The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action from the latest round of matches in the 2024 Vitality Blast
Edgbaston: Birmingham Bears 219-4, Northamptonshire 129-9 - Birmingham win by 90 runs
A scintillating innings from Jake Bethell hoisted Birmingham Bears to a thumping 90-run Vitality Blast victory over Northamptonshire at Edgbaston.
Twenty-year-old Bethell smashed an unbeaten 56 from just 16 balls, including a 15-ball half-century, the quickest for the Bears in the Blast, to lift his side to 219 for 4.
Ed Barnard (48), Dan Mousley (43) and Alex Davies (36) had already laid the foundation for a solid total but Bethell turned solid into spectacular with a furious onslaught of seven sixes, including four from Ben Sanderson in the last over.
Steelbacks then meandered to 129 for 9 (Bethell adding 2 for 18 to his batting heroics) to suffer their eighth successive T20 defeat to the Bears.
The only negative of the night for the home side was an injury to fast bowler Richard Gleeson who limped off the field, apparently with a hamstring injury, after delivering his seventh ball.
Headingley: Yorkshire 173-8, Lancashire 166-8 - Yorkshire win by seven runs
Yorkshire Vikings won a home Roses match for the second season running, successfully defending a 174-run target to beat Vitality Blast pacesetters Lancashire at Headingley by seven runs.
A typically pulsating clash on a pitch suiting pace off saw the pendulum swing back and forth but decisively the Vikings’ way as Lightning slipped from 67 for 2 in the eighth over to 88 for 5 in the 11th and later finishing on 166 for 8.
Home captain Shan Masood underpinned Yorkshire's 173 for 8 with 61 off 41 balls, while England's Joe Root contributed 43 off 33 – they shared 104 for the fourth wicket. Later, off-spinner Dom Bess struck twice, including the scalp of Keaton Jennings for 46 to start that aforementioned mini-collapse.
Yorkshire won for the fourth time in seven, while the North Group leaders lost their third game in eight. Off-spinner Chris Green was the pick of Lancashire's bowlers with 2 for 21, while pacer Saqib Mahmood struck three times.
Marnus Labuschagne took a remarkable catch for Glamorgan in their homedefeat (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Chelmsford: Hampshire 166-7, Essex 170-2 - Essex win by eight wickets
Dean Elgar showed off all his variations with his third fifty of the Vitality Blast to give Essex a comfortable fourth victory of the competition.
South African Elgar never looked fussed in chasing 167, as his 60 not out made in conjunction with the swashbuckling of Adam Rossington's quick-fire 18, Michael Pepper's swaggering 44 off 24 and Jordan Cox's slow-burning unbeaten 41.
Hampshire had been dragged a middling score by a late James Fuller flurry of 39 off 16, after Joe Weatherley had stoically struck 48, but as was the case in last year's rain-affected semi-final, it wasn't enough.
Lord's: Surrey 185-9, Middlesex 129-8 - Surrey win by 56 runs
Sean Abbott's 5 for 18, including wickets with successive balls led the way as Surrey crushed London rivals Middlesex by 56 runs at Lord's to return to the top of the South Group table.
The Aussie seamer mixed slower balls with great yorkers to expose the home side's fragile batting and ensure they were never in the hunt for a victory target of 186.
Abbott's wasn't the only five-wicket haul of the night with Luke Hollman taking a career-best 5 for 16 in the format, including three in one over, but Tom Curran (48 from 28) and Laurie Evans (41 from 20) steered Surrey to a challenging 185 for 9 despite the Middlesex leg-spinner's heroics.
Birmingham Bears won comfortably (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Hove: Sussex 201-7, Kent 170-7 - Sussex win by 31 runs
The Sussex Sharks made it five wins out of seven in the Vitality Blast when they defeated Kent Spitfires by 31 runs at The 1st Central County Ground in Hove. But for Kent this was a fourth defeat in as many games.
Kent's challenge, to score 202, was always a daunting one, the more so after Zak Crawley was bowled by Ollie Robinson for four in the opening over – the England opener's sixth consecutive failure to reach double figures. Robinson was also unlucky not to have Marcus O’Riordan lbw in the same over.
But when O'Riordan was out in the second over, edging Nathan McAndrew to first slip, everything appeared to depend on Daniel Bell-Drummond and skipper Sam Billings, because there was a lack of experience in Kent's late middle-order.
Bell-Drummond and Billings looked the part as they added 93 for the third wicket. And when James Coles went for 19 in one over, and also dropped Bell-Drummond, a steepling catch, it looked a possible turning point. But Sussex captain Tymal Mills responded by bringing himself on at the other end and immediately bowled the Kent batter.
That moved Billings firmly centre stage. But in the next over he sent a lofted drive to Robinson at wide long-off and the match looked over, despite a spirited knock from Joey Evison (34) and a quickfire 18 from former Sussex player Harry Finch.Danny Lamb completed an impressive all-round match with figures of 3 for 37.
Cardiff: Glamorgan 140-6, Gloucestershire 142-8 - Gloucestershire win by two wickets
Gloucestershire completed a superb win over Glamorgan with Jack Taylor's 67 setting up a remarkable comeback from 45 for 5 to secure a two-wicket victory.
Glamorgan looked certain to claim the win before three dropped catches in the last three overs came back to haunt them as Josh Shaw hit the last ball for six to take the visitors past their target.
Runs for Sam Northeast and an excellent spell from Timm van der Gugten had put Glamorgan into a winning position before Taylor's 70 from 48 balls set up the victory for Gloucestershire.
Gloucestershire looked to be heading for a large defeat before Taylor's innings allowed them snatch the win from the very last ball.
Join The Cricketer's brand new Whatsapp channel for the latest breaking news, comment and features - click here to become a member
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.