Saturday 11 July 2015 01:17, UK
Defending NatWest T20 Blast champions Birmingham Bears are guaranteed a quarter-final place in this year's competition after beating closest rivals Worcestershire Rapids by five wickets in front of a sell-out crowd at New Road.
The North Group leaders opened up a four-point gap as Rikki Clarke kept his cool in making an unbeaten 52 from 43 balls as the Bears made it five wins in a row.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Brett D'Oliveira made half-centuries in taking the Rapids to 160-5 and the Bears overcome a chaotic start to complete a successful run-chase with three balls to spare after a quickfire 22 not out by Ateeq Javid.
It was an earlier partnership of 68 in nine overs by Clarke and Laurie Evans (35) which restored order before the latter was caught at long-on off Saeed Ajmal.
In the closing stages, wicketkeeper Ben Cox intermittently employed the tactic of discarding his gloves and taking up a sort of long stop position, but it made no odds as the Rapids suffered a blow in their bid for a quarter-final spot.
Half-centuries from Karl Brown, Paul Horton and Steven Croft helped Lancashire record a 40-run North Group victory over Leicestershire at Grace Road.
The trio's exploits with the bat enabled the Lightning to post 191-5 from their 20 overs and Croft followed up his innings with a fine bowling spell of 1-17 from his four overs as the Foxes were made to toil in reply.
Leicestershire could only muster 151-8 from their allotted overs as Jordan Clark took 3-41 and Stephen Parry chipped in with 2-29.
The win keeps Lancashire in the frame to qualify for the quarter-finals, while the Foxes, after three consecutive defeats, need to win their final two games to have any chance of doing the same.
Notts Outlaws edged to a two-run final-ball victory over local rivals Derbyshire Falcons to keep their hopes of reaching a sixth consecutive quarter-final alive.
Alex Hales and Samit Patel struck 54 and 52 respectively after Notts won the toss and posted a handy total of 172-6.
Derbyshire seamer Shiv Thakor counted Patel among his scalps in an impressive return of 3-25, while Hamish Rutherford became the game's third half centurion with 62 at the top of the visitors' response.
Jake Ball came in for early punishment but pulled his figures back to a man-of-the match haul of 3-36, including the vital wicket of Rutherford, and Trent Bridge's record domestic T20 attendance of 13,582 were treated to a final-over shootout.
With five needed from the last delivery, Wayne Madsen could only manage two from a well-directed Harry Gurney yorker - drawing scant consolation from a fine 51 not out as his side reached 170-4.
Notts move on to 10 points, while Derbyshire remain bottom of the standings.
Another impressive innings from Jonny Bairstow helped Yorkshire Vikings to an unlikely victory over Durham Jets at Headingley.
Chasing a formidable target of 192, Bairstow instigated a Yorkshire recovery from 66-4 with a magnificent 92 from 42 deliveries with eight fours and four sixes as the Vikings charged home by five wickets with seven balls to spare.
Bairstow's blast overshadowed a rousing unbeaten 91 from Durham's 22-year-old rookie batsman Graham Clark which looked to have set his side up for a convincing win after they had batted first on winning the toss
Middlesex beat Essex by six wickets with three overs to spare in their South Group match at Richmond to put a dent in the visitors' hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
Steven Finn and James Franklin wrought havoc as they returned figures of 4-28 and 3-13 respectively as the visitors were dismissed for 109 in 18 overs.
Nick Gubbins and Dawid Malan launched the chase for victory, after the visitors had won the toss, with an opening stand of 47 before Ravi Bopara (3-12 from four overs) gave Essex a semblance of hope by removing Gubbins for 22 and Malan for 29 in the same over.
However, debutant George Scott (20) and captain Eoin Morgan (21no) guided Middlesex to a victory which ended their seven-match losing run.
Second-placed Sussex kept up the pressure on leaders Kent with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Glamorgan as Luke Wright's unbeaten 92 off 46 balls saw them reach their target of 165 with more than five overs to spare.
Glamorgan's total of 164-7 - Ben Wright making an unbeaten 63 - looked competitive at halfway as they chased
a third successive away victory but Wright and Chris Nash (50) produced a punishing opening stand of 117 against them to set up victory.
Another impressive century opening stand of 112 between Daniel Bell-Drummond (77) and Joe Denly (61) laid the foundations for Kent's comfortable 22-run win over Somerset.
Having posted 173-6 a tight all-round bowling spell restricted the visitors to 151-9, boosted considerably by the final over from Matt Coles which went for 34 runs after he bowled three no balls.
Teenage leg-spinner Mason Crane took 2-35 on his full debut to help Hampshire to a seventh straight home victory against Surrey.
Crane claimed Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara (28) as his first professional wicket and was given good support by Danny Briggs (3-21) and Will Smith (2-17) as Surrey were restricted to 157-7 in reply to Hampshire’s 186-5.
Adam Wheater had earlier struck his highest T20 score of 78 for the hosts as they won by 29 runs to rekindle their quarter-final hopes in the South Group.
NatWest T20 Blast - Friday's results:
North Division
Lancashire (191-5) beat Leicestershire (151-8) by 40 runs
Nottinghamshire (172-6) beat Derbyshire (170-4) by two runs
Warwickshire (161-5) beat Worcestershire (160-5) by five wickets
Yorkshire (194-5) beat Durham (191-6) by five wickets
South Division
Hampshire (186-5) beat Surrey (157-9) by 29 runs
Kent (173-6) beat Somerset (151-9) by 22 runs
Middlesex (110-4) beat Essex (109) by six wickets
Sussex (165-2) beat Glamorgan (164-7) by eight wickets
