The Cricketer wraps up the best of the action from the latest round of matches in the 2024 Vitality Blast
New Road: Lancashire Lightning 169-2, Worcestershire Rapids 172-5 - Worcestershire Rapids won by five wickets
Worcestershire Rapids are celebrating their first win of the season in the Vitality Blast after Tom Taylor's last over six, which enabled them to defeat Lancashire Lightning by five wickets at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Club skipper Brett D'Oliveira's half-century laid the foundations for the Rapids' triumph after they had been set a 170 target on a hybrid pitch.
Lancashire did well to recover from 13 for 3 thanks to a half-century from captain Steven Croft.
But the Rapids own leader in D'Oliveira steered his side to within 22 runs of victory before Taylor finished the job.
Chester-le-Street: Durham 101, Birmingham Bears 105-4 - Birmingham Bears won by six wickets
A brilliant bowling performance from Birmingham Bears gave them a win in their Blast opener as they beat Durham by six wickets at the Seat Unique Riverside.
Hassan Ali and Richard Gleeson led the attack with exceptional performances as the experienced seamers picked up five wickets between them and helped restrict the hosts to 101 all out.
The visitors led by Rob Yates and Sam Hain chased down the target with minimum fuss and won with plenty of time to spare.
Related: Tom Curran rises above to claim another big moment for his own
Sol Budinger started the season on fire (Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Grace Road: Yorkshire Vikings 151-7, Leicestershire Foxes 155-3 -Leicestershire Foxes won by seven wickets
Leicestershire Foxes launched their T20 Blast season in spectacular style with a thumping seven-wicket win over Yorkshire Vikings at the Uptonsteel County Ground in Leicester.
Vikings had themselves started the season strongly with an eight-wicket win over Worcestershire Rapids the previous evening but were brought crashing back to earth in the East Midlands.
They totalled a below-par 151 for 7, captain Shan Masood's 45 (32 balls) standing out amid a bitty team effort which was heavily damaged by Josh Hull's fiery three for 28.
The moderate target soon appeared minuscule after Foxes openers and Sol Budinger (50, 22) and Rishi Patel (30, 18) smashed six sixes and six fours in the first five overs.
Their stand of 79 in 36 balls turned the chase into a cruise as the Foxes galloped to 155 for 3 from 14.1 overs.
Trent Bridge Notts Outlaws 154, Northamptonshire Steelbacks 157-2 - Northamptonshire Steelbacks won by eight wickets
Skipper David Willey smashed seven sixes and seven fours in a 34-ball 79 as Northamptonshire Steelbacks made it two Vitality Blast wins from two with a crushing eight-wicket win over Notts Outlaws.
After bowling the Outlaws out for 154, the Steelbacks knocked off their target with a commanding 40 balls to spare, South African opener Matthew Breetzke hitting the winning boundary in a 30-ball unbeaten 51. Northamptonshire had never won at Trent Bridge in seven previous visits in the shortest format.
The Outlaws had appeared set for a substantial score after building on a 63-run powerplay to be 104 for 1 after 10 overs, new skipper Joe Clarke and Outlaws debutant Jack Haynes having shared a 95-run partnership from 58 balls.
But Clarke fell for 48 and Haynes for 51 and the home side lost their last nine wickets for 50 in 9.2 overs.
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Cardiff: Surrey 200-8, Glamorgan 181-7 - Surrey won by 19 runs
An explosive innings of 76 from Jamie Smith set up a 19-run victory for Surrey in their Vitality T20 Blast match against Glamorgan. His runs saw Surrey reach 200 for eight from their 20 overs, a target that was too much for Glamorgan to chase.
Glamorgan's bowlers struggled to keep the Surrey scoring in check outside of the powerplay and Smith was well supported by the rest of a long batting lineup.
Surrey's bowling attack took early wickets before making it very difficult for the Glamorgan middle order to keep up with the rate. Runs for Marnus Labuschagne and Colin Ingram kept the margin of defeat to a minimum, but they could not score quickly enough to put pressure on this Surrey attack.
Ingram made 50 and Labuschagne scored 58 but it wasn’t enough to secure victory as Surrey made it two from two in this year’s Blast.
Jamie Smith was back in the runs for Surrey (Gareth Copley - ECB/ECB via Getty Images)
Taunton: Essex Eagles 193-6, Somerset 197-6 - Somerset won by four wickets
Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory staged a whirlwind stand of 60 in 30 balls as Somerset launched the defence of their Vitality T20 Blast title with a thrilling four-wicket victory over Essex at the Cooper Associates Ground.
Abell top-scored with 55 from 36 balls and Gregory smashed 44 from 22 deliveries as Somerset reached their target of 194 with five balls to spare in a repeat of last year's final. Tom Banton, Will Smeed and Sean Dickson also made useful contributions in front of the Sky TV cameras to give a sell-out crowd an evening to remember under the Taunton floodlights.
Playing against his former county, Dean Elgar top-scored with 77 from 51 balls on his return to the West Country, accruing 8 fours and 2 sixes and sharing in stands of 67 and 58 with Adam Rossington and Jordan Cox for the first and third wickets respectively as Essex posted 193 for 6. Rossington contributed 32 and Cox 30, while Gregory returned figures of 3 for 42 off four overs in what was an excellent individual performance with bat and ball.
It was the perfect start for the defending champions, who have now won their last nine matches in the short format, while Essex have work to do after losing their opening two matches.
Related: T20 Blast 2024 team guides: Every club assessed
Chelmsford: Kent Spitfires 205-8, Middlesex 107 - Kent won by 98 runs
Matt Parkinson claimed a hat-trick as Kent thrashed Middlesex by 98 runs at Chelmsford to open their 2024 Vitality Blast campaign with a win.
Parkinson, who made the move from Lancashire over the winter, shone for his newly adopted county, claiming the scalps of Jack Davies, Tom Helm and Henry Brookes in his third over on route to figures of 4 for 25.
It meant the hosts, playing the first of two home games at Chelmsford in this campaign were hustled out for 107 to fall way short of their victory target of 206.
Matt Parkinson took his first professional career hat-trick (Getty Images)
Hove: Gloucestershire 167-8, Sussex Sharks 168-7 - Sussex Sharks won by three wickets
Sussex Sharks scrambled a bye off the final ball of the game to get their Vitality Blast campaign off to a successful start with a three-wicket win over Gloucestershire at Hove.
Chasing 168, the final over began with Sussex needing ten to win but Fynn Hudson-Prentice, whose 47 appeared to have taken them to the brink of victory, was caught behind to give Matt Taylor his third wicket.
With eight needed off three deliveries, Jack Carson swung a six onto the pavilion roof and then scrambled a single to leave Nathan McAndrew facing the final ball.
McAndrew failed to make contact, but James Bracey missed his shy at the stumps and Sussex, who only won once at the 1st Central County Ground in last year’s tournament, had completed a breathless triumph.
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