North group front-runners Lancashire and Worcestershire both recorded wins in the NatWest T20 Blast.
Worcestershire recovered from a poor start to post 177 for five and then held off a spirited Falcons fightback led by Wayne Madsen to prevail by eight runs in Derby.
From 21 for two, Daryl Mitchell and Colin Munro hit half-centuries and shared 98 for the third-wicket. Munro fell for 65 off 37 balls, but Alexei Kervezee biffed a couple of sixes to keep the momentum going, while Mitchell ended on 68 off 51 balls.
Derbyshire then slipped to 85 for four, but Madsen hit 65 off 40 balls and put on 75 with Marcus North (38 off 29 balls) for the sixth-wicket. However, with the game in the balance, Madsen was caught off Jack Shantry (3-34), while North was one of three wickets in the final over for Chris Russell (4-40).
Leicestershire did their best to defeat Lancashire, but efforts of 47 off 35 balls, 28 off 22 and 20 off 12 from Matthew Boyce, Tom Wells and Rob Taylor respectively couldn’t quite overhaul the Lightning’s total of 166 for seven at Old Trafford. Junaid Khan was again exceptional and returned figures of three for 30, while Kabir Ali (2-26) and Stephen Parry (1-27) also impressed.
Loan-signing Richard Jones had earlier marked his Foxes debut with figures of five for 34, but Tom Smith continued his strong season with 50 off 36 balls, while a run-a-ball 40 from Paul Horton helped Lancashire post a match-winning total.
Another defeat for Nottinghamshire dented their hopes of making the quarter-finals as Warwickshire triumphed over them at Trent Bridge. The Outlaws had the better of the opening exchanges as the Bears slipped to 89 for five following a stunning catch from Riki Wessels that got rid of Pakistani overseas player Shoiab Malik.
However, Laurie Evans (45 not out off 23 balls) and Ateeq Javid (26 not out off 20 balls) added 67 off the final 6.1 overs of the innings to lift their side to 156 for five. Nonetheless, the hosts would still have fancied their chances of knocking off the runs, especially when openers Michael Lumb and Alex Hales had knocked off 57 of those in little more than five overs.
Regular wickets, though, derailed the run chase - Jeetan Patel leading the squeeze with four overs at a cost of just 18 runs - and Notts could only limp to 138 for seven by the end of their 20 overs.
Yorkshire are third in the table after a brisk unbroken 90-run stand between Jonny Bairstow and Adam Lyth helped them post a match-winning 181 for three from their 20 overs against Northamptonshire. Bairstow hit 60 off 37 balls to follow up a cameo off 35 off 28 from Alex Lees, while Lyth made 46 off 31 deliveries.
Richard Levi then did his best for the Steelbacks in their run chase by hitting five maximums during a knock of 76 off 47 balls. Unfortunately for the hosts, he lacked appreciable support, with Steven Crook’s 13-ball 23 the next best effort. Azeem Rafiq, Oliver Robinson, Steve Patterson and Richard Pyrah each ended with a brace of wickets as Northants finished on 165 for nine.
North Division Table
| Teams | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcestershire | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +0.439 | 1078/126.1 | 1078/133.0 |
| Lancashire | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +0.137 | 1116/139.0 | 1093/138.3 |
| Yorkshire | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | +0.891 | 651/73.3 | 636/79.5 |
| Warwickshire | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | +0.440 | 589/79.1 | 560/80.0 |
| Northamptonshire | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -0.807 | 643/77.3 | 657/72.1 |
| Durham | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.211 | 688/93.0 | 660/91.5 |
| Nottinghamshire | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.136 | 753/96.5 | 764/100.0 |
| Leicestershire | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -0.223 | 844/98.0 | 857/97.0 |
| Derbyshire | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.437 | 779/99.0 | 836/89.5 |
Daniel Grummitt
He worked for CricketWorld.com for almost three years, leading their county and domestic cricket coverage and contributing to a book about the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, before joining the hugely ambitious World Cricket Badger early in 2014.
The first Test that he remembers watching was on Channel 4 - back before the ECB marginalised potential future fans by selling the TV rights to Sky Sports - when England beat Pakistan by an innings and nine runs at Lord’s.
Besides a passion for domestic cricket, he also has an unexplainable interest in all things Zimbabwe cricket!
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