An economical three-wicket spell from Ryan Sidebottom followed by Ali Brown's explosive 72 off 48 balls led
Nottinghamshire to a comfortable victory against
Leicestershire at Trent Bridge. Leicestershire got off to a crisp start after winning the toss with their openers, Matthew Boyce and Jim Allenby, adding 59 in quick time. However the innings fell away after they were dismissed and, apart from the No. 3 James Taylor, no one else got into double figures. Sidebottom cut through the lower-middle order, taking 3 for 16 in his four overs to help restrict Leicestershire to 123 for 7. Nottinghamshire's openers, Matthew Wood and Ali Brown, came out firing, and their partnership of 119 won the game. Brown hit two sixes and eight fours in his 72 while Wood remained unbeaten on 43 to secure the nine-wicket win in the 15th over.
Durham bowled and fielded with tenacity to successfully defend an average total against
Yorkshire and secure a 41-run victory
at Chester-le-Street. Protecting only 131, Ben Harmison took 3 for 20, Gareth Breese chipped in with 2 for 22 while all the others bowled miserly spells to restrict Yorkshire to 90 for 9. Yorkshire made an awful start when Naved-ul-Hasan was run out for a duck and Gerard Brophy edged to Phil Mustard with only two runs on the board. Their predicament grew worse when the other opener, Andrew Gale, was also run out and the innings never recovered from 4 for 3. Durham needed such a defence after their batsmen failed to convert starts into damaging innings. Their top seven got into double figures but only Mustard got past 20. Tim Bresnan was Yorkshire's best bowler, taking 3 for 26, to restrict them to 131.
The World Twenty20 matches may have ended but the excitement continued
at The Oval with
Surrey and
Kent fighting out a thriller. Kent were defending 168 and Surrey ran them extremely close but fell short of the target by one run. Ryan McLaren bowled the final over of the match and Jade Berndach, Surrey's No. 11, was run out off the fourth ball by Justin Kemp with the home side tantalizingly close. Surrey were initially well placed for victory after Usman Afzaal, who top scored 62, led them to 99 for 2. However, a middle-order collapse during which they lost five wickets for 38 derailed their chase. Earlier, Kent had relied on a half-century from Martin van Jaarsveld and a 44 from the captain Robert Key to steer them to a competitive total.
Midlands, Wales, West Division
Vikram Solanki smashed 100 off 48 balls to lead
Worcestershire to 222 after which their bowlers put in a strong performance to rout
Glamorgan by a massive 101-run margin at
New Road. Solanki clobbered 14 fours and two sixes in his innings and was able supported by Steve Davies, who scored 32 off 18, and Stephen Moore, who ransacked 49 off his 30 balls. Garnett Kruger went for 32 off two overs while four other bowlers went for over ten an over and no one for under eight. Glamorgan needed a flying start from their top order but they didn't get it because Ashley Noffke and Kabir Ali bowled tightly with the new ball. Wickets tumbled as Glamorgan tried to control the escalating asking-rate and the contest was over by the time they were reduced to 9 for 3, despite Robert Croft's unbeaten 52 off 34 balls.
Midlands/Wales/West Division
Teams |
Mat |
Won |
Lost |
Tied |
N/R | Pts |
Net RR |
For |
Against |
Worcestershire |
8 |
5 |
3 |
0 | 0 |
10 |
+0.890 |
1348/160.0 |
1178/156.2 |
Northamptonshire |
7 |
5 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
10 |
+0.490 |
1096/139.0 |
1034/139.5 |
Somerset |
7 |
5 |
2 |
0 | 0 |
10 |
+0.455 |
1073/133.2 |
1063/140.0 |
Warwickshire |
8 |
5 |
3 |
0 | 0 |
10 |
+0.208 |
1191/151.3 |
1222/159.4 |
Gloucestershire |
8 |
2 |
6 |
0 | 0 |
4 |
-0.667 |
1148/159.5 |
1218/155.1 |
Glamorgan |
8 |
1 |
7 |
0 | 0 |
2 |
-1.252 |
1094/160.0 |
1235/152.4 |