The UK general election may have delivered a decisive verdict for change, but it’s as you were in county cricket. After the County Championship fireworks, this week’s T20 Blast fixtures turned out to include a box of damp squibs. Damp being then operative word, with five complete washouts and a couple decided by Duckworth Lewis. Middlesex suffered two successive abandonments, one against Surrey, whose subsequent ten-over thrash victory against Kent kept them on top of the South Division.
Sussex were blown away by Glamorgan’s 235-6 despite a Tymal Mills four-wicket haul, but remain on Surrey’s coat-tails thanks to a 22-run win against rivals Hampshire. James Coles starred in this one, combing a brisk 46 with 4-34. Somerset’s loss on the penultimate ball to Gloucestershire cost them third place, overtaken by Essex with Thursday’s success over Kent at Chelmsford. Paul Walter was their in-form man.
In the North group, the top two were also unchanged. Birmingham Bears remain in charge courtesy of two contrasting triumphs on the road. At Leeds, Sam Hain struck eight sixes in an unbeaten 98, the highest individual score of the week, but Yorkshire ‘keeper Donovan Ferreira’s 32-ball 66 took the home side within four runs of the target. Next up were Nottinghamshire, who were skittled for just 57, the wickets shared by seven Bears bowlers. The top three batsmen finished the job in just 32 balls.
The best bowling figures came from the Worcestershire seamer Matthew Waite and young Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafer Chohan. Waite’s 5-21, together with Adam Hose’s runs, did for Leicestershire, while Chohan claimed 5-14 in the defeat of next-door Durham, including three in four balls.
With just one week of group games left, Surrey and the Bears are in pole position to head straight for Finals Day but with four to play, anything can happen. Surrey can’t afford to drop points against Somerset, Essex or Hampshire and face Kent next Friday. The Bears’ challenge looks easier on paper than Lancashire’s, and the hot-off-the-press news of the Roses match abandonment will help their cause. Don’t rule out Northamptonshire, either, as they meet both the counties above them, placing progress to the knockouts in their own hands.
Team of the Week:- Carlson (Gla), Hughes (Sus), Hain (Bir), Hose (Wor), Walter (Ess), Ingram (Gla), Ferreira (Yor +), Waite (Wor), Briggs (Bir), Mills (Sus), Jafer Chohan (Yor)
