Nannes hat-trick leads Middlesex to victory

	Pedro Collins just fails in his attempt to catch Chris Nash at The Oval © Getty Images

Middlesex remained top of their group with a third straight victory, comfortably overcoming Essex for the second time in four days at Chelmsford. Dirk Nannes, the left-arm quick bowler from Victoria, was the hero when he took a hat-trick to leave Essex floundering on 20 for 5. After two overs, Nannes had 2 for 4, having nailed Varun Chopra, Grant Flower and Ryan ten Doeschate in three balls. Essex were given a glimmer of hope by James Foster's unbeaten half-century alongside a rapid 31 from Graham Napier. However, Middlesex had few problems reaching the target as Tyron Henderson blasted his team across the line with 64 off 30 balls.

Surrey lifted themselves off the bottom of the South Division at The Oval with a five-wicket win against Sussex, who replaced them at the foot of the table. Abdul Razzaq sealed the victory with 12 balls to spare as he smashed 39 off 20 balls with 28 coming off the 17th over from Robin Martin-Jenkins. Surrey were making hard work of the chase and were 90 for 5 after Dwayne Smith claimed three wickets, while Mark Ramprakash ran himself out. Razzaq also impressed with the ball, his two wickets helping keep tabs on the Sussex scoring. However, the stand-out bowler was the 21-year-old Matthew Spriegel, who claimed 2 for 16 off four overs. Chris Nash anchored the Sussex innings with 52 off 41 balls, but there wasn't the required late acceleration.

Jim Allenby became the first bowler to take four wickets in four balls in Twenty20, but Sajid Mahmood and Simon Marshall consigned Leicestershire to a 37-run defeat at Old Trafford, as Lancashire maintained their unbeaten start. Mahmood took two wickets in his first over before HD Ackerman rallied the run chase alongside Boeta Dippenaar. Marshall broke through to have Dippenaar caught at deep midwicket, then two balls later grabbed Paul Nixon as the Leicestershire challenge faded way. Ackerman departed for 63, Marshall's third wicket, and by then the game was up. Lancashire's innings was revived by Kyle Hogg's 44 off 24 balls after three wickets had gone down for four runs. The tail also disappeared in a flash, the last five wickets falling for four runs, as Allenby etched his name into the record books, but Lancashire had enough. Leicestershire, the two-time champions, are now struggling to reach the knock outstage after three defeats.

Northamptonshire maintained their 100% record with a 27-run victory against Gloucestershire at Bristol. Johann Louw and Andrew Hall took three wickets each and the home side couldn't recover from 44 for 4 with their big hitters - Craig Spearman and Hamish Marshall - back in the dressing room. Marcus North was threatening to be key, but he was bowled by Lance Klusener for 36. Northamptonshire's innings was given a timely boost by David Sales' 37-ball 41 and, especially, Riki Wessels' 23-ball 43, which included three sixes.

Glamorgan and Worcestershire had to settle for a point each as rain led to a washout at Cardiff

Midlands/West/Wales Division

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Northamptonshire	3	3	0	0	0	6	+1.417	545/60.0	460/60.0
Warwickshire	3	1	0	1	1	4	+0.055	290/39.5	289/40.0
Glamorgan	2	1	0	0	1	3	+0.700	170/20.0	156/20.0
Worcestershire	2	1	1	0	0	2	-0.382	318/38.0	350/40.0
Gloucestershire	3	0	2	1	0	1	-0.748	461/60.0	489/58.0
Somerset	3	0	3	0	0	0	-0.690	463/60.0	503/59.5

North Division

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Lancashire	3	3	0	0	0	6	+2.019	436/56.0	346/60.0
Nottinghamshire	2	2	0	0	0	4	+0.886	309/34.2	284/35.0
Durham	3	2	1	0	0	4	-0.014	338/44.5	355/47.0
Derbyshire	4	1	3	0	0	2	+0.049	497/67.0	463/62.5
Yorkshire	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.798	444/55.0	482/54.2
Leicestershire	3	0	3	0	0	0	-1.837	377/60.0	471/58.0

South Division

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR	For	Against
Middlesex	3	3	0	0	0	6	+1.550	439/53.0	404/60.0
Hampshire	3	2	1	0	0	4	+0.200	559/60.0	547/60.0
Kent	3	2	1	0	0	4	-0.445	474/59.5	502/60.0
Essex	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.275	374/55.0	375/53.0
Surrey	3	1	2	0	0	2	-0.646	436/58.0	449/55.0
Sussex	3	0	3	0	0	0	-0.387	482/60.0	487/57.5