Warwickshire go top after narrow win

Northamptonshire vs Warwickshire - North Group, at Northampton

Warwickshire marched to the top of the North Group points table with a narrow two-run victory over Northamptonshire on Tuesday (August 1). Set a target of 173, the home side came agonisingly close but lost their skipper Alex Wakely, who led the chase, off the last ball to fall short by just two runs.

Northamptonshire never fell alarmingly off the mark in the chase, until the final moments. Richard Levi and Adam Rossington gave the rest of the order a perfect launchpad by putting on 58 for the opening stand in just 4.3 overs. Levi did the bulk of damage there, hammering 33 off just 13 deliveries he faced, including five hits to the fence and two over it. Rossington then took charge and dominated his second-wicket partnership with Ben Duckett.

Jeetan Patel gave Warwickshire an opening by taking out both the partners off successive deliveries. But skipper Wakely then took matters into his own hand. In his 52-run stand with Wakely, Rob Keogh contributed only a run-a-ball 18 before being dismissed off the final ball of an excellent 16th over from Colin de Grandhomme. Wakely kept his side in the hunt by taking maximum strike in order to shield his lower order but a couple of tight overs - when the asking rate was nine - turned the heat on.

With 13 to get off the final over, a first-ball six reignited the hopes of the home side's win, despite having lost two wickets under pressure. That also brought up the fifty for the captain. But when the equation came down to three off the final ball, Wakely succumbed to a run-out as Northamptonshire fell two short.

On the other hand, Warwickshire's was more a collective batting effort. While all of top-six managed double figures, none built a partnership as good as the 54-run stand fifth-wicket affair between de Grandhomme (37) and Grant Elliot (23). The side lost wickets at regular intervals throughout, robbing them off momentum. The 172 that they managed, however, proved just about enough.

Brief scores: Warwickshire 172/9 in 20 overs (Colin de Grandhomme 37, Sam Hain 28; Rob Keogh 2-27, Richard Gleeson 2-27) beat Northamptonshire 170/7 in 20 overs (Alex Wakely 52, Adam Rossington 43; Jeetan Patel 2-27, Aaron Thomason 2-35) by two runs.

Hampshire vs Kent - South Group, at Southampton

Shahid Afridi's four-fer went in vain as Kent registered a five-run win, only their third of the tournament, in Southampton.

Daniel Bell-Drummond (62) and Joe Denly (31) were the stars with the bat for Kent as the duo put on 65 in eight overs for the opening stand before the latter was cleaned up by Mason Crane. Bell-Drummond, however, stayed on to get his half-century. He lost as many as three partners at the other end, all at regular intervals to Afridi, but kept scoring briskly to put Kent on course for a commanding total.

Bell-Drummond was the fifth man dismissed, when Kent's scoreboard read 120 in the middle of the 16th over. Alex Blake (23 not out) and Darren Stevens (16) then provided the finishing touches to pick 39 off the remaining 27 deliveries as Kent finished with a healthy 159 on the board. Hampshire remained well on course but lost steam towards the end. Skipper James Vince and gave the hosts the perfect start by knocking of 42 of the chase in 3.5 overs with fellow opener Rilee Rossouw. The duo fell in the space of two overs, within powerplay, but Tom Alsop (43 not out) and George Bailey (41) picked up from there admirably well to take Hampshire to 120 for 2 after 15 overs.

It all fell apart from there on. James Tredwell capped off a fine spell with the wicket for Bailey. That together with some fine death bowling display from James Neesham and Matt Coles mounted the pressure on Alsop. The final over ask was 16 and all Hampshire could manage was 10.

Brief scores: Kent 159/6 in 20 overs (Daniel Bell-Drummond 62, Joe Denly 31; Shahid Afridi 4-26) beat Hampshire 154/4 in 20 overs (Tom Alsoop 43*, George Bailey 41; James Neesham 1-22) by five runs.

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