Gallian century gets Essex home

Midlands Division

Ian Westwood's 64 proved to be a match-winning contribution for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, where the hosts capitulated from 61 for 1, chasing 174, to be all out for 121 in the 30th over. James Anyon and Neil Carter were the destroyers, picking up three wickets each, and the problems really started for Nottinghamshire when Will Jefferson (41) was caught at midwicket off Carter, sparking a mini-collapse of three wickets in 13 balls. The captain Chris Read tried to launch a rescue mission but he copped an unlucky lbw decision for 19, Anyon wrapped up the tail. It was a remarkable turnaround after Warwickshire, who entered the game without a win, stumbled to 14 for 3 as the hosts' Australian import Darren Pattinson continued to impress. Westwood led the recovery and although it was slow going - his 64 took 116 balls - he made sure the visitors batted out their overs. Pattinson finished with 4 for 29 and Nottinghamshire looked set to continue the season undefeated, until their own batting woes kicked in.

Claude Henderson ensured it was not two surprise wins in a row for Ireland who went down to Leicestershire by 81 runs at Belfast. Ireland were fresh from their win over Warwickshire on Friday but they could not repeat the effort as Henderson ran through them with 4 for 30. Ireland were chasing 246 for victory but Henderson's strikes, including his first, having William Porterfield caught for 65, made their job too difficult. From a manageable 103 for 2 with Porterfield at the helm, the hosts crashed to 123 for 6 and it was all downhill from there. Ireland's bowlers had struggled to pick up regular wickets in the Leicestershire innings. Boeta Dippenaar's calm 119-ball 69 was the cornerstone of the total, and his 80-run stand with his fellow South African HD Ackerman laid the groundwork. Paul Nixon lifted the pace with 48 from 45 deliveries, and their efforts helped Leicestershire to the top of the table.

Midlands Division

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Leicestershire	6	4	1	0	1	9	+0.767	1109/223.0	938/223.0
Northamptonshire	6	3	2	0	1	7	+0.271	1143/216.4	1141/228.0
Nottinghamshire	5	3	1	0	1	7	+0.087	681/178.0	673/180.0
Warwickshire	6	1	4	0	1	3	-0.200	1012/223.0	1014/214.0
Ireland	5	1	4	0	0	2	-0.808	952/246.4	1131/242.2

A century to Justin Langer set up an 84-run win for Somerset at Taunton, where Daryl Mitchell's 92 was not enough for Worcestershire in a tough chase. Langer's 117 saved Somerset from a shaky start - they had wobbled to 32 for 3 after Marcus Trescothick was bowled by a Kabir Ali yorker fourth ball and Langer's Western Australia colleague Steve Magoffin picked up some early wickets. Ian Blackwell (53) helped Langer in the recovery mission and a late 31 from 16 balls from Peter Trego pushed the score to 278. Trego then picked up a handy 3 for 37 as wickets tumbled around Mitchell, whose 93-ball innings rescued some dignity for Worcestershire, who had fallen to 43 for 4 when Graeme Hick bottom-edged behind off Charl Willoughby. A three-wicket over from Steffan Jones all but confirmed the result as Somerset drew level on points with Gloucestershire, who have a game in hand.

It took him ten years, and 174 one-day matches, but Michael Powell finally made his first limited-overs hundred as Glamorgan reached 229 for 5 against Hampshire at Cardiff. Powell excelled playing down the ground, making the most of the absence of Chris Tremlett and Shane Bond, who are injured. Yet it was in a losing cause as Hampshire hunted down their required total with ten balls remaining courtesy of Michael Carberry's fifty after Glamorgan had squandered their platform in the latter stages, losing 4 for 17 as soon as Matthew Wood (64) fell driving off Sean Ervine. Powell reached an unbeaten 114 on a slow but even track, sharing a second-wicket stand of 145 with Wood.

South/West Division

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Gloucestershire	5	3	1	0	1	7	+0.749	959/158.0	955/179.3
Somerset	6	3	2	0	1	7	+0.307	1281/246.1	1216/248.2
Worcestershire	5	2	2	0	1	5	-0.201	812/154.0	894/163.2
Hampshire	5	2	3	0	0	4	-0.629	1188/227.5	1190/203.4
Glamorgan	5	1	3	0	1	3	-0.157	837/178.0	822/169.1

Centuries abounded at Canterbury, but only one team could run out winners, Azhar Mahmood picking off four Surrey wickets against his old county to help Kent triumph. Martin van Jaarsveld and Darren Stevens each made not-out centuries to launch Kent to a mammoth 337 for 3 in a stand of 215, while Surrey responded through Mark Butcher's 139. The visitors were well in the hunt at 293 for 3, Usman Afzaal adding 74, but when Butcher became Ryan McLaren's third victim, Mahmood delivered a sucker punch to Surrey's middle, with three meaty blows. He delivered the final, fatal wound in removing Chris Jordan to hand Kent the 17-run win.

Another experienced player made an unbeaten century, but ended up on the winning side at Chelmsford - Jason Gallian continuing in good form for Essex to take them home with seven overs clear and eight wickets remaining. They now have one foot in the quarter-final stage. Essex made light work of the chase, despite the early loss of Mark Pettini, with Gallian and Varun Chopra adding 89. Chopra brought up his half-century with a six before being smartly stumped by Ben Scott. Gallian reached his century off 115 balls, with a cover drive. Eoin Morgan had made 100 for Middlesex, his second in List A matches, but in vain. He and Ed Smith (75) put on 179 for the fourth wicket to lift the visitors who were in trouble following Graham Napier's double in the first over and Owais Shah missing a straight one. Morgan fell the ball after bringing up his hundred, missing an attempted reverse sweep off James Middlebrook. Vernon Philander and Tim Murtagh boosted Middlesex to a challenging total, but Essex proved superior even without Andre Nel.

Scotland's hopes of reaching the knockout stage disintegrated in Edinburgh, where Craig White's unbeaten 69 drove Yorkshire to a seven-wicket win. Chasing 194, Yorkshire were in a spot of early bother at 18 for 2 when White and Jacques Rudolph (48) combined for a 95-run stand that put the reply back on track. White had a let-off - he skied what should have been a catch to either Fraser Watts or John Blain, but they left it for each other - and he made Scotland pay. After Rudolph departed White found another ally in Gerard Brophy, who finished on 61 not out as Yorkshire reached their goal with 16 balls to spare. Scotland's total had been set up by a string of middling scores from their top order, who struggled to fully master a difficult pitch. Ed Cowan's 36 was the highest score but tight bowling meant he took 82 balls to get there.

For a full report of Durham's tight win against Lancashire, click here for John Ward's bulletin from Chester-le-Street.