Excellent batting spurs Northants to victory

Mike Hussey, Jeff Cook and Graeme Swann spurred Northamptonshire to a seven-wicket triumph over Warwickshire in their Benson and Hedges Cup qualifier at Wantage Road - the home side's first win of the season.

Hussey picked up the Gold Award for his knock of 93 off 111 balls, adding 110 for the second wicket in 22 overs with Cook (86). But it was Swann who delighted the Northampton crowd with a brilliant display of hitting at the finish. He smashed 51 not out from only 30 balls, hastening a victory that keeps alive Northants' hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.

Warwickshire set their opponents a challenging target as Nick Knight's polished 101 guided them to 263-7 in 50 overs. He paced his innings superbly, supporting others - notably opening partner Mark Wagh (39), Dominic Ostler (39) and Neil Smith (40) - before cutting loose in the latter stages.

Northants had very little to smile about at the game's midway point, apart from an encouraging debut from the Montserrat-born paceman Lesroy Weekes who claimed 2-47 from his ten-over stint.

Hussey and Mal Loye then launched the reply in positive fashion with 56 in 16 overs, and after Loye departed to Mohammad Sheikh the two Australian-born left-handers took over. Hussey, who learned earlier this week that his central contract had not been renewed by the Australian Cricket Board, put that disappointment firmly behind him and laid the foundations for a morale-boosting result.