Royal London One Day Cup 5th June

Hampshire 310/4 (50.0 ov)
Essex 314/7 (49.3 ov)
Essex won by 3 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)

James Foster used his incredible experience to edge Essex over the line to get the Eagles off to the perfect Royal London One-Day Cup start - beating Hampshire by three wickets at the Ageas Bowl.

Veteran Foster scored a cool unbeaten 36 to help Essex score 29 from the last three overs - after Tom Westley had scored his third List A century.

Given 311 to chase after electing to bowl first, Essex attacked their reply, needing less than nine overs to reach fifty - but soon after lost Browne when he gave Ryan Stevenson his first List A wicket, caught by Adams at mid-wicket.

Westley and Jessie Ryder kept the score ticking over at exactly a run a ball - the former collecting a watchful half century from 66 balls, reaching the landmark with back-to-back leg-side clips. Ryder reached his fifty in a quicker 53 balls, before Westley was dropped on 69 by Liam Dawson at mid-on.

The duo were otherwise untroubled before Ryder was stumped by Wheater after a nice tempter by Mason Crane - the partnership ending on 143, the New Zealander scoring 71.

Bopara, run out by Crane, Lawrence and ten Doeschate, both caught behind, all fell within six runs to stunt Essex's progress and swing the game back towards the hosts.

Westley reach three figures with a brilliant on-drive down the ground, his third format ton, before he skied Andrew straight up, to return to the dressing room just one short of his best score.

Ashar Zaidi added another twist to the game, who along with Foster, swung hard in a 18 ball 30 stand but the former Sussex man's wicket, for 41.

But Foster and Masters ran and hit hard, along with some wayward death bowling to win with two balls to spare with a boundary over midwicket.

Earlier, Wheater's peerless 90 against his old county helped Hampshire to 310 for 4 - a seemingly winning score, the county never having failed to defend 300.

The wicket keeper put on a club record second wicket stand of 176 with Tom Alsop, who was forced to retire ill for 83.

Jimmy Adams had lasted until just the second over before he feathered an attempted pull shot through to Nick Browne at first slip.

Alsop and Wheater's stand proved relatively chanceless bar a couple of uppish strikes by both batsmen but safe from red shirted hands - and a six from Alsop which Dan Lawrence parried over the rope.

Both reached classy half centuries, Wheater from 71 balls before Alsop met him at the milestone little more five minutes later but in a speedier 57 deliveries.

Alsop in particular looked effortless at the crease, with the ball gliding off his bat beautifully on the back of his maiden first class fifty against Nottinghamshire a fortnight ago.

Wheater, a former Essex academy player, was faultless getting to 90 - summed up with a confident thrash through the leg side to the boundary - but he departed to end the stand 176 run stand miss-timing to Ravi Bopara at mid-off.

Skipper Sean Ervine and Liam Dawson then upped the run rate, with a 74 run partnership - the former eventually bowled by Ryan ten Doeschate.


Dawson did move to fifty, although lost Gareth Andrew to a boundary catch in the process, from 45 balls. Dawson ending his unbeaten 70 with a flurry of a delightful four and clubbed six, but it was not to be enough.


Surrey 255/8 (50.0 ov)
Kent 260/9 (49.5 ov)
Kent won by 1 wicket (with 1 ball remaining)

Alex Blake let out a shout of triumph when hit the penultimate ball of the match for six to finish on a superb 66 not out and guide Kent to a thrilling one-wicket victory against Surrey at Beckenham in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Two runs were needed with two balls to go when James Tredwell ran himself out in a doomed attempt to pinch a single to get Blake back on strike, but the 26-year-old left-hander smashed a shortish ball from Tom Curran high over the extra cover boundary to take Kent past Surrey's 50-over total of 255 for 8.

A fascinating game of ebb and flow, on a sluggish surface which made fluent stroke-making a tricky task, seemed Surrey's when Kent slumped to 147 for 6 in the 32nd over. But Blake, coming in at No 8, then joined Kent captain Sam Northeast in a seventh wicket stand of 72 in 13 overs to revive the chase and make the home team favourites again.

Northeast had made a fine 47 from 66 balls when he toe-ended a short ball from Stuart Meaker to third man and when Matt Coles was bowled by Gareth Batty for a duck the match looked to be swinging back to Surrey at 226 for 8 in the 46th over.

Blake, however, held his nerve and found in Tredwell the perfect partner as singles were nudged amid the occasional boundary. In those closing overs Blake reached his fifty with a four brilliantly driven through cover off Tom Curran and then, in the 49th over, an off drive for four off Sam Curran.

With eight runs taken from the 47th over, ten from the 48th, and another eight from the 49th, it left Kent requiring just three to avenge last season's Royal London quarter-final when Surrey defeated them by 17 runs on Duckworth-Lewis at the Oval before going on to be beaten finalists.

A solitary single to Blake from the first three balls of the final over was followed by Tredwell's sacrifice and Blake's magnificent winning blow.

Kumar Sangakkara had earlier hit 58 lead Surrey's batting effort, while the in-form Daniel Bell-Drummond replied for Kent with 56.

Bell-Drummond and Denly added 95 in 17 overs for the second wicket and such was their calmness and authority that it looked as if Kent would cruise to their target. Both played some quality strokes, with Bell-Drummond reaching his fifty from 53 balls, with five fours.

Denly's dismissal, for 38 from 55 balls, began a Kent slide from 111 for 1 to 115 for 5 in three dramatic overs. Sangakkara ran to his left at long on to take a well-judged catch when Batty cleverly held back an off break and saw Denly loft tamely into the deep with the batsman clearly caught in two minds as he came down the pitch.

Then, in the next over, the 38-year-old Sangakkara brought off a more spectacular effort, diving forward and to his left at third man, to end Bell-Drummond's fine innings as the right-hander uppercut a short, fast ball from Meaker. For Bell-Drummond it was his ninth time past 50 in a prolific season which has also already seen him score 563 championship runs at an average of 93.83 and 172 runs in the T20 Blast at 86.00.

Fabian Cowdrey, pushed up the order to No 5, did nothing to repay the faith put in him by advancing at his third ball and being easily stumped for 1 as he wafted at one tossed up outside off stump by left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari.

Sam Billings also managed just a single before spearing Meaker to point and Darren Stevens batted well for 17 before driving Batty straight to short extra cover to leave Kent up against it - but bringing Blake to the crease to play the innings of the day.

Surrey's innings began brightly with Jason Roy and Steven Davies taking 56 from the opening ten-over powerplay, but both then perished in successive overs to peg the visitors to 58 for 2.

Davies, on 23 from 27 balls, swung David Griffiths straight into Bell-Drummond's hands at long leg and Roy greeted the introduction of Tredwell for the 12th over by lofting to the same fielder, now stationed at long on. Bell-Drummond, diving forward, held a fine catch and Roy departed for a 40-ball 32.

Sangakkara, Rory Burns and Ansari were further Surrey batsmen to walk off shaking their heads in frustration after picking out fielders as they attempted to push on.

Tredwell leapt at mid off to claw down a chipped drive by Sangakkara off Cowdrey's left-arm spin, leaving Surrey 153 for 4 in the 30th over, Burns swung a short ball from Stevens to deep mid-wicket and Ansari was caught at long on for 30 in the 46th over.

Gary Wilson was undone on 11 by a fierce lifter from Coles, which ballooned up off his glove and shoulder into the vacant slip area for keeper Billings to make good ground to his right and pull off an excellent low diving catch.

Sam Curran played some nice strokes in his 22 before slicing an attempted drive at the returning Tredwell to point and Tom Curran had his leg stump clipped by Griffiths as he swung violently. A 4,000-strong crowd initially thought the batsman had inside-edged to the boundary at first, before suddenly realising Curran was walking off.


Mat Pillans and Batty did their best in the closing overs to get Surrey's total up to something defendable but Coles and Griffiths were impressive at the death and, in the end, it was not quite enough to deny Kent.


Lancashire 296/8 (50.0 ov)
Warwickshire 254/9 (50.0 ov)
Lancashire won by 42 runs

Key contributions from Jos Buttler and Stephen Parry led Lancashire to an opening round Royal London One-Day Cup win by 42 runs over Warwickshire at Emirates Old Trafford.

Buttler hit a typically creative 91 off 73 balls to underpin the Lightning's 296 for 8, which also included half-centuries for Martin Guptill (50) and captain Steven Croft.

Left-arm spinner Parry, who has also played alongside Buttler in England's one-day team since the last RL50 campaign, then put the squeeze on the chase with an excellent 3 for 43 from ten overs as Warwickshire finished with 254 for 9.

Warwickshire captain Ian Bell said: "It was an outstanding toss to win. We definitely wanted to bat first, and we saw that it got harder and harder as the game went on.

"I think Jos Buttler was the difference in the way he played. He showed the options you need to turn a par score into one above par. Without him in the side, they'd have probably only got 260, which we would have been very confident in chasing. To all our young players watching that, they can learn a lot from the shots he used, the angles he created and the calmness he had."

Third-wicket pair Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell had put their side on course to reach 297.

But wily Parry, in particular, and seamer Nathan Buck turned the screw with some tight bowling. Trott, who passed 9,000 List A runs in the process, posted 66 and Bell went on to make 73.

Parry had Trott superbly caught at cover by Croft before later getting Laurie Evans in identical fashion. He had also got Will Porterfield caught at mid-wicket by the same man for 40, with each of Croft's three catches all diving efforts. In the final reckoning, Croft actually finished with four catches.

From the start of the 33rd over to the end of the 42nd, Warwickshire had slipped from 163 for two to 198 for five, with Jordan Clark also bowling Tim Ambrose. When he departed, the equation was an unlikely 100 off 51 balls.

But the innings of the day belonged to Buttler, who hit ten fours and a six.

Remarkably, it was Buttler's List A debut for Lancashire despite joining from Somerset ahead of 2014 - and it was his highest score for the county in both forms of limited overs cricket.

Buttler and Croft - 67 off 70 - shared 122 inside 19 overs for Lancashire's fifth wicket to advance from 118 for 4 after 24 overs, and it was a fifth-wicket record stand for the Lightning against Warwickshire. Both men hit a six, straight in Buttler's case and over long-on for Croft. Buttler was typically inventive, scooping Rankin for successive boundaries at one stage.

Buck later got Bell caught and bowled off a top-edge at the start of the 48th over as he attempted to cut loose with Warwickshire needing 57 off the last three.


Lancashire, including four players making their List A debuts for the county, bowled extremely well. One of those debutants, Buck, finished with two for 53 from ten. Tom Smith also returned three for 45 from eight, including two wickets in the last over.



Durham 340/6 (50.0 ov)
Leicestershire 329/9 (50.0 ov)
Durham won by 11 runs

A superb opening partnership of 180 between Phil Mustard and Mark Stoneman, hit in just 27.5 overs, was the foundation Durham needed to compile a total that proved beyond Leicestershire's capacity to chase down, though the Foxes made a valiant effort, falling only 11 runs short.

Played on the same pitch on which Durham made 120 for 9 in the previous day's T20 match between the counties, a score Leicestershire knocked off for the loss of four wickets, it quickly became apparent this was going to be a very different sort of match.

Having begun relatively cautiously, taking 37 from the first ten overs, the two left-handed Durham openers accelerated in style, with 48 coming off the next five overs. Stoneman, who took the majority of the strike, was first to his half-century, but Mustard clipped off-spinner Jigar Naik effortlessly over midwicket for six as the two left-handers passed the previous record one day partnership for Durham against Leicestershire, 167 between Michael Roseberry and John Morris in 1996.

Centuries looked there for the taking, so much so that Mustard looked as shocked as anyone when he pulled a short ball from Kevin O'Brien low into the hands of Rob Taylor at long-on, his 88 having come off 70 balls and including four sixes.

Stoneman too missed out on three figures, chipping a simple catch back to Taylor as the left-arm seamer held one back, his 93 coming off 113 deliveries.

Having been very much under the cosh, Leicestershire's bowlers began to exert a measure of control. Taylor bowled Graham Clark as the batsman stepped across his crease and attempted a paddle sweep, and Borthwick, having made 63, went in exactly the same manner. Paul Collingwood and Ryan Pringle came and went quickly, but an important unbroken partnership of 48 between Keaton Jennings and Callum MacLeod ensured Durham's final score was close to the 350 that had looked to be their minimal target after Mustard and Stoneman's partnership.

Leicestershire's openers proved rather less effective, Mark Pettini losing his middle stump playing across the line at Chris Rushworth, and a frustrated Neil Dexter going well caught by wicketkeeper Mustard diving to his right after edging an attempted drive at Jamie Harrison.

Kevin O'Brien pulled his first ball mightily for six, however, and together with Mark Cosgrove, ensured the home team remained in touch by bringing up the 100 in the 19th over. O'Brien went to his 50 off 41 balls, and Cosgrove in 48 before two balls after hitting Borthwick over extra cover for six, Cosgrove steered the leg-spinner straight to Collingwood at point.

Niall O'Brien joined his brother in keeping up the run rate before lofting Pringle's off-spin to Borthwick at long-off, after a partnership of 72 in 10 overs with his brother, and even after Kevin was dismissed for 89, Lewis Hill (31) and Tom Wells (31) kept the Foxes in the hunt.


The Durham bowlers kept picking up wickets however, and Harrison, who finished with 4-40, and Rushworth (2-48), were outstanding at the death, giving the Leicestershire batsmen little to hit.



Gloucestershire 260 (50.0 ov)
Somerset 263/9 (49.3 ov)
Somerset won by 1 wicket (with 3 balls remaining)

Jamie Overton and Tim Groenewald produced an unbroken last-wicket stand of 65 as Somerset pulled off a nerve-tingling one-wicket Royal London Cup win over arch-rivals Gloucestershire at Taunton.

Chris Dent hit exactly 100 in holders Gloucestershire's total of 260 all out. Jack Taylor made 43 and Benny Howell 35, while Roelof van der Merwe was involved in seven of the dismissals, three with his left-arm spin, three catches and a run-out.

Somerset looked to be cruising at 166 for 3 in reply, Johann Myburgh leading the way with 81. But his dismissal brought a dramatic collapse to 198 for 9, with only James Hildreth (48) of the other batsmen making an impression.

It looked all over, but Overton (40 not out) and Groenewald (34 not out) had other ideas. The pair shared 6 fours and 3 sixes, surviving just one major run-out scare when wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick failed to gather a throw, before clinching victory with three balls to spare. A crowd of 4,600 enjoyed every moment.

After Somerset had chosen to field, Craig Overton struck a major early blow with an outswinger that clipped the top of Michael Klinger's off stump in the sixth over.

It was 51 for 2 when Roderick cut Lewis Gregory and was caught by van der Merwe, two-handed diving to his left at cover. After ten overs Gloucestershire had progressed to 54 for two.

Dent reached his half-century off 55 balls, with nine sweetly struck boundaries. Hamish Marshall helped take the total to 94 before he was bowled by Peter Trego's second delivery of the game.

The next ball saw Ian Cockbain play into the covers where van der Merwe dived and initially fumbled, but then recovered to effect a brilliant run-out, hitting the stumps at the bowlers' end with a throw while still on the ground.

Howell hit the first six of the game over long-on off van der Merwe before Dent reached a chanceless hundred off 107 balls, having extended his boundary count to 16.

Without adding, the left-hander tried to drive Groenewald and only succeeded in giving another catch to van der Merwe. Howell and Jack Taylor batted sensibly to bring to take the score to 207 with ten overs left. But Howell then advanced to van der Merwe and feathered a catch to wicketkeeper Alex Barrow.

Smith departed to a slog-sweep off van der Merwe and Gloucestershire's last hope of reaching 300 disappeared when Taylor drove a wide ball from Jamie Overton to cover where van der Merwe took his best catch, low to his left.

The hosts' reply started badly as Adam Hose nicked a high catch to Klinger at slip off Matt Taylor and Peter Trego fell to a brilliant one-handed catch by Howell at short cover off Payne.

Jim Allenby and Myburgh took the score to 79 before Allenby, on 29, launched an irresponsible swing at Howell and was bowled. Myburgh reached his half-century off 63 balls, with 7 fours, and had progressed to 81 when losing concentration and lofting Dent's left-arm spin straight to Howell at long-off with 95 still needed.

Lewis Gregory ran himself out attempting a suicidal single to short cover and when Hildreth got a leading edge to be caught and bowled by Smith, having looked untroubled, Somerset were in a hole at 181 for 6.

Another wild swing by van der Merwe saw him bowled by Smith and five wickets had fallen for just 21 runs when Craig Overton was bowled by Howell.


Payne produced a good one to bowl Alex Barrow and it seemed Gloucestershire could celebrate. But Jamie Overton and Groenewald showed great shot selection to reduce the deficit before Overton drove Miles for the winning boundary in the final over of a riveting match.


Worcestershire 295 (49.4 ov)
Derbyshire 298/3 (48.1 ov)
Derbyshire won by 7 wickets (with 11 balls remaining)

Derbyshire continued their positive response to last week's backroom upheaval when successfully chasing 296 to beat Worcestershire by seven wickets in their opening Royal London Cup fixture at New Road.

Hamish Rutherford led the way with a brilliant 104 from 76 balls, putting on 132 in 22 overs with Billy Godleman as Derbyshire registered their second win since Graeme Welch, the elite performance director, resigned on Friday.

Having beaten Leicestershire in the NatWest T20 Blast within hours of Welch's departure, they turned in another strong performance on a good batting surface.

When Chesney Hughes was brilliantly run out by Ross Whiteley from deep point in the 10th over, Rutherford took charge with clean hitting in front of the wicket for seven sixes and six fours. Godleman may not have been quite as fluent but still reached 50 in 66 balls.

Although they were bowled in quick succession, the wickets going to Daryl Mitchell and Ed Barnard, there were no signs of a wobble.

Wayne Madsen and Neil Broom, the New Zealander unbeaten with 45, cleared off 104 runs in 12.1 overs to see their side home with 11 balls to spare.

Madsen was as cool as ever, reaching 50 from 41 balls. In all he hit seven fours and a six while his partner picked off five boundaries as he also scored at better than a run-a-ball.

Worcestershire won only one game in this competition last season, and although they began a new campaign with a challenging total of 295, their innings lacked a coherent pattern.

When Mitchell won the toss, he took the chance on batting under early cloud cover and there were some problems as Andy Carter and Ben Cotton dismissed the openers with only 17 runs scored by the eighth over.

Tom Kohler-Cadmore edged Cotton to second slip without scoring and Mitchell himself was bowled, middle stump, as Cotton took two for 24 in his new-ball spell.

Alexei Kervezee led the initial counter-attack with a 33-ball half-century, which included three sixes, in his first List A appearance for the county in two years.

Following on from his match-winning 52 not out on the same pitch in Thursday's NatWest T20 Blast clash with Yorkshire, he dominated a partnership of 115 in 14 overs with Joe Clarke.

Kervezee was eventually out for 77, lbw to Shiv Thakor, and Clarke was run out for 44 when new batsman Brett D'Oliveira played the ball straight to Madsen at midwicket.

With D'Oliveira soon bowled by Thakor, Worcestershire had lost half their side for 143 and it was left to Whiteley to lead a second phase. The former Derbyshire left hander made 61 from 49 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes before he as lbw to Matt Critchley, a consolation for the legspinner as he conceded 101 runs in his 10 overs.


Ben Cox and Joe Leach chipped in with useful runs, but Cotton came back to take two more wickets for an impressive return of four for 43 and Carter struck in successive overs to close the innings with two balls left.