Ball, Carter guide holders Nottinghamshire to knockouts
Nottinghamshire put in a fantastic performance to confirm their spot in the knockout stage of the Royal London One-Day Cup. The defending champions were led by the bowling efforts of Jake Ball (4 for 29) and Matthew Carter (3 for 19), who ran through the Derbyshire line-up. A 59-run partnership between Wayne Madsen and Matthew Critchley arrested the early slide, that left the visitors down to 19 for 3, but couldn't take them too far. Once Luke Fletcher removed Crtchley, another lengthy procession ensued, taking Derbyshire from 78 for 4 in 21st over to getting bundled out for 110 in the 35th.
If the humiliation of an abject batting (no)show wasn't enough, their bowlers were ripped to shreds by Nottinghamshire opener Rikki Wessels. Wessels was particularly cruel against Madsen, hitting the off-break bowler for four successive sixes, and a four in a 28-run seventh over. He fell for a 34-ball 63, but Tom Moores walked out and straightaway whacked two fours and two sixes in an over from Critchley. In just the 12th over, Nottinghamshire went past the target to cap off a thumping victory that guarantees them a spot in the top-three of the North Group.
Brief Scores: Derbyshire 110 in 35 overs (Wayne Madsen 37, Matthew Critchley 33; Jake Ball 4-29, Matthew Carter 3-19) lost to Nottinghamshire 115/2 in 11.5 overs (Rikki Wessels 63, Tom Moores 41*) by 8 wickets.
Cameron Delport's fine 122 helped hosts Leicestershire bag only their second win of the campaign as they downed Durham by five wicketson Thursday(May 7), avoiding finishing last on the points table in their group. Batting first, Durham's batsmen failed to get going and they needed a defiant 100-run stand for the ninth wicket between Ryan Davies and Barry McCarthy to help them post a respectable 240 on the board. Coming out to chase it down, Delport got involved in two major partnerships, first by stitching a 93-run stand with his opening partner and skipper Paul Horton, and then a 109-run stand with Colin Ackermann.
Delport hit two sixes and 16 fours in his essay and ensured there was no slip-up even as Leicestershire lost two quick wickets following the fine opening stand. Ackermann played a good hand too, scoring a solid fifty as they won the game with almost six overs in hand.
Brief Scores: Durham 240 in 48.4 overs (Ryan Davies 61*; Zak Chappell 3-45) lost to Leicestershire 243/5 in 44.2 overs (Cameron Delport 122; Graham Clark 3-18) by five wickets.
As many as three batsmen scored in excess of 30 yet none of them kicked on to make a substantial contribution as Northamptonshire had to settle with a middling 241 against Yorkshire, and eventually lost to them by four wickets with an over to spare. David Willey was the star of the show as he first conjured up three wickets before masterminding the run-chase with a fluent 71.
Earlier in the day, Northamptonshire were reduced to 23 for 3 before skipper Alex Wakely and Charlie Oliver Thurston got 42 and 53 respectively to steady the ship. The second defiant stand came between No. 9 Graeme White and No. 10 Brett Hutton as they added 39 runs to help their team climb up to a respectable total.
Yorkshire didn't start any differently, losing their openers on the same score of 14 before Willey stood tall with a superb 71 to restore control in the innings. Willey, who was promoted ahead of Joe Root and Cheteshwar Pujara, struck eight fours and two sixes to pull the team out of the early rut. It was Rob Keogh who picked up two quick wickets to dent Yorkshire but Gary Ballance and Jonathan Tattersall forged a 87-run partnership to deny any chances of a comeback for Northants. Eventually, they won the game with one over to spare.
Brief Scores: Northamptonshire 241 in 47.5 overs (Charlie Oliver Thurston 53; David Willey 3-24) lost to Yorkshire 245/6 in 49 overs (David Willey 71, Gary Ballance 66; Rob Keogh 2-26) by four wickets.
Moeen Ali's all-round show, first a three-fer and then a manic 114 that came off just 75 balls, ensured that Worcestershire chased down Warwickshire's challenging 293 with over four overs to spare to end the league stage of the competition right at the top. However, that wasn't without its share of thrill as Worcestershire, having bossed the chase for a majority of the innings, saw their wheels coming off towards the end, only to scrape through with just the one wicket in hand in the end.
The all-rounder smashed as many as five sixes along with 12 fours to undo the two early wickets that went down in the chase. When Moeen was dismissed, Warwickshire had only about 100 more runs to score, with almost half the number of overs remaining. Wicketkeeper Ben Cox's 85-ball 80 helped the side take further control as he strung together an 84-run partnership with Ross Whiteley, but once their partnership was broken, they lost their next two wickets for just seven runs. The ninth wicket went down with another five runs needed to win, and fortunately for them, Ed Barnard scored 13 off 14 to finish off the chase. No.11 Charlie Morris didn't need to come on strike.
Earlier in the game, Warwickshire lost two early wickets before Sam Hain brought some control with his 84-ball 68. As they started to lose their path again in the middle, 'keeper-batsman Tim Ambrose and Will Rhodes combined for a fantastic 133-run partnership for the sixth wicket. That not just provided the team with a lot of momentum but also ensured that they finished with a tough total of 292 runs on the board. However, it wasn't enough on the day although they ran their opposition very close.
Warwickshire 292/7 in 50 overs (Tim Ambrose 75, Will Rhodes 69; Moeen Ali 3-40) lost to Worcestershire 296/9 in 45.4 overs (Moeen Ali 114, Ben Cox 80; Olly Stone 4-71, Henry Brookes 3-57) by one wicket.
Nottinghamshire will take on Kent in the first quarterfinal on June 14, while Essex will face-off against Yorkshire in the second. Worcestershire and Hampshire have already made it to the semifinals and await the winners of the quarters. The final will be played at Lord's on June 30.
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