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Five of the six spare places in the T20 Blast quarter-finals were filled as Lancashire, Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire qualified from the North, while Surrey and holders Hampshire qualified from the South.
The one remaining place depends on the outcome of the final Sunday evening game between Somerset and Kent.
Somerset, like fellow group winners Birmingham Bears, are already though to the last eight.
Kent will join them if they win, with hopefuls Essex standing by.
Essex dramatically gave themselves a chance of clinching that last place when they won off the last ball against Surrey.
Feroze Khushi attempted to hit a six and Chris Jordan tried to flick the ball back to Jamie Overton for a relay catch as it went over the boundary rope, but the ball dropped behind the rope for the winning blow.
Before the final round of games only the Bears and Somerset were through, having both booked home ties.
The Bears will host whoever qualifies out of either Kent or Essex at Edgbaston on Thursday, while Somerset must face Notts Outlaws at Taunton on Friday.
Hampshire will face Worcestershire at home on Friday, but, despite reaching Finals Day a joint-record nine times, it will only be the first time since 2013 that the Ageas Bowl has played host to a quarter-final.
Hampshire have only met the Pears once before in the Blast – a controversial rain-ruined quarter-final at New Road in 2015, which they eventually won due to bad light.
North Group
Lancashire Lightning booked the other home semi against Surrey, at Old Trafford, where they are now unbeaten in 21 home games.
They made it through with a comfortable six-wicket victory against Northamptonshire that also ended theSteelbacks’ qualification hopes.
Phil Salt, a beaten finalist with Sussex in 2018 and Lancashire in 2022, smashed 74 off 51 balls as the hosts chased down a target of 138-7 with 20 balls to spare.
Worcestershire Rapids booked their place with victory over Derbyshire Falcons by 28 runs in the “winners go though” decider at Derby.
New Zealand star Mitchell Santner maintained his fine form with the bat, hammering 64, including five sixes off 46 balls, in a total of 222-5, while Adam Hose smashed an unbeaten 42 from 21 balls.
Wayne Madsen scored 63 from 32 balls but the Falcons were bowled out for 194, Pat Brown taking 3-35 and Usama Mir 3-38.
Injury-hit Notts Outlaws booked the fourth spot in North Group and a place in the last eight for a seventh time by beating Leicestershire Foxes by four runs despite a career-best unbeaten 83 from 50 balls from visiting South African Wiaan Mulder.
Rishi Patel made 37 for the Foxes, who looked favourites after posting 70-2 in the powerplay, but they could not build well enough on that start as two wickets each from Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Matt Carter and Calvin Harrison restricted them to 164-8.
Wicketkeeper Tom Moores top scored for the Outlaws for the second match in a row with 68 from 40 deliveries to earn his side an away tie with Somerset as they bid to clinch a place at Finals Day for the seventh time.
As for the North Group leaders, Birmingham Bears had already booked their place in the last eight – but they completed their fixtures by breaking a record with a seventh successive T20 win.
The Bears had three times before won six matches on the trot in this competition, the last time when they won their only T20 title in 2014.
It looked like they would fail when Durham bowled them out cheaply for 141, but Henry Brookes took 3-15, and there were a couple of wickets each for spinner Dan Mousley and new signing Dominic Drakes as the visitors were limited to 133-9. That was despite Durham’s last pair breaking the county’s last-wicket T20 partnership record with an unbroken stand of 49.
South Group
Three-times T20 champions Hampshire booked their quarter-final place thanks to a destructive bowling performance from fast bowler John Turner as they beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets.
Turner took 3-15, backed by Chris Wood (3-18) and Gloucestershire old boy Benny Howell (2-18) as the visitors were bowled out for 105.
Skipper James Vince then returned to the top of the T20 scoring charts with 55 not out – his eighth fifty of the season – as he and Joe Weatherley knocked off the runs with 33 balls to spare.
South Group backmarkers Middlesex ended a miserable campaign with victory over Glamorgan.
Ryan Higgins hit 71 off 36 balls to steer his side to a total of 200-9, then took 3-20 to help his side win for the third time in four games, despite captain Kiran Carlson breaking Glamorgan’s T20 fastest fifty record.
Carlson made 77 off 30 balls, of which the first 50 came off just 15, but Glamorgan fell well short on 151 to lose by by 49 runs and finish eighth in the table, just one place above Middlesex.
Quarter-Finals
6 July
Edgbaston: Birmingham Bears v Kent/Essex
Old Trafford: Lancashire v Surrey
7 July
Taunton: Somerset v Notts Outlaws
Southampton: Hampshire v Worcestershire
By Ged Scott
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