The Vitality Blast is sorting the wheat from the chaff
Now let’s have some full-blooded marketing for the sharp end
Ball one: Steelbacks’ record still stainless
It was pleasing to hear Emilio Gay use his TV interview after his strong Test debut to talk about two Northamptonshire lads opening together at Lord’s, Ben Duckett having started at Wantage Road too. Both probably still keep an eye on the Steelbacks’ results and, if so, they’d have seen five wins from five, enough to top the Central and West Group.
That record looked in danger at Chester le Street after losing their two Aussie batters (Chris Lynn and Nathan McSweeney) for a combined three runs and, with no stand accumulating even 50, Durham were favourites at the halfway mark.
But David Willey and Ben Sanderson are as canny as they come in the powerplay and did not panic, knowing that a chase can get ahead, but the old cliché of adding two wickets to the score keeps a fielding unit in the game if they’re tidy in their work.
As is so often the case, the match turned on the overs delivered by the fifth bowler, Willey turning to Saif Zaib and James “Son of Jumble” Sales. The two batting all-rounders combined for 4-0-26-3 and the Steelbacks could enjoy their long trip home with another four points in the bank.
Ball two: Taylor cuts his cloth to bowl out Worcestershire
Gloucestershire sit beside Northamptonshire on 20 points, having played a game more. Jack Taylor’s team won a tight one at home to Worcestershire Rapids (an ill-advised name, I feel) to complete a hat-trick of victories.
A target of 149 requires wickets to defend it and Taylor knows he has a couple of howitzers he can release to that end. Marchant de Lange is listed at 6ft 7in and Duan Jansen an inch taller, and they used their height and pace to punch six wickets out of the visitors’ scorecard, leaving them a boundary short, all out in the last over.
No doubt some of the older members at Bristol will recall, with a touch of sadness, another hostile South African quick who hit the ball hard for Gloucestershire. I hope, somewhere, Mike Procter was looking on approvingly, shirt underbuttoned to the navel.
Ball three: Dawson flying high with the Hawks
Down south, the Hampshire Hawks have opened up an eight point gap, their five wins two more than their nearest rivals.
Liam Dawson shone in their victory over a somewhat toothless Sussex Sharks for whom the adrenaline rush that has fired a super first half of the season may be petering out. Dawson, who unexpectedly packed in the red ball game in mid-May, made 52 and then took 3-20 in his full allocation to continue his excellent form.
He now has 138 runs in the Blast at an average pushing 50 and a strike rate above 150. Not so unusual for a fine cricketer, but I wonder if the clarity that comes from being able to focus on certain tournaments, train and practise in specific ways and (perhaps) step aside to allow a young player to learn the long form game, provides a better work-life balance at 36, one that might add at least five more years on to a career?
Ball four: get a grip, please!
Three wins in a row have ignited Essex’s campaign, lifting them to second in the South Group, the one that might be the trickiest to escape. (The top two in each of the three groups go to the quarter finals along with the best two third place teams. Like the FIFA World Cup – probably…)
After Charlie Allison and Luc Benkenstein had dominated the first innings of the match, the 21 year-olds putting on 133 in 16 overs, Simon Harmer’s attack set about a Middlesex team low on confidence. The captain was the only bowler not to cash in as a procession of batters came and went, resistance rather feeble, the home side all out in less than 18 overs.
Middlesex are rock bottom of the group after five defeats, mostly heavy ones and one wonders about where they go from here, still with six matches to play. With Sussex and Lancashire also in various states of disarray, that’s a sixth of counties in trouble, Domestic cricket cannot afford that and its governance should be robust enough to avoid it.
Ball five: Rehan reins ‘em in
Having despatched a miserable Lancashire back down the M62 to make it four wins out of five, Yorkshire could have opened up a 12 point gap in the North Group over third place Leicestershire Foxes with a win at Grace Road. But that sort of thinking can bite you on the bum in any sport, especially one as unpredictable as T20 cricket.
However, you can expect Rehan Ahmed to have an impact in any match in which he plays, as three-dimensional a cricketer as one finds in the English game, a quality that possibly works against him representing his country.
Opening, he missed out with a duck as the home side limped to 147/8, Kiwi, Nick Kelly top scoring with 44. With Jonny Bairstow teeing off, the Tykes were going at 11 an over in the powerplay, but Ahmed caught Adam Lyth and then punctured the middle order with a four wicket hole, three his own and one his run out.
Yorkshire still sit top of the Group, but they could have had one foot in the quarter-finals at the halfway mark without Ahmed’s intervention, still only 21 and surely too good solely to bounce between carrying drinks, the Lions, the county game and the franchise competitions.
Ball six: Lancashire’s problems illuminated at Blackpool
Not so long ago, Lancashire were set to adopt a subscription model for their YouTube coverage before (I presume) somebody asked the suit proposing it if he had actually seen the team recently.
Notwithstanding the difficulties attendant on providing coverage from an outground (a chilly and windswept Stanley Park, Blackpool) it was all a bit shambolic, with only Scott Read and co’s good humour and patience, if not his Glamorgan colleagues’ judgement, holding the show together.
Those more familiar with the works of Lancashire County Cricket Club would not have been awarding the visitors the win even if they needed 41 off 11 balls, eight wickets down. At 40 and 35 years of age, Chris Cooke and Timm van der Gugten have seen most things before and they played very well, but still…
Spare a thought for Liam Livingstone. He made 81 off 37 balls and took 3-13 off his four overs. His colleagues mustered 111 off 13.5 overs and took 4-186 off their 16. The Red Rose was weakened by injuries, but they still had six internationals on the field. Not good enough I’m afraid – again.