Warwickshire
and Nottinghamshire also picked up two more victories, thwarted by the weather
from making it a 100% record for the week. Alex Hales was arguably the county
player of the past seven days, improving his scores steadily, culminating in
his 101 against Yorkshire. Their mighty top four batsmen make it easier for the
relatively weak attack, although Samit Patel, Steven Mullaney and Jake Ball
chipped in.
At the other
end of the table, Durham finally achieved their first T20 success of the
season. Their fixture at Leicester may have ended up as a seven-over thrash but
a six-wicket win is still a win. The two Pauls Coughlin and Collingwood each
scored rapid 30s to clinch the two points. A couple of days later, when the
latter raced to his first T20 century at the age of 41, a second victory looked
on the cards. However, Worcestershire’s Joe Clarke, 20 years Collingwood’s
junior, trumped him with a dazzling 124 not out from just 53 balls, and his
team reached their huge 200+ target with eleven balls to spare.
Despite, or
because of, their four no-results, Glamorgan advanced to the summit of the
South group. Coincidentally their winning margin against both Gloucestershire
and Kent was 25 runs. In each game, Jacques Rudolph hit a half-century and new arrival
David Miller produced a rapid cameo, whilst the bowlers all contributed, too.
Somerset
climbed to third behind the Welsh and Surrey, thanks to triumphs over South
Coast neighbours Sussex and Hampshire. All the squad played their parts but
Stephen Davies was the most consistent cameo batsman. The ever-reliable Gloucestershire
opener Michael Klinger scored 52 and 101 but was deprived of continuing the
sequence at Chelmsford when rain intervened.
Next week
includes a host of potentially money-spinning local derbies on Friday evening. Warwickshire
host Worcestershire, Sussex nip along to Kent, Somerset travel a few junctions
on the M5 to Bristol, Durham and Yorkshire battle for the North East spoils,
but the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire duel could be the most interesting in
relation to the North group qualification places.
Team of the
Week: Hales (Not), Klinger (Glo), Clarke (Wor), Davies (Som +), Denly (Ken),
Northeast (Ken), Collingwood (Dur), Mullaney (Not), Rashid (Yor), Henry (Der),
Parkinson (Lei)
