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Somerset and Worcestershire maintained their 100% winning records in the T20 Blast with wins over Middlesex and Notts Outlaws, while there was a surprise first defeat for Birmingham Bears against Derbyshire.
There were no hint of an unexpected result in South Group at Taunton, where the top-versus-bottom tussle saw Somerset thrash Middlesex by nine wickets with six-and-a-half overs to spare to make it five wins from five.
Somerset seamer Ben Green took 4-20 from just 2.4 overs, picking up three wickets in four balls to end the visitors’ innings on 136 and ensure they failed to bat their overs.
They left eight balls unused despite a spirited knock of 32 by Jack Davies and that never looked remotely enough to avoid a fifth successive defeat – and a club-record ninth T20 defeat in a row stretching back to last season.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore did the majority of the damage, with an undefeated 31-ball 64, an innings he completed in style to hammering Toby Roland-Jones for six to get his side over the line on 142-1.
Elsewhere in South Group, a century from James Vince helped Hampshire Hawks crush Essex by 118 runs, Gloucestershire pulled off a thrilling final-over win over Surrey in a low-scoring game at Bristol, and Glamorgan chased down 190 to beat Kent by seven wickets at Sophia Gardens.
In the North Group, there were also wins for Northamptonshire Steelbacks, for whom Chris Lynn hit the second century of the night, and Durham who handed Lancashire their second defeat in 24 hours.
D’Oliveira shines as Rapids dominate Outlaws
Brett D’Oliveira starred with bat and ball as Worcestershire Rapids made it four wins out of four to go top of North Group as they beat Notts Outlaws by 56 runs at Trent Bridge
Michael Bracewell (55) and captain D’Oliveira (44) set the tone for Worcestershire in destructive style, both openers scoring at a strike rate of in excess of 200 in a stand of 98.
And when New Zealander Bracewell lost his leg stump trying to carve Matt Carter through the off-side, Jack Haynes (42) and an unbeaten 51 from Adam Hose kept up the attack to post 226-5. The daunting score was the club’s highest in an away T20 match and their second best overall – just one run short of their 227-6 against Northants at Kidderminster in 2007.
England’s Alex Hales led the Notts run-chase with 71 off 35 balls to give hope but D’Oliveira took 4-11 and Pat Brown finished with figures of 4-25, with only Joe Clarke and Shaheen Afridi joining Hales in reaching double figures.
Gloucestershire edge out Surrey
Despite no fireworks with the bat at Bristol, one of the most entertaining games on Friday saw Gloucestershire beat Surrey by two wickets with just five balls to spare on a difficult batting surface.
Surrey were in deep trouble at 29-4 and never truly recovered against a side who had won just once in their first four fixtures.
Matt Taylor (3-27) did the bulk of the damage with the ball for the home side, dismissing Sam and Tom Curran both for nought with successive deliveries in the third over.
And although Surrey posted some sort of total to defend at 124-9, Gloucestershire just about got over the line in a nervy batting display mainly caused by Sam Curran’s excellent 3-20.
Vince shines again
England batter Vince continued his incredible form with another brutal batting display as Hampshire thumped Essex at Chelmsford.
Vince, who on Wednesday became the leading run-scorer in T20 Blast history, crashed 103 from 48 balls as his side reached 214-8.
Only three men made double figures in a woeful Essex response that saw them bowled out for 96 in 14.1 overs, as the visitors slipped to a first defeat in their third fixture, with spinner Liam Dawson the pick off the bowlers with 4-21.
Glamorgan see off Kent
An unbroken century stand between Colin Ingram (63 from 32) and Chris Cooke (46 from 28) secured a thumping win for Glamorgan against Kent at Sophia Gardens with three overs to spare.
Tawanda Muyeye hit 62 from 38 but Kent stumbled to 189-6 when they had looked destined to cruise past 200.
Eddie Byrom’s blistering 43 gave the Welsh side the perfect start in their first home game and in making 191-3, they earned a third victory in four to open up a gap between the top four and the rest in the South Group.
Falcons sees off Bears despite Moeen return
There was no fairytale return for Moeen Ali as Derbyshire Falcons beat Birmingham Bears by 17 runs at the 3aaa County Ground.
The 35-year-old England all-rounder, who led the Rapids to the Blast title in 2018, has been away at the IPL where his Chennai Super Kings side beat Gujarat Titans in the final.
The Bears seemed set to restrict their hosts to a more manageable score but a lot of their good work was undone in the last two overs as Derbyshire hit 39 to reach a competitive-looking 174-5. Wayne Madsen continued his purple patch for an unbeaten 71 from 52 balls – his fourth half-century to go with one hundred in five innings.
In reply, Zak Chappell and Zaman Khan both took three wickets to guide Falcons to back-to-back wins, with Dan Mousley’s 36 the visitors’ top score.
Durham and Northants ease to victory
Durham had little trouble in surpassing Lancashire Lightning’s 152-9 at Chester-le-Street to make it three wins from four in the North Group.
Lancashire were 113-3, but faltered badly. Only Steven Croft (34) and Daryl Mitchell (31) made any noteworthy knocks, with England white-ball captain Jos Buttler departing for a run-a-ball 11 following a mis-timed swipe to mid-on after a bright start.
Nathan Sowter, Ben Raine, Bas de Leede and Wayne Parnell all took two wickets. In reply Durham’s top four all made decent contributions, Michael Jones top-scoring with a superbly controlled 43 from 33 balls to tee up the six-wicket win, which came with 10 balls to spare.
Northants won the battle of two sides in poor form, Australian Lynn taking centre stage with a magnificent undefeated 110 as they comfortably saw off winless Leicestershire at the County Ground.
The Foxes struggled against some fine bowling from Ben Sanderson (3-25) and AJ Tye (3-30) as they posted 164-8 – a score hugely boosted by Naveen-ul-Haq smashing 25 from eight balls, which included two sixes in the final over.
But Lynn hit five sixes and 13 fours to earn the 2013 and 2016 winners just their second win in five this season, while Leicestershire have now lost all five matches.
