But Hampshire were still on top of the chase with Vince seducing the ball to the boundary on his way to a 24 ball fifty.
Joe Weatherley and Ross Whiteley came and went but James Fuller stuck with Vince to keep up with the rate in a 50-run stand.
Vince’s attempt for a fourth six only picked out safe hands Walter at long off in an over which only went for five runs from Critchley.
If that felt like a turning point Fuller and Howell swung it back in the Hawks’ favour with some outrageous hitting and a bit of luck – both were dropped during their stays.
Fuller’s fifty came off 27 balls and he celebrated with a huge six over long on to take the equation to nine off eight balls, although was yorked next ball to end a 63-run stand off 31 balls.
But Liam Dawson came in swatted a six first ball with the last three runs coming with four balls to spare.
Lawrence and Khushi seemed to be in a race to reach fifty first, having been stuck in on a stunning pitch and an outfield left worn by the recent Arctic Monkeys gig.
If Lawrence smashed a towering six down the ground, Khushi would hit one further. If Khushi slapped through point, Lawrence would cut one but even harder.
It tied in perfectly with Essex’s in-your-face approach to batting – which had seen them lose plenty of powerplay wickets earlier in the competition, but only sent Hawks fielders sprawling on this occasion.
There were 73 runs in the first six overs alone, including 21 off Chris Wood’s opener.
Khushi is Surrey-bound Lawrence’s heir apparent to be Essex’s middle-order talisman, with both batters similarly wristy and powerful. They both have three fifties in this season’s competition and were only split by a ball in their pursuit of the milestone – Lawrence a ball quicker at 25 deliveries.
The 127 opening stand was Essex’s best versus Hampshire in T20s, beating Mark Pettini and Jesse Ryder’s 2015 effort by a run before Lawrence was stumped for a 33-ball 70.
Michael Pepper was bowled to give Benny Howell a wicket on his Ageas Bowl return as the Hawks fought back.
Khushi was done for pace by John Turner, before the South African-born fast bowler had Paul Walter caught at mid off and Matt Critchley lbw next ball to end with stylish figures of three for 19.
Essex continued their collapse with Will Buttleman chipping a reverse lap to point and Simon Harmer was leg before – the Eagles losing six for 55 in the last seven overs having been 154 for one, but it still reached the sixth-highest T20 score on the ground.
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