T20 Blast 2018, Day 7: Round-up

We’ve witnessed one week of action in the Vitality T20 Blast now. All the teams are already competing hard to find themselves on the top of the points table. On the seventh day of the league, there were eight games that were played which means that 16 out of the 18 participating teams in the league were in action.

Quite a few games on the day were affected by rain on the seventh day of the T20 Blast. However, all of the games have yielded a result. Worcestershire, having won all the four games that they played are on the top of the points table in the North group. It is Kent which tops the South group with 3 wins in 4 games and has a better NRR. Here is how things progressed on the seventh day of the tournament:

Kent vs Hampshire – South Group

This game was a high-scoring one and was also quite close. Hampshire won the toss and opted to field first. Kent got off to a good start with one of their openers, D Bell-Drummond scoring 46 runs. However, the best innings came from the bat of Kent’s skipper Sam Billings. Walking in at No 4, Billings played some aggressive cricket and remained not out on 95 which came off just 54 balls. This helped his team put 210 runs on the board in 20 overs.

Chasing this huge target down, Hampshire was down to 6/3 within just two overs. But, Rilee Rossouw and Alsop played some quickfire knocks. While Rossouw scored 25 off 11, Alsop scored 41 off 24. Liam Dawson then took over and was unbeaten on 75 which came off 43 balls. He got some support from McManus (38 off 20 balls). However, the team fell short by just 3 runs to put them in a rather tricky spot in the T20 Blast table.

Brief Scores:

KENT: 210/4 in 20 overs (Sam Billings 95*, D Bell-Drummond 46, R Stevenson 2/39)

HAM: 207/6 in 20 0vers (L Dawson 75*, Alsop 41, Joe Denly 3/37)

Worcestershire vs Northamptonshire – North Group

This one was a rain-affected game. The match was reduced to 9 overs per side. Northamptonshire won the toss and opted to field first. Being a shortened game, Worcestershire batsmen played some aggressive cricket. Joe Clarke scored 28 off 13, Travis Head scored 37 off 14 and Ross Whiteley scored 36 off 15 to take the team’s total to 130 in just 9 overs.

Chasing 131 in 9 overs is never easy. Northamptonshire tried to go quite hard and in the process kept losing wickets. They fell short of the target by 41 runs as they only managed to get to 89 runs in 9 overs and lost 6 wickets in the process. Although skipper A Wakely remained positive and scored 54 off 21 balls, no other batsman managed to cross 15 runs. Dillon Pennington picked 4 wickets in just the two overs that he bowled.

Brief Scores:

WORCS: 130/3 in 9 overs (T Head 37, R Whiteley 36*, S Prasanna 1/24)

NOR: 89/6 in 9 overs (A Wakely 54*, R Levi 14, D Pennington 4/9)

Here is how things progressed in the other games:

Durham vs Yorkshire – North Group

YORKS: 157/6 in 20 overs (Harry Brook 38, Tattersall 36, Paul Collingwood 3/27)

DUR: 147/6 in 20 overs (Tom Latham 42, Graham Clark 39, Tim Bresnan 2/19)

Gloucestershire vs Somerset – South Group

SOM: 114/8 in 11 overs (Corey Anderson 40, L Gregory 19, Andrew Tye 3/24)

Gloucestershire: 116/6 in 10.1 overs (Ian Cockbain 43*, Noema-Barnett 25, L Gregory 2/32)

[Match reduced to 11 overs per side due to rain]

Essex vs Glamorgan – South Group

ESS: 167/10 in 20 overs (ten Doeschate 43, A Wheater 34, M Hogan 2/22)

GLAM: 171/8 in 20 overs (C Cooke 60*, A Donald 37, Adam Zampa 3/17)

Warwickshire vs Leicestershire – North Group

LEIC: 229/5 in 20 overs (Ben Raine 113, M Cosgrove 42, Hannon-Dalby 2/48)

WARKS: 129/10 in 15.2 overs (Ed Pollock 25, de Grandhomme 20, C Parkinson 4/20)

Sussex vs Surrey – South Group

SUR: 192/3 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 131*, Ollie Pope 23*, D Briggs 1/16)

SUS: 140/10 in 17.4 overs (P Salt 74, Jofra Archer 19, M Pillans 3/20)

@AaronFinch5 you beauty what an innings. Who’s better today?? #no1

— David Warner (@davidwarner31) July 14, 2018

Grinchy at his best again overnight! 131* off 79 balls. Facing 79 balls out of 120 is an amazing skill in itself! #jefffarmer #dogga @AaronFinch5

— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) July 13, 2018

Derbyshire vs Nottinghamshire – North Group

NOTTS: 175/8 in 19 overs (Dan Christian 62, Tom Moores 53, L Ferguson 4/26)

DERBY: 139/9 in 19 overs (MacLeod 48, M Critchley 19, D Christian 3/34)

[Match reduced to 19 over per side due to rain]