Everybody knows that Twenty20 is such an unpr4dictable form of cricket. Matches can turn upon a few wickets or a couple of sixes. Tjis has a knock-on effect on the league tables, too. It can also produce genuine nail-biters.
In this week’s Blast, there were two tied matches: Northants v Leicestershire and Gloucestershire v Surrey. Durham fans, in particular, enjoyed a few cliffhangers, edging Lancashire by two runs and Yorkshire by three. The Roses derby itself at Headingley ended in a tight seven-run margin in favour of the home team, for whom spinner Dom Bess was consistently economical.
In the North division, the Birmingham Bears stormed to the top on the back of a four-match streak The main impetus came from the spinning all-rounders. Danny Briggs conceded no more than 26 in any of his four games and young Dan Mousley again showed why he is one of the most promising T20 performers in the country. His 20-year-old colleague Jacob Bethell let fly with the most dramatic half-century of the week, a blistering 16-ball unbeaten 56 against Northants, including seven sixes.
One Rishi may be tottering towards the end of an undistinguished innings at Westminster but another, Rishi Patel, produced the only ton of the past eight days. The Essex-born Leicestershire opener devastated the Northants attack with 104 in 45 balls, and has now not been dismissed for under thirty for seven matches. A special mention, too, for South African Matthew Breetzke, who accumulate more than 200 runs for Northants this week.
In the South, Surrey reman top, but the key result was their 54-run triumph over second-placed Sussex at Hove. The latest fixtures included two five-fors, amazingly both in the same game. Luke Hollman’s 5-16 was Middlesex’s only bright spot in Surrey’s innings at Lord’s, then the visiting seamer Sean Abbott took 5-18! Middlesex now have a solitary win out of eight.
Other impressive bowling feats were Roloef van der Merwe’s two wickets with his only two balls in Somerset’s 108-run rout of Glamorgan and Timm van Gugten’s 2-8 in four overs against Gloucestershire. Not quite Lockie Ferguson’s clutch of World Cup maidens but pretty nifty, nonetheless.
Gloucestershire dragged themselves back into knockout contention with three successes against Somerset, Glamorgan and Kent. Batsman Miles Hammond and paceman Matt Taylor were the star individuals. Essex sit in third, bolstered by runs from Dean Elgar and local boy Michael Pepper.
Now it’s the return of proper cricket for a few weeks before the T20 group stage concludes in July.
Team of the Week:- R Patel (Lei), Hammond (Glo), Breetzke (Nor), J
Smith (Sur +), Pepper (Ess), Mousley (War), Bethell (War), S Abbott (Sur), M
Taylor (Glo), Briggs (War), Bess (Yor)
