Here are all the Vitality Blast 2024 – Live Cricket Streaming, Live Scores, Match Reports and Reactions for every match on July 5th 2024.
NORTH GROUP
Durham v Worcestershire Rapids, North Group, Vitality Blast
A brutal cameo from Michael Jones helped Durham to a 22-run win against the Worcestershire Rapids in the Vitality Blast.
Jones smashed 39 from 17 balls at the Seat Unique Riverside to help Durham to a big total of 190 for five, with the Scottish international capitalising on a good platform set by Ollie Robinson who made 41.
The visitors’ chase was led by an impressive 45 from Kashif Ali, but a good Durham bowling performance spearheaded by Ben Raine meant that the Rapids fell short.
Durham are now in a good position to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2018, but the Rapids face an uphill challenge to qualify having lost their last six in the competition.
Having won the toss, the hosts chose to bat and Graham Clark got the innings off to the perfect start as he carved one through the covers for four. Skipper Alex Lees then got the first six of the night when he smashed a Josh Cobb ball over the long-on boundary.
The Rapids then fought back after a tough start with Lees and Clark departing for 22 and 24 respectively.
Robinson and Colin Ackermann used the large dimensions at Chester-le-Street to their advantage, as the Rapids restricted the boundary count in the middle overs.
Ackermann felt the run-scoring squeeze and Brett D’Oliveira was the beneficiary as the Durham man mistimed a slog sweep and was caught on the boundary for 19.
Robinson started to tick and smashed a D’Oliveira ball for six as Durham passed 100, however the Rapids captain struck back as he bowled Ashton Turner for 20.
Robinson then struck two sixes from a Brookes over but he went for one too many as he skied one to long-on for 41.
That didn’t stop the hosts’ barrage as Jones smashed one out the ground and he then hit 24 from the final over to finish unbeaten on 39 and the hosts finished on 190 for five.
The visitors had a tough task to chase 191 and they struggled to get going initially, as they picked up just 10 runs from the first two overs.
D’Oliveira then departed at the hands of Bas de Leede, who coaxed an edge from the Rapids skipper and Robinson was on hand to take the catch behind the stumps.
Ali, who led his side to an impressive win at this ground in the County Championship earlier this week, looked to get his side going alongside Cobb and they started to make a dent into the target.
Ali then smashed a Sowter ball down the ground for six and followed that with one into the stands.
However, Raine picked up the key wicket of Ali for 45, with Durham’s top wicket taker bowling the impressive opener.
Then the hosts got the dangerous Adam Hose for just seven, after he was brilliantly caught on the boundary by Ackermann off the bowling of Sowter.
The experienced Cobb was then dropped on 25 by Sowter as the Rapids continued to live dangerously but the leg-spinner bounced back from the drop as he picked up the wicket of Brookes.
Cobb then departed for 39 as he was bowled by Ben Dwarshuis, but Gareth Roderick hit a six over the legside boundary to give his side a chance however he fell to Raine for 18 to leave the visitors staring down the barrel of defeat.
Late wickets from Dwarshuis, de Leede and Raine saw the hosts home comfortably, winning by 22 runs.
Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson said:
“I don’t think we deserved to win today, Durham played really well, they got a very competitive total. I think whilst we battled along to keep ourselves in the game, we were neck and neck for long periods, they put enough pressure on and made sure that it was really difficult for us to get a roll on.”
“I don’t think anyone knew quite how the wicket was going to play. I think it played better than we thought it would.”
“I thought we gave a decent account of ourselves tonight, but the basics weren’t there to be honest. It was just in general, energy in the field and off the ball stuff was poor, we’ve had a couple of weeks away from it and it probably looked that way but that’s no excuse as we knew what the schedule would be like.”
Durham batsmen Michael Jones said:
“We’re absolutely buzzing with that one. It’s a competition that we really want to do well in as we had a really good championship campaign last year and we wanted to bring that into the Blast this year.”
“My role in the team has been pretty clear this year and I’m looking to come in at around the 14th or 15th over and hit sixes essentially. It’s a really fun, enjoyable role and if it comes off like tonight then hopefully we’ll get a few more wins.”
“It was a used wicket so we felt like the spinners would play a big part and we’ve got world class spinners, a couple of the best in the competition, so we were always gonna back them here. We don’t know what the par score was but we were definitely happy with 190.”
Northamptonshire Steelbacks v Lancashire Lightning, North Group, Vitality Blast
Match abandoned due to rain – both teams take 1 point each
Heavy rain put paid to Northamptonshire Steelbacks’ T20 Vitality Blast match against Lancashire Lightning at Wantage Road.
Afternoon drizzle lifted an hour before the scheduled start of play, allowing the ground staff to start to remove the covers before the heavens opened again.
The umpires eventually called the match off just after 7.30pm, both teams taking a point each.
Just one point had separated the two sides heading into this fixture with Lightning sitting in second place in the North group and the Steelbacks in fourth.
Notts Outlaws vs Leicestershire Foxes, North Group, Vitality Blast
Persistent rain frustrated Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire at Trent Bridge, wrecking what was shaping up as a good contest after Joe Clarke’s 79 off 41 balls helped the home side to 175 for five before the bad weather that had already led three Vitality Blast matches to be abandoned without a ball bowled arrived in Nottingham.
Clarke, the Nottinghamshire captain, hit four sixes and 10 fours as he went past fifty for the first time this season, backed up by 39 off 21 balls by England’s Ben Duckett in his first Blast appearance for two years and an unbeaten 26 off 15 balls from Liam Patterson-White.
Lewis Goldsworthy, the left-arm spinner on loan from Somerset, was the pick of the Foxes bowlers, taking three for 36 from four overs.
With three overs of their innings remaining when the umpires took the players off the field, Nottinghamshire were poised to post a 200-plus total for the first time this year against a depleted Leicestershire attack in which 19-year-old seamer Sam Wood was making his senior debut for the county.
The Foxes are missing a raft of first-team players – including their Australian skipper Peter Handscomb and England’s Rehan Ahmed – through injury and have also lost all-rounders Wiaan Mulder and Ian Holland to Major League Cricket franchises.
International all-rounders Jimmy Neesham and Paul Stirling came in for their Foxes debuts, with seamer Roman Walker given his first Blast appearance since Leicestershire were at Trent Bridge in the competition last July.
If it had been a bad day for one Rishi, it was less so for another, with the Foxes’ Rishi Patel, who topped the polls in three player-of-the-year awards at Grace Road last year, named as captain for the first time.
The home crowd were hoping to get a first look at the Afghanistan left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi, the leading wicket-taker in the recent T20 World Cup after his nation’s historic run to the semi-finals, who has joined the Outlaws for the second half of their Blast programme.
Umpires Neil Mallender and Naseem Ashraf waited as long as they could before making a decision, mindful that a Foxes innings as short as five overs would constitute a match under competition rules. A brief break in the rain gave rise to hopes of an 8.45pm restart and a revised Duckworth Lewis Stern target for Leicestershire of 181 from 16 overs, but those hopes were quickly dashed.
The abandonment was a blow for the Outlaws in particular. After starting this season’s Blast with a five-match losing streak, they have been left needing to win most if not all of their remaining matches if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals.
It was less damaging for the Foxes, the three-times champions, who remain in contention to clinch a place in the last eight from the North Group for the first time since 2021.
Yorkshire Vikings vs Birmingham Bears,, North Group, Vitality Blast
Sam Hain’s stunning 98 off 48 balls set Birmingham Bears on their way to a fifth straight win in the Vitality Blast as they beat Yorkshire in a high-scoring thriller by four runs to take a significant step towards the quarter-finals.
Hain crashed eight sixes in an innings more power than poise on an excellent Headingley surface as the Bears amassed 214 for seven.
The North Group leaders then wrapped up a seventh win in nine matches, but not without drama. Dawid Malan opened with an excellent 54 and Donovan Ferreira blasted 66 off 32 balls with seven sixes. But George Garton brilliantly defended 11 off the last over and six off the last ball, the Vikings finishing on 210 for five.
Yorkshire lost their fifth match in nine and will see this as a missed opportunity given they needed 18 off the last two overs.
Hain’s fourth fifty of the ongoing campaign took him to the top of the Blast runs chart on 395.
Captain and opener Alex Davies, who elected to bat, also contributed a brisk 43, though he later left the field with a finger injury sustained whilst keeping wicket.
Hain was more powerful than he is known for and hit the majority of his sixes to the leg-side, though not exclusively to the short side over towards the Western Terrace.
He left Yorkshire faced with what would have been a club record chase in this format.
The Vikings, who now have significant work to do for a top-four finish, made the perfect start as left-arm spinner Dan Moriarty bowled Ed Barnard with the fixture’s first ball.
Birmingham’s innings kicked into life in the fourth over as Davies took the lion’s share of 24 off Matthew Revis – 41 for one.
After Davies was trapped lbw by a Jordan Thompson yorker – 79 for three in the eighth over – Hain, having come in at number four, took on the lead role in stunning fashion.
Hain hit three leg-side sixes off seam in reaching his fifty off 34 balls on a true pitch with a fast outfield.
By that stage, Bears were 141 for four in the 15th over.
Hain – a two-time England one-day international – looked nailed on for a second career T20 century as he went into the final over on 98. But he didn’t face another ball.
In fact, he watched New Zealander Zak Foulkes whip his first ball as a Bear for six off Conor McKerr over fine-leg and over the imposing Howard Stand into the neighbouring rugby ground.
Seam bowling all-rounder Foulkes continued his excellent start to his short-term overseas spell with the Bears when he had Adam Lyth caught behind with his third ball – 18 for one in the second.
Davies took the catch but immediately left the field having taken a blow moments before.
But, despite the wicket, Yorkshire started nicely thanks to classy Malan and inventive James Wharton. They shared 62 in six overs for the second wicket, the latter reverse sweeping a six off Dan Mousley’s spin in a rapid 29.
Like Birmingham had been, Yorkshire were 98 for three after 10 overs, with left-arm spinner Danny Briggs (three for 35) having removed Wharton caught at deep midwicket and George Hill bowled.
With those dismissals, the Vikings’ task was getting tougher.
Not that Malan agreed. He lofted Briggs over long-on for six and reached his second fifty of 2024 off 38 balls.
He found a partner in ferocious South African Ferreira, and they shared 57 inside six overs for the third wicket before Malan slapped a Briggs full toss to deep midwicket – 155 for four in the 16th.
But Yorkshire had plenty of batting left, not least Ferreira, who hit four sixes in a five-ball period off Jake Lintott’s spin and Foulkes’ seam. He reached his maiden county fifty off 26 balls.
Yorkshire needed 18 off the last two overs, but Ferreira was caught at long-off against Mousley at the start of the penultimate – ultimately the key moment, 197 for five.
Left-arm quick Garton then expertly closed things out, with Shan Masood failing to hit the final ball for six.
Yorkshire’s Donavan Ferreira said:
“It’s nice to score some runs, but when the team’s on the losing side it kind of goes to waste. You don’t want to be playing such a knock and not get your team over the line.
“It’s part of the game. It’s getting into the back end of the tournament now, and we need a win. We need to start putting games together.
“Things like that are going to happen. I think we were 20 runs too many with the ball. Chasing 215 was always going to be a tough chase with us behind the eight-ball.
“But giving the team a chance was all I could do. As a finisher, I wanted to be pulling the stumps out at the end with a W behind our name. Today, it didn’t work out like that. But it’s nice to find some form, especially having struggled in previous games.”
Birmingham’s George Garton said:
“It was a great advert for cricket and the T20 Blast as a whole. Everyone knows that at Headingley it’s a high-scoring game. I thought Sam Hain batted outstandingly in our innings, and everyone played cameos around him.
“We said at half-time that we were just about par – maybe five or 10 runs over.
“Although we kept ourselves in it, they were definitely in the driving seat up to the last two overs. Ferreira played brilliantly and Malan plays the way he always does – he controlled the game very well.
“I know that I found pace off more effective than pace on, just to change things up. Although there wasn’t big turn or big seam, there was a bit of hold with slower balls.”
SOUTH GROUP
Gloucestershire v Kent Spitfires, South Group, Vitality Blast
David Payne’s latest white ball masterclass proved in vain as in-form Gloucestershire suffered a frustrating eight-run defeat to Kent Spitfires on the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern (DLS) method in a rain-affected Vitality Blast match at Cheltenham.
Needing to win to enhance their chances of achieving a top-four finish in the South Group and a place in the knockout stages, Gloucestershire found themselves in a strong position after bowling the visitors out for 150 in 19.2 overs at the College Ground.
Veteran campaigner Payne was outstanding in taking 4-25 in four overs, while Ollie Price finished with 2-26 after skipper Jack Taylor had won the toss and elected to bowl. Daniel Bell-Drummond did his utmost to rescue the visitors, scoring 76 off 52 balls and dominating partnerships of 56 and 54 with Joey Evison and Grant Stewart for the fourth and seventh wickets respectively.
Gloucestershire openers Miles Hammond and Cameron Bancroft then raised 23 in three overs to ease ahead of the DLS requirement, only for the rain forecast for early evening to arrive ahead of schedule with two overs more needing to be bowled to constitute a game.
When play finally resumed an hour later with the home side chasing a revised target of 145 from 19 overs, Kent reasserted themselves, Nathan Gilchrist removing Bancroft and James Bracey in the space of four balls in the fifth over. Umpires Alex Wharf and Ben Peverall took the players off for the second and last time when heavy rain moved back in with Gloucestershire on 29-2, now eight runs behind the newly-revised DLS figure, their hopes dashed by a disappointing two-over passage of play which served to fundamentally alter the outcome. The game was abandoned soon afterwards.
Kent’s fortuitous win just about keeps alive their outside chances of progressing to the knockout stages, while fifth-placed Gloucestershire head to Taunton needing to win Sunday’s West Country derby if they are to keep pace with the leaders.
Gloucestershire went into this fixture on the back of three straight wins and that momentum was further buoyed when left arm seamer Payne claimed three wickets in a devastating 10-ball burst with the new ball from the College Lawn end.
Making his debut after joining on loan from Essex, Feroze Khushi was pinned lbw without scoring in the first over, while new batsman Tuwanda Muyeye fell second ball, driving uppishly to Jack Taylor at mid-on.
Payne then accounted for Kent captain Sam Billings in his next over, the former England man top-edging a hook to Luke Shaw as the visitors subsided to 17-3 in the third.
Charged with the task of rebuilding, Bell-Drummond plundered three successive fours in an over from Shaw that cost 15 runs, helping Spitfires recover to 40-3 at the end of the powerplay. Evison also adopted an aggressive approach in a 50 stand that occupied just 36 balls.
When Evison chanced his arm once too often and hit Beau Webster straight to Miles Hammond at long-off for a 16-ball 22 and Jack Leaning attempted to pull off spinner Ollie Price and contrived to hit his wicket, departing for a six-ball duck, Kent were 70-5 off 10.1 overs and badly in need of renewed impetus.
Bell-Drummond was fast running out of partners, Marcus O’Riordan hoisting Price to deep backward square and falling into a carefully laid trap as the visitors further subsided to 89-6. Taking matters into his own hands, Bell-Drummond launched Price over the covers to raise a 39-ball 50 with his first six as the innings realised three figures in the fifteenth.
Stewart came out swinging, contributing a 15-ball 21 in a revitalising stand of 54 in 4.5 overs before hitting the returning Payne straight down the throat of long-on. Bell-Drummond fell in the penultimate over, hoisting Shaw to deep mid-wicket, having accrued 10 fours and 2 sixes and almost single-handedly carried his side to a respectable total.
Surrey vs Middlesex, South Group, Vitality Blast
Surrey’s hopes of a fourth straight Vitality Blast victory were dashed by bad weather as their London derby against Middlesex at the Kia Oval was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
The home side had been looking to stretch their lead at the top of the South Group after ending their first block of Blast fixtures with three successive wins.
But rain began to fall around an hour before the scheduled start and continued until the match was called off at 7.45pm, with both teams taking a point apiece.
Middlesex, who remain bottom of the table, resume their campaign against Hampshire at Radlett on Saturday, with Surrey due to host Kent Spitfires at the Kia Oval the following day.
Essex Eagles vs Somerset, South Group, Vitality Blast
A deluge at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford prevented Essex from getting some Vitality Blast revenge over Somerset.
Somerset defeated the Eagles in the final at Edgbaston last season to claim their second Blast title.
In fact, the west country side have won each of the last six meetings, including an impressive six-wicket victory at The Coopers Associate County Ground, Taunton in both teams’ opening fixture back in May.
But an afternoon and evening of rain, which led to glistening covers and puddles on the outfield, meant that there was no hope of play. The inevitable came at 19:40 BST.
In many ways, the washout suits both sides, not least because it keeps both in prime position to reach the knockout stage.
Both boast identical records after nine matches of five wins, three defeats and this washout – with a rematch at Edgbaston on September 14 a possibility.
More specifically, Essex had been rocked by Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams’ knee injury which had ruled him out of the rest of the competition.
His overseas replacement Eathan Bosch – a South African quick – wasn’t ready yet. He needed extra time to prepare for T20s, due to his workload being managed following a heavy burst of two Vitality County Championship runouts after a period of inactivity.
Jordan Cox’s appendicitis, and subsequent surgery this week, would have meant another senior absentee for the Eagles.
Somerset were due to rest talismanic fast bowler Craig Overton after he bowled 33 overs in the Championship victory over Warwickshire and getting through a match without missing his electric pace will be a boost.
Both outfits are due to return to action on Sunday, with Somerset hosting Gloucestershire and Essex heading to Glamorgan – although weather forecasts suggest another soggy day.
Sussex Sharks vs Glamorgan, South Group, Vitality Blast
Glamorgan eased to only their third victory in this season’s Vitality Blast as they beat Sussex Sharks by 24 runs under the DLS method at Hove.
The visitors laid the foundations for a huge total of 235 for 6 – the third-highest in their Blast history – when they plundered 81 in the powerplay as Sussex badly missed the control with the new ball normally offered by Ollie Robinson, who was absent with a back niggle.
It’s debatable if even Robinson would have been able to tame Glamorgan captain Kiran Carlson, who hit a career-best 87 off 47 balls before he was caught at extra cover in the 19th over, one of four wickets for Sussex skipper Tymal Mills who is now the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 19.
Daniel Hughes led Sussex’s response with 74 off 38 balls, his fourth half-century in this season’s competition, but having been set an unlikely 79 from 28 deliveries following a 50-minute rain delay they finished on 190 for 8 and slipped to their third defeat of the season, although they remain second in the South Group.
Carlson and co. set the tone by thrashing 75 in the first five overs after Glamorgan were put in, including 60 in boundaries. It needed a great slower ball by Mills to stymie their progress which Will Smale pulled to mid-wicket after hitting eight fours and a six in a stand of 79 from just 33 balls. Carlson then put on 72 off 37 with Tom Bevan and 47 off 24 with Colin Ingram to maintain their momentum.
Mills was the only Sussex bowler in the first half of the innings to concede less than ten runs in an over and his mood didn’t improve when Tom Clark dropped the ball over the rope while failing to take a catch on the mid-wicket boundary offered by Bevan.
Glamorgan might have fancied posting a score of 250-plus when they had 194 on the board after 15 overs but, spearheaded by Mills, Sussex dragged it back slightly by taking four wickets and only conceding 39 in the final five.
Mills led the way with 4 for 29 as Ingram missed a straight one and Marnus Labuschagne drove to mid-on before he snared Carlson, who struck three sixes and nine fours, only to be foxed by Mills’ speciality slower ball with a century in his sights.
Sussex were left needing to score at nearly 12 an over but after losing Harrison Ward in the second over Australian Hughes and another left-hander, Clark, added 55 in 27 balls to keep their challenge alive.
But leg-spinner Mason Crane made an immediate impact when he came on in the seventh over with two wickets in his first three balls. Clark was stumped when he missed a googly and James Coles lost his middle stump heaving across the line.
Hughes and John Simpson shared 49 off 31 balls but the required rate had climbed to 14.75 when Simpson failed to clear long on in the 12th over. Hughes hit two sixes off Chris Sole when play resumed at 10.10pm but then he holed out to deep backward-square to effectively end Sussex’s hopes.
© Cricket World 2024