Thursday 31 July 2014 22:23, UK
Kent scraped home to clinch a two-run Duckworth-Lewis victory in a thrilling Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Somerset at Taunton.
A total of 754 runs were scored during the match, with the hosts just failing to chase down a revised target of 374 in 48 overs after Kent had blasted their way to a mammoth score of 383-7.
The visitors must have thought they were on course for a much more comfortable win when Sam Northeast and Sam Billings both hit centuries.
Northeast hit a run-a-ball 132 at the top of the innings but had his thunder stolen by No 7 Billings, who smashed an unbeaten 135 from just 58 balls in a stand of 157 between the two.
But Somerset moved the chased on quickly thanks to half-centuries from Nick Compton (56), Alex Barrow (54) and Tim Groenewald (52 not out).
Their efforts helped take it to a last-ball finish, with four required from it, but bowler Mitch Claydon just held his nerve to concede a solitary leg bye.
Elsewhere in Group B, Eoin Morgan smashed an unbeaten century as Middlesex clinched a six-wicket victory against London rivals Surrey in their clash at Lord's.
Morgan blasted 128 from just 86 balls as Middlesex swept past Surrey's total of 286-6, with the hosts scoring their last 101 runs in just 8.5 overs to wrap up the win with 31 balls to spare.
His performance overshadowed the earlier batting of Sri Lankan star Tillakaratne Dilshan, whose fine innings of 115 ensured Surrey posted a competitive target from their 50 overs.
The result gave some rare limited-overs cheer to Middlesex, who had begun their Group B campaign with two defeats after losing 11 of their 14 NatWest T20 Blast group games earlier this summer.
When they slipped to 126-4 in the 25th over, despite Chris Rogers's 44-ball 42 at the top of the order, it seemed as if they were on course for another defeat.
But Morgan and Neil Dexter combined to make the rest of the chase look easy, the latter complementing Morgan’s sensational hitting with a more measured 47 not out.
Earlier Dilshan's hundred, his first for Surrey, anchored the innings while Vikram Solanki (59) and Azhar Mahmood (52) also providing useful contributions. England bowler Steven Finn removed both Dilshan and Mahmood to return figures of 2-47.
Jonathan Trott hit a superb century for Warwickshire but could prevent his side from suffering a five-wicket defeat against Durham at South Northumberland CC.
Trott's innings of 106 century took Warwickshire to 213-2 with 10 overs left, but the visitors could not build on that solid platform as a dramatic collapse saw them bowled out for 264.
John Hastings used his slower ball to good effect in taking 5-46, while Chris Rushworth chipped in with three wickets during the away side’s unravelling.
Durham chased down the target with just under four overs remaining as half-centuries from Mark Stoneman (50) and Paul Collingwood (77), backed up by good contributions from Phil Mustard (42) and Calum MacLeod (46), saw the hosts home.
