T20 Blast (13th July)

Kent 152/8 (20/20 ov)
Gloucestershire 156/4 (19.1/20 ov)
Gloucestershire won by 6 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)

Gloucestershire maintained their unbeaten start to the NatWest t20 Blast season with a six wicket victory over Kent at Cheltenham College.

Having tied with Middlesex in a thrilling game last Friday, Michael Klinger's side went one better thanks to four wickets for 29 runs from Benny Howell and useful knocks from Phil Mustard, Ian Cockbain and Cameron Bancroft.

Kent made a decent start after being put in to bat thanks to Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond. However, when that pair were parted at 45 for 1 in the sixth over, it was Gloucestershire who took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Denley followed Bell-Drummond back to the pavilion 11 runs later when he was well caught by Tom Smith on the deep square leg boundary.

From 56 for 2, Kent slipped unceremoniously to 87 for 5 in the 12th over with Sam Northeast holing out to Smith, again on the deep square leg boundary. James Neesham edged Chris Liddle to wicket keeper Mustard and when Alex Blake handed Smith a third catch, Kent were struggling.

They appeared to be limping towards a rather modest total but Sam Billings and sixth wicket partner Darren Stevens had a different idea. Although Gloucestershire continued to bowl and field well, they progressed at 10 an over until Matt Taylor took a fine catch at backward square off the bowling of Howell to send back Billings for 36.

Howell, who had already taken the wickets of Northeast and Denly, added his fourth scalp before the end of the 17th over when Matt Coles holed out to Jack Taylor at long on for a first ball duck.

From that juncture, Kent limped to 152 for 8, leaving Gloucestershire a total that was always well within their grasp.

Openers Klinger and Mustard provided the perfect platform on which the hosts could build.

The pair kept the board moving in the opening overs, with Mustard punishing anything up to the bat. They were eventually separated when James Tredwell bowled Klinger for 13 in the sixth over

Cockbain and Mustard added 41 for the second wicket before the latter carelessly drove T20 debutant Imran Qayyum to midwicket where Northeast took a smart catch.

Although Coles took an even better catch - one handed - to dismiss Cockbain for 31 at 108 for 3, Gloucestershire had already batted themselves within sight of victory.

Qayyum and Coles did their bit to claw Kent back into the game and the former bowled particularly well from the Chapel End, however, Bancroft once again proved his worth and with Howell batting as well as he bowled, the result was never really in doubt.

The pair added 40 for the fourth wicket and helped Gloucestershire to victory with six wickets and five balls in hand.


Surrey 158/9 (20/20 ov)
Middlesex 161/9 (18.4/20 ov)
Middlesex won by 1 wicket (with 8 balls remaining)

Steven Finn hit a dramatic winning boundary off Ravi Rampaul to earn Middlesex a nerve-shredding one-wicket victory in the NatWest T20 Blast against Surrey before a near sell-out 27,205 London derby crowd at a floodlit Lord's.

A sudden Middlesex collapse left Middlesex needing nine runs from the last three overs but with three wickets still intact. Then Jade Dernbach had Nathan Sowter caught at cover and John Simpson, trying to turn Ravi Rampaul to leg, was caught for 7 off a leading edge. From 133 for 3, chasing 159, Middlesex had staggered to 153 for 9.

That left last man Finn coming in to join Tom Helm with six still required. He survived a close lbw appeal from Rampaul before the next ball, also angled into his pads, flew away for four leg byes. Rampaul's next ball, the fourth of the 19th over, was an attempted slower ball and Finn clipped the resulting full toss to the midwicket ropes amid wild scenes.

Surrey captain Gareth Batty had earlier taken 4 for 14 with his off spin, including a double-wicket maiden in the 16th over when he dismissed both Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee, to set in motion the collapse which produced such a thrilling finish on a two-paced pitch.

Only Kumar Sangakkara, with 70 from 42 balls, took the attack to Middlesex's bowlers for anything other than a brief cameo and Surrey's eventual 158 for 9 never looked enough.

Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling began the chase well, the left-handed Malan hitting two fours in the first over from Dernbach and the stocky Stirling plundering two fours and a remarkable swatted six over wide third man from Sam Curran's opening over.

At 37, and after Malan had driven Rampaul's first ball high for four, Stirling fell for 23 in that same fourth over as he mishit to mid off. Malan, however, twice swung Rampaul for huge legside sixes in a sixth over which ended with Middlesex well ahead of the required rate at 64 for one.

Middlesex T20 captain Brendon McCullum made only 9 before slugging Batty's second ball high to long on, where 39-year-old Sangakkara took a good tumbling catch to his right, and Surrey's hopes rose when Malan chipped a low catch to Ollie Pope at extra cover from a ball which seemed to grip the surface.

Malan made 41 from 26 balls, and his early aggression allowed Morgan and Franklin time to steady Middlesex's reply, which they did with a judicious mixture of easy singles and the odd more adventurous stroke in a fourth wicket stand of 53 in six overs.

That looked to be guiding Middlesex to a comfortable victory, but then Batty returned to have Morgan caught at point for 31, with Southee slogging the next ball into the hands of long off.

Ryan Higgins drove his first ball for four, off Tom Curran, and then pulled his next for six. The next, however, was edged behind as Higgins went for 10 and the slide continued when Franklin was bowled later in Curran's over for 23. Then came the fall of both Sowter and Simpson, and Finn's late heroics.

It was Surrey's first defeat in the south group, after winning their first two games, while Middlesex added another two points to the one they gained for a thrilling tie against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham last Friday.

The match began with Finn's opening over, the second of the innings, being taken for 17 runs as Aaron Finch followed two legside fours with a pulled six into the Mound Stand. With Finch already having collected a five in the opening over, a direct hit run out attempt by Higgins deflecting off the bowlers' stumps and racing away for four overthrows, Surrey were off to a flyer.

Southee tried to stem the early flow of runs, producing a beauty to have Dom Sibley caught behind for 5 in his second over with the new ball, and when Helm replaced him at the Nursery End he bowled Finch for 22 through an attempted heave at his first delivery.

Helm's opening over only cost a single but Sangakkara increased the tempo again by lofting the unhappy Finn high over the covers for six and then taking a couple of steps down the pitch to swing Helm magnificently over long on for another maximum.

Sowter's introduction for the eighth over saw the Australian-born leg-spinner knock back Ben Foakes' off stump with his first ball, the England Lions wicketkeeper-batsman only briefly firing with 13, but teenager Pope - who also made 13 - then added 23 with Sangakkara before he was bamboozled and bowled by a slower ball from the returning Southee.

The Curran brothers did not last long, Stirling's off spin accounting for them both. Sam was bowled for 5, back when he should have been forward, and Tom was also bowled, for 4, when he tried to force square a ball which seemed to creep through a little low to hit his off stump halfway up.

Sangakkara, though, hit Franklin's left-arm seam high over extra cover for six and also drove and swung fours off the same bowler in a 16th over costing 18. When Finn returned for the 19th over, however, nursing figures of 0 for 40 from his first three overs, the great Sri Lankan left-hander diverted a low full toss into his own stumps as he tried an unconventional flick to leg from outside his off stump.

That success also allowed Finn to concede just two singles from his final over and, with Helm also bowling tightly in a 20th over in which Batty hit him straight to extra cover and Rampaul picked out deep square leg to go for ducks, the Surrey innings ended with something of a whimper.

Surrey were missing opener Jason Roy, because of a shoulder injury, while Kevin Pietersen is not scheduled to make his T20 Blast comeback until next Wednesday, in the home match against Essex.



Essex 170/6 (20/20 ov)
Somerset 148/9 (20/20 ov)
Essex won by 22 runs

South African spin bowler Simon Harmer led a parsimonious attack in defending a total of 170 to give Essex their first win of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

Harmer, who has taken the red-ball domestic cricket by storm with 47 Specsavers County Championship wickets to date, added three more white-ball victims to his tally as his 3 for 39 from four overs ended Essex's two-defeat start to the campaign.

It was a fine response by Essex as they recovered from the shock of losing Tamim Iqbal who had abruptly returned to Bangladesh after only one match in unexplained circumstances.

Harmer was backed up by a fine spell by Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir, who posted outstanding figures of 1 for 17 from his 24 balls. Paul Walter took two wickets in the final over to finish with 3 for 28.

Somerset were undone by two wickets in five balls by Harmer mid-innings and were unable to keep up with the required run rate, falling short by 22 runs.

Essex had struggled to penetrate some outstanding Somerset fielding and were indebted to Ryan ten Doeschate's 37-ball 56 and some lusty late hitting by Ashar Zaidi, who included three sixes in his 35, for setting what turned out to be a matchwinning total.

Chasing 171, Somerset lost Johann Myburgh to a top-edge that lobbed to Harmer at backward point to give Jamie Porter his first T20 wicket.

Two wickets in the eighth over for Harmer knocked the stuffing out of Somerset's reply after they had reached 47 for 1. He had Jim Allenby caught in the covers by ten Doeschate and Peter Trego pouched on the long-off boundary by Tom Westley.

Steven Davies was next to go when he swished at a wide one down legside from Ravi Bopara and was caught behind. Suddenly Somerset were 58 for 4 and nine overs gone.

Like Essex, Somerset were struggling to get the ball away on a slow pitch, but Adam Hose and James Hildreth tried the aerial route with straight sixes off Zaidi and Bopara respectively. But when Hildreth attempted to do the same to Harmer he was caught by ten Doeschate diving forward on the long-leg boundary for 27.

Hose got a bottom edge to Amir to give James Foster his second catch behind and Lewis Gregory was caught behind for a belligerent 23 off 12 balls. But time and overs were running out for Somerset. They required 36 from 12 balls with Amir restricting them to just eight from the penultimate over.

Craig Overton went for broke but was caught at cow corner by Dan Lawrence before Tim Groenewald was held by Zaidi to give Walter two wickets in the final over.

Essex had looked in some trouble themselves from the start of their innings and were 36 for 3 in the sixth over after being put in.

Lawrence started the rot when he lost his off-stump going for an ungainly heave against Gregory. He was followed swiftly by Varun Chopra who was reprieved by Hose's dropped catch at deep mid-on, but next ball skied Craig Overton and Groenewald took the catch at short third man. And Westley departed when he played over a slower delivery from Groenewald.

Bopara and ten Doeschate set about a repair job, turning singles into twos, with the captain upping the tempo with a straight six and a one-bounce four off successive balls from Roelof van der Merwe. But when the partnership had reached 50 inside six overs, Max Waller took a brilliant return catch low to his left to remove Bopara for 24.

Essex became bogged down in the middle overs before Zaidi pulled Waller for successive sixes over the short midwicket boundary and out of the ground.

Ten Doeschate hooked Overton for four before pushing a two into the on-side to reach fifty off 34 balls that included five fours and a six. But he departed in the penultimate over, caught on the long-off boundary by Overton diving forward.

Zaidi launched his third six over midwicket in the same over, but was caught out of his ground for 35 when James Foster hit the ball straight back to van der Merwe who turned and removed the bails. But Essex's total proved to be enough.