T20 Blast: Durham and Yorkshire win, while Sussex and Middlesex continue to struggle

7th Jun 2023 | Source: BBC

Jordan Thompson celebrates Jordan Thompson starred with the ball as Yorkshire won again

Jordan Thompson took 5-21 as Yorkshire Vikings beat Leicestershire by 30 runs at Grace Road to continue their recent good form in the T20 Blast.

They have now won four games in a row and are fourth in the North group.

Durham moved up to third with a four-wicket win over Northamptonshire at Chester-le-Street.

In the South group, Hampshire consigned Middlesex to an 11th consecutive T20 defeat, while Essex cruised to a five-wicket victory over Sussex.

Hampshire are third, below Surrey on net run rate but four points behind leaders Somerset, while Essex are two points further back in sixth.

North group

Yorkshire were in dire straits on 78-7 in the 14th over, batting first against Leicestershire, but David Wiese (50 not out off 32 balls) and Ben Mike (30 not out) combined to put on 78 to haul them to 156-7, the county's highest ever eighth-wicket stand in this format.

They took that momentum with them into the field, and despite Wiaan Mulder's 46, the hosts were all out for 126. Thompson was on a hat-trick at the start of the final over, but ended the game with his third delivery as Michael Finan gave him a return catch.

At the Riverside, an excellent knock of 55 from 30 balls by opener Graham Clark led Durham home with seven balls to spare against the Steelbacks.

Leg-spinner Nathan Sowter followed his 5-15 in the previous game between the two sides with 4-14 to help restrict Northants to 161-7 batting first.

Alex Lees (30) and Ashton Turner (31) provided the back-up for Clark and Durham were always well ahead of the rate before a wide from AJ Tye saw them to 162-6 and sealed their fourth win of the competition.

South group

Max Holden's excellent 53 was in vain for Middlesex

Ben McDermott hit 47 off 34 balls as Hampshire beat Middlesex by five runs at Radlett.

The Hawks lost in-form James Vince for just five, but McDermott and Toby Albert (32) took advantage of the small boundaries on offer in a stand of 56 before Luke Hollman (2-12) dismissed both as Middlesex restricted them to 164-6.

The home side were soon 2-2 and although Max Holden hit 53 off 31 balls, they fell short on 159-7.

Middlesex openers Stephen Eskinazi and Joe Cracknell both fell for ducks to the bowling of John Turner (3-30), but Holden steadied the ship, with eight fours and a six, backed up by Ryan Higgins (43).

When Holden was caught by Chris Wood off Liam Dawson, Hampshire turned the screw, taking wickets at regular intervals to leave Middlesex requiring 15 to win from the final over.

Nathan Ellis held his nerve, conceding just nine runs to guide his side to a third consecutive T20 win and Middlesex - who have not won a T20 game for almost a year - remain bottom of the group.

Sam Cook and Michael Pepper starred as Essex eased to victory over Sussex at Chelmsford.

Cook took 4-20 to rip the heart out of Sussex's batting line-up, and it took 50 off 31 balls from the evergreen Ravi Bopara to enable them to post a total of 147.

Nathan McAndrew had Dan Lawrence caught by James Coles for a duck, but Pepper (48) and Adam Rossington (35) put on 76 in just 30 balls, and although Sussex fought back to reduce Essex to 100-5, they did not have enough runs on the board.

Matt Critchley (25 not out) and Daniel Sams (29 not out) knocked off the remaining runs as they reached 149-5 with 5.1 overs left, in a big boost to Essex's net run rate.