The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action from the latest round of matches in the 2024 Vitality Blast
Chester-le-Street: Durham 190-5, Worcestershire 168 - Durham win by 22 runs
A brutal cameo from Michael Jones helped Durham to a 22-run win against the Worcestershire Rapids in the Vitality Blast.
Jones smashed 39 from 17 balls at the Seat Unique Riverside to help Durham to a big total of 190 for 5, with the Scottish international capitalising on a good platform set by Ollie Robinson who made 41.
The visitors' chase was led by an impressive 45 from Kashif Ali, but a good Durham bowling performance spearheaded by Ben Raine meant that the Rapids fell short.
Durham are now in a good position to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2018, but the Rapids face an uphill challenge to qualify having lost their last six in the competition.
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Headingley: Birmingham Bears 214-7, Yorkshire 210-5 - Birmingham win by four runs
Sam Hain's stunning 98 off 48 balls set Birmingham Bears on their way to a fifth straight win in the Vitality Blast as they beat Yorkshire in a high-scoring thriller by four runs to take a significant step towards the quarter-finals.
Hain crashed eight sixes in an innings more power than poise on an excellent Headingley surface as the Bears amassed 214 for 7.
The North Group leaders then wrapped up a seventh win in nine matches, but not without drama. Dawid Malan opened with an excellent 54 and Donovan Ferreira blasted 66 off 32 balls with seven sixes.
But George Garton brilliantly defended 11 off the last over and six off the last ball, the Vikings finishing on 210 for 5.
There was no play at the Kia Oval (Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)
Wantage Road: Northamptonshire, Lancashire - match abandoned
Heavy rain put paid to Northamptonshire Steelbacks' T20 Vitality Blast match against Lancashire Lightning at Wantage Road.
Afternoon drizzle lifted an hour before the scheduled start of play, allowing the groundstaff to start to remove the covers before the heavens opened again. The umpires eventually called the match off just after 7.30pm, both teams taking a point each.
Just one point had separated the two sides heading into this fixture with Lightning sitting in second place in the North group and the Steelbacks in fourth.
Trent Bridge: Notts Outlaws 175-5, Leicestershire Foxes - match abandoned
Persistent rain frustrated Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire at Trent Bridge, wrecking what was shaping up as a good contest after Joe Clarke's 79 off 41 balls helped the home side to 175 for 5 before the bad weather that had already led three Vitality Blast matches to be abandoned without a ball bowled arrived in Nottingham.
Clarke, the Nottinghamshire captain, hit four sixes and 10 fours as he went past fifty for the first time this season, backed up by 39 off 21 balls by England's Ben Duckett in his first Blast appearance for two years and an unbeaten 26 off 15 balls from Liam Patterson-White.
Lewis Goldsworthy, the left-arm spinner on loan from Somerset, was the pick of the Foxes bowlers, taking 3 for 36 from four overs.
Durham proved too strong for Worcestershire (David ogers/Getty Images)
Chelmsford: Essex, Somerset - match abandoned
A deluge at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford prevented Essex from getting some Vitality Blast revenge over Somerset.
Somerset defeated the Eagles in the final at Edgbaston last season to claim their second Blast title.
In fact, the west country side have won each of the last six meetings, including an impressive six-wicket victory at The Coopers Associate County Ground, Taunton in both teams' opening fixture back in May.
But an afternoon and evening of rain, which led to glistening covers and puddles on the outfield, meant that there was no hope of play. The inevitable came at 19.40pm.
Bristol: Kent 150, Gloucestershire 29-2 - Kent win by eight runs (DLS)
David Payne's latest white ball masterclass proved in vain as in-form Gloucestershire suffered a frustrating eight-run DLS defeat to Kent Spitfires in a rain-affected Vitality Blast match at Cheltenham.
Needing to win to enhance their chances of achieving a top-four finish in the South Group and a place in the knockout stages, Gloucestershire found themselves in a strong position after bowling the visitors out for 150 in 19.2 overs at the College Ground.
Veteran campaigner Payne was outstanding in taking 4 for 25 in four overs, while Ollie Price finished with 2 for 26 after skipper Jack Taylor had won the toss and elected to bowl. Daniel Bell-Drummond did his utmost to rescue the visitors, scoring 76 off 52 balls and dominating partnerships of 56 and 54 with Joey Evison and Grant Stewart for the fourth and seventh wickets respectively.
Gloucestershire openers Miles Hammond and Cameron Bancroft then raised 23 in three overs to ease ahead of the DLS requirement, only for the rain forecast for early evening to arrive ahead of schedule with two overs more needing to be bowled to constitute a game.
When play finally resumed an hour later with the home side chasing a revised target of 145 from 19 overs, Kent reasserted themselves, Nathan Gilchrist removing Bancroft and James Bracey in the space of four balls in the fifth over.
Umpires Alex Wharf and Ben Peverall took the players off for the second and last time when heavy rain moved back in with Gloucestershire on 29 for 2, now eight runs behind the newly-revised DLS figure, their hopes dashed by a disappointing two-over passage of play which served to fundamentally alter the outcome. The game was abandoned soon afterwards.
Mason Crane took two wickets for Glamorgan (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Hove: Glamorgan 235-6, Sussex 190-8 - Glamorgan win by 24 runs (DLS)
Glamorgan eased to only their third victory in this season’s Vitality Blast as they beat Sussex Sharks by 24 runs under the DLS method at Hove.
The visitors laid the foundations for a huge total of 235 for 6 – the third-highest in their Blast history – when they plundered 81 in the powerplay as Sussex badly missed the control with the new ball normally offered by Ollie Robinson, who was absent with a back niggle.
It's debatable if even Robinson would have been able to tame Glamorgan captain Kiran Carlson, who hit a career-best 87 off 47 balls before he was caught at extra cover in the 19th over, one of four wickets for Sussex skipper Tymal Mills who is now the competition's leading wicket-taker with 19.
Daniel Hughes led Sussex's response with 74 off 38 balls, his fourth half century in this season's competition, but having been set an unlikely 79 from 28 deliveries following a 50-minute rain delay they finished on 190 for 8 and slipped to their third defeat of the season, although they remain second in the South Group.
Kia Oval: Surrey, Middlesex - match abandoned
Surrey's hopes of a fourth straight Vitality Blast victory were dashed by bad weather as their London derby against Middlesex at the Kia Oval was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The home side had been looking to stretch their lead at the top of the South Group after ending their first block of Blast fixtures with three successive wins.
But rain began to fall around an hour before the scheduled start and continued until the match was called off at 7.45pm, with both teams taking a point apiece.
Middlesex, who remain bottom of the table, resume their campaign against Hampshire at Radlett on Saturday, with Surrey due to host Kent Spitfires at the Kia Oval the following day.
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