The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action from the penultimate round of matches in the 2024 Vitality Blast
North Group
Edgbaston: Birmingham 194-5, Leicestershire 122 - Birmingham win by 72 runs
Birmingham Bears sealed top spot in the Vitality Blast North Group final table with a 72-run victory over Leicestershire Foxes at sultry Edgbaston.
The Bears booked a home quarter-final with Gloucestershire while the Foxes, who knew that a win would take them into the last eight, suffered the angst of being edged out of the qualification spots on the last day.
Moeen Ali's third T20 century (103) lifted the Bears to 194 for 5, a tall total but less than appeared likely when they were at 99 without loss in the ninth over. The Foxes then reined in the scoring impressively led by the excellent Scott Currie (2 for 26) and Josh Hull (2 for 34).
The Foxes batters could not carry on the comeback, though, folding feebly to 122 all out in 16.4 overs. Only Lewis Goldsworthy (35) offered any resistance as Craig Miles (2 for 12) struck important early blows before Danny Briggs (3 for 30) took his haul in this season's competition to 27 wickets at 12.81 apiece.
Headingley: Nottinghamshire 209-9, Yorkshire 181-6 - Nottinghamshire win by 28 runs
Yorkshire's Vitality Blast quarter-final hopes were ended with defeat to the North Group's bottom side Nottinghamshire, the Vikings failing to chase 210 in a must-win game at Headingley.
Coming into this final group fixture, Yorkshire had to win and hope for favours from elsewhere. But they fell short in the face of a target which would have been their highest successful chase in Blast history. Finishing on 181 for 6, they lost by 29 runs.
The Outlaws' 209 for nine included a blistering 50 off 21 balls for Jack Haynes and 48 and 44 for T20 debutants Freddie McCann and Sammy King. Opener McCann, aged 19, was making his first-team bow for a county who won for only the fourth time in 14 group games.
Seamer Ben Cliff also returned a career best 4 for 31 for the Vikings, whose seventh defeat proved fatal. Leg-spinner Calvin Harrison and seamer Luke Fletcher claimed two wickets apiece for Notts and James Wharton top-scored with 52 off 46 for the hosts.
Kiran Carlson smashed 135 for Glamorgan against Somerset (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Derby: Derbyshire 155-8, Durham 159-2 - Durham win by eight wickets
Alex Lees and Colin Ackermann scored unbeaten half centuries to take Durham to an eight-wicket victory over Derbyshire Falcons in the Vitality Blast match at Derby.
Lees made 72 off 60 balls and Ackermann 54 from 30 with the pair sharing an unbroken stand of 88 as Durham ended on 159 for 2 to claim the remaining quarter-final place in the North Group.
Durham's victory was set up by excellent bowling from Nathan Sowter (2 for 18), Ben Raine (2 for 19) and Callum Parkinson (2 for 33) which restricted Falcons to 155 for 8.
Old Trafford: Lancashire, Northamptonshire
Matthew Breetzke's thunderous 31-ball 76 helped Northamptonshire Steelbacks secure a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast by beating Lancashire Lightning by four wickets at Emirates Old Trafford.
It was the visitors' first T20 victory on this ground in eight attempts but no one could doubt that it was thoroughly deserved.
Reply to the home side's 210 for 9, in which Jack White took 3 for 16, the Steelbacks sealed their win with eight balls to spare, the visitors surviving a late tumble of wickets before Ashton Agar's six off Liam Livingstone settled matters.
South Group
Cardiff: Glamorgan 243-4, Somerset 123 - Glamorgan win by 120 runs
Kiran Carlson's magnificent century ended Glamorgan's 2024 Vitality Blast campaign in record-breaking fashion with a convincing 120-run win over Somerset.
The Glamorgan captain's hard-hitting 135 from just 64 balls after winning the toss and opting to bat got the hosts to the highest total of the 2024 Blast with 243 for 4 before Somerset fell to 123 all out.
Marnus Labuschagne collapsed the Somerset tail with the final seven wickets falling for just 35 runs thanks to a 15-ball spell taking figures of 5 for 11 including a triple-wicket maiden.
Glamorgan’s win was in vain as they finished the Blast in sixth in the South Group while Somerset have qualified for the quarter final, although they await a result from Sussex for who their opposition will be.
Hove: Middlesex 159-9, Sussex 161-1 - Sussex win by nine wickets
Sussex Sharks secured a home quarter-final in the Vitality Blast after thrashing Middlesex by nine wickets in front of a sell-out crowd at Hove.
They leapfrogged Somerset, who lost heavily to Glamorgan in Cardiff, and back into second place after securing a ninth win in the South Group and will host the team who finish third in the North in the last eight when the competition resumes in September.
The pitch at the 1st Central County Ground was being used for the third time but Middlesex's 159 for 9 never looked like being enough and conditions were put into perspective by Sussex openers Harrison Ward and the Australian left-hander Daniel Hughes, who put on 141 in 15.1 overs, Sussex's fourth highest stand for any wicket in T20.
Hughes is now the top scorer in what is his debut season in the Blast after taking his aggregate to 560 runs with an unbeaten 96 while Ward, who had been drafted into The Hundred for the first time with Oval Invincibles earlier in the day, celebrated by easing to his third half century in this season's competition.
Gloucestershire were the beneficiaries of Essex's defeat by Hampshire (David Rogers/Getty Images)
Southampton: Hampshire 181-5, Essex 174-7 - Hampshire win by seven runs
Hampshire Hawks fast bowler John Turner's best T20 figures knocked Essex out of the Vitality Blast.
The Eagles, who were losing finalists in 2023, only needed a point at Utilita Bowl to overtake Gloucestershire into fourth but were undone by Turner's 4 for 23.
Ben McDermott's exquisite 64, together with 41 for both James Vince and Tom Prest got Hawks to a defendable 181.
Essex looked out of it at 58 for 5 but teenagers Luc Benkenstein and Charlie Allison crashed maiden T20 half centuries in an 86-run stand.
But Turner's return at the death ended their hopes of a quarter-final place as Hawks secured a fourth win of an otherwise poor competition by seven runs.
Canterbury: Kent 217-5, Surrey 131 - Kent win by 86 runs
Kent Spitfires routed Surrey by 86 runs in the Vitality Blast at Canterbury to end a disappointing campaign on a high note.
Kent's 217 for 5 was their highest ever score against Surrey, with Tawanda Muyeye hitting 61 from 31 and Daniel Bell-Drummond 58 from 36.
They then produced the kind of stifling fielding display their fans have been longing to see all summer, skittling the South Group winners for 131 in 16 overs. Matt Parkinson claimed 3 for 23 and Jas Singh 3 for 27.
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