T20 Blast 2018, Day 34: Round-up

There is still one day of action left in the league stage of the ongoing T20 Blast. However, we already have an idea now about most of the teams that would be making it to the quarterfinals. Durham, Lancashire and Worcestershire are already through in the North group. The winner of the contest between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire on Friday will be the fourth team to make it to the playoffs.

Similarly, Somerset, Kent and Gloucestershire from the South group are into the quarters. Sussex, Glamorgan and Surrey are fighting for the fourth spot. Three South group games and one North group game was played on the 34th day of action. Some of the teams have registered a few important victories ahead of the knockout stages. Here is how things progressed on the day:

Kent vs Somerset – South Group

This was quite a high-scoring and a nail-biting game. Kent was put into bat first by Somerset. The openers put up a brilliant stand of 67 runs in just 5.5 overs. Joe Denly scored 26 off 17 balls while his partner Bell-Drummond raced to 37 off 21 balls. The best innings came from the willow of the skipper Sam Billings who smashed 57 off just 35 balls. A 22-ball 42 from Alex Blake and a 9-ball 20 from Sean Dickson helped the team post a mammoth total of 231 runs on the board for the loss of five wickets.

Somerset batsmen tried hard to get close to the target. Their Opener S Davies provided the team with a good start by scoring 45 off 25 balls. Peter Trego also scored 45 off 27 balls. But the team was still miles away from the victory as they were 171 after 17 overs. But, their skipper Lewis Gregory raised a hope with some great hitting. He scored 44 off just 15 balls only to see his team fall short of the target by just 5 runs.

Brief Scores:

Kent: 231/5 in 20 overs (Sam Billings 57*, Alex Blake 42, Max Waller 2/29)

Somerset: 226/5 in 20 overs (S Davies 45, J Hildreth 45, Joe Denly 1/31)

Result: Kent won by 5 runs

Middlesex vs Essex – South Group

Yet again, this was another high scoring encounter. But it was the chasing team which pulled their socks up this time around to earn two valuable points. After being put into bat first, Middlesex posted a mammoth 210 runs on the board for the loss of 3 wickets. The major contributions came from Paul Stirling and Eoin Morgan. While Stirling scored 78 off 52 balls, Morgan was unbeaten on 77 from 38 balls.

However, the Middlesex bowlers failed to defend this total. Essex’s opener Varun Chopra scored 51 off 34 balls to get his team off to a good start. Daniel Lawrence was great with 86 runs from 46 balls as he helped his side get closer to victory. In the end, it was Ravi Bopara (31 off 15 balls) and Zaidi (20 off 8 balls) who wrapped things up for their team as they won by 6 wickets.

Brief Scores:

Middlesex: 210/3 in 20 overs (Paul Stirling 78, Eoin Morgan 77*, Harmer 1/23)

Essex: 211/4 in 19.2 overs (Daniel Lawrence 86, Varun Chopra 51, Steven Finn 2/36)

Result: Essex won by 6 wickets

Here is how things progressed in the other games on the day

Northamptonshire vs Yorkshire – North Group

Northamptonshire: 162/8 in 20 overs (J Cobb 68*, Steven Crook 18, David Willey 3/30)

Yorkshire: 165/3 in 15.3 overs (David Willey 79, A Lyth 66, Ben Sanderson 1/26)

Result: Yorkshire won by 7 wickets

Gloucestershire vs Sussex – South Group

Gloucestershire: 159/9 in 20 overs (M Klinger 59, M Hammond 29, Rashid Khan 3/24)

Sussex: 160/6 in 19 overs (Philip Salt 60, David Wiese 38, Benny Howell 3/37)

Result: Sussex won by 4 wickets

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