T20 Blast

^^ As I expected, match reduced to 14 overs per side, so 84 balls. Explain that Butcher.

Northamptonshire 154-4 (14/14 overs) Bopara 105 no Clark 3-13
Surrey 147-6 (14/14 overs) S Curran 69 no Pope 41 Scrimshaw 3-33 Sanderson 2-24
Northamptonshire won by 7 runs

Still a class act at 40, Ravi faced 46 balls for his 105 runs with 12 fours & 5 sixes

Great game in the end.
Northants held on really well to get the away win. Top work.

Really pleased that the underdogs came through. The recourses that Surrey have at their disposal are insane, with Jamie Smith & Jamie Overton in the England ODI squad they were able to replace them with top quality international players in the form of Ollie Pope & Gus Atkinson. The Oval Invincibles are a pseudo Surrey team who have just won their 3rd consecutive title, Surrey are in the hunt for their 4th Championship on the bounce. Dominance in sport is boring, so it was refreshing to se Northamptonshire get back to Final Days after once being regular contenders. The return of Willey & new Coach Darren Lehmann should form a great partnership, along with bowler Sanderson there's enough Yorkshire connections for me to follow this side after Yorkshire were again abysmal in the Blast.

Durham v Hampshire
Toss - Durham elected to field
Hampshire 221-8 (20 overs) Albert 67 Cartwright 61 Lynn 51 Vince 27 Potts 2-35Durham 195-6 (20 overs) Robinson 60 no Lees 26 Neesham 24 Bedingham 22 Howell 2-28
Hampshire won by 26 runs

Butcher is at it again, didn't even know what team was batting, all the other Sky commentators are even taking the piss out of him now. One job.

Lancashire v Kent
Toss - Kent elected to bat
Kent 153-9 (20 overs) J Denly 28 Crawley 27 Evison 27 Stewart 25 Wood 3-29 Aspinwall 2-12 Livingstone 2-21
Lancashire 156-7 (18.3 overs) Livingstone 85 no Jones 28 Turner 22 Klaassen 3-14 M Parkinson 2-46
Lancashire won by 3 wicket

Somerset v Bears
Toss - Bears elected to bat
Bears 190-6 (20 overs) Davis 71 Smith 28 no Yates 25 Hain 21 Green 2-30
Somerset 191-6 (19.5 overs) Dixon 71 no Abell 51 Kohler Cadmore 32 Hannon-Dalby 3-24
Somerset won by 4 wickets

A new Blast record today with 18 fours in the Power Play. Then most fours (22) scored in any T20 match worldwide. Strangely Taunton is the ground were most sixes are scored in this comp, but the Bears couldn't mange a single one in their innings. At one state there was a run of 9 consecutive fours including six from the 2nd over bowled by Riley Meredith.