Sam Curran’s five wicket-haul helped Surrey emerge with a 28-run victory in the Vitality Blast South Group top-two clash against Somerset at Taunton.
The visitors posted 195 for nine after losing the toss, Will Jacks smashing 60 off 43 balls and Chris Jordan a blistering 36 not out off just 12.
In reply, Somerset were restricted to 167 for nine, Tom Banton top scoring with 53 and Tom Abell making 39. Curran – who has been made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list – finished with five for 26 as Surrey replaced their opponents in top spot.
Kent scored a record Lord’s T20 total as they beat Middlesex by 13 runs, despite a magnificent century from Max Holden.
Holden led his side’s assault on an improbable target of 229 with a career-best T20 knock of 121 not out from 59 balls to maintain the Seaxes’ hopes of finally breaking their duck in the tournament after eight defeats.
But Kent held on for their second successive win, having posted 228 for three thanks to Daniel Bell-Drummond, who struck 66 from 42 before Joe Denly savaged his former side’s ragged bowling attack with an unbeaten 73 from 37.
Essex made it four wins in a row by beating Glamorgan by four wickets, with academy graduate Feroze Khushi hitting a half-century.
Khushi crashed a 37-ball 61 as Essex comfortably chased down 175, despite losing three early wickets thanks to Jamie McIlroy’s four for 36.
Paul Walter contributed 43, before Daniel Sams (41) and Matt Critchley (16 not out) saw off most the remaining runs with 24 balls to spare.
Oli Carter and Brad Currie were the heroes as Sussex upset defending champions Hampshire at Hove to claim only their third win of the season.
Carter’s 64 helped Sussex to 183 for six, which did not look enough in quick-scoring conditions.
Hampshire subsequently slumped to 24 for four and although Liam Dawson made 59 off 34 balls, Sussex won by six runs, with debutant Currie having taken three wickets as well as producing a stunning catch.
Birmingham Bears moved to the top of the North Group after triumphing by 21 runs in their derby clash against Worcestershire at New Road.
Late hitting from Dan Mousley (49 not out) and Jacob Bethell (32 not out) helped set a challenging target as the visitors reached 196 for five.
Worcestershire captain Brett D’Oliveira then struck his first T20 half century of the season, top scoring with exactly 50, but his side struggled to break free from the Bears’ spinners and finished on 175 for six for a fourth successive loss.
Dawid Malan’s fifth half-century of this competition – a superb 79 off 45 balls – helped Yorkshire to a record-equalling sixth straight T20 win as they chased 196 to beat Leicestershire by eight wickets at Headingley.
Louis Kimber had bludgeoned a career-best unbeaten 59 off 38 to power the Foxes to 195 for five after a mixed start to the innings.
But he was on the losing side as Malan united with Adam Lyth (90 not out), the left-handers sharing a superb club-record opening stand of 158 in 14 overs.
Steven Croft smashed his maiden Blast century to power Lancashire to an imposing 204 for seven and set up a 35-run victory over Northamptonshire at Wantage Road.
Croft clubbed seven sixes and five fours in his 101 and shared a 146-run partnership in 12 overs with Daryl Mitchell (48).
Luke Wood then took three for 39 as the Steelbacks – for whom Tom Taylor and AJ Tye posted 40 and 35 respectively – fell to their sixth defeat of the campaign.
Durham and Derbyshire played out a thrilling tie at Seat Unique Riverside after Falcons batter Haider Ali hit the final ball of the innings for four to earn his team a share of the spoils.
Brydon Carse top scored for Durham with 58 as they posted 178 from their 20 overs. Luis Reece then hit 58 from 47 balls in Derbyshire’s reply, but the home side dragged it back to set up a tense finale as Wayne Parnell claimed three wickets.
Haider then held his nerve from the last ball, finding the boundary on the leg-side to claim a valuable point for his team.
Imlach puts Harpy Eagles’ West Indies Championship success down to togetherness- “We had different players stand up at different times”
Togetherness was the main reason for the Guyana Harpy Eagles successful defence of their West Indies Championship title according to skipper Tevin Imlach.
The Harpy Eagles recovered from a draw and a loss in their first two games to win their final five games on their way to winning their second straight title.
“We had different players stand up at different times which is very important,” Imlach said in an appearance on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday.
“You never want to rely on one or two players. We have a lot of depth in our batting and we have three very good spinners that would’ve played for the West Indies already in Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair,” Imlach added.
Sinclair and Imlach finished third and sixth on the top run scorers list with 508 and 485 runs, respectively.
Sinclair made one hundred and two fifties and finished with an average of 63.50 in his seven games while Imlach, who missed the first two rounds of the tournament while on West Indies duty, made two hundreds and three fifties in his five games and finished with an average of 53.88.
The Harpy Eagles also had two more batsmen cross the 300-run mark in Kevlon Anderson (332) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (323). Kemol Savory narrowly missed out on joining this club after finishing with 289. Chanderpaul and Savory also both scored a century, each, this season.
It was also a collective effort with the ball for the champions. Permaul led the way with 29 wickets in seven games followed by pacer Nial Smith who finished with 20 wickets from four matches.
Motie and Isai Thorne followed with 19 wickets from five and six matches, respectively, while Kevin Sinclair took 13 wickets in seven games and Ronaldo Alimohamed took 12 wickets in six outings.
This season was also Imlach’s first captaining the Harpy Eagles in the four-day format after taking over from the retired Leon Johnson who led Guyana to six regional four-day titles.
“It was challenging,” Imlach said about filling Johnson’s shoes.
“Big shoes to fill obviously with Leon Johnson retiring but it was good. It is much different when you play with these guys and when you’re in a leadership position because you have to be the one making the calls that they may not necessarily always like. These players want the ball in their hands at all times and want to make a difference so sometimes it is difficult. It’s a good learning experience. I’m learning about them and they’re learning about me as well,” he added.
Imlach was also a member of the West Indies Test squad to Australia in December last year. He said that despite not getting a game, he took some things from his net sessions down under into this first-class season.
“It was very good. It was different to what we are accustomed to in the Caribbean. The pitches are a lot bouncier and the ball tends to seam around a bit more. I didn’t manage to play in the games but I spent some time in the nets and it was good. It was fruitful. I learned a lot that I took into this season,” he said.
Imlach's next assignment could be as part of the regional side to take on England in three Tests from July 10-30.
Nortje makes international return for South Africa's T20 World Cup squad
Anrich Nortje earned a recall to South Africa's fold as he was included in the Proteas' 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup.
Nortje has been in action in the Indian Premier League, but has not played for South Africa, who will be captained by Aiden Markram, in nine months.
While he has taken seven wickets in six matches for the Delhi Capitals, Nortje has gone at 13.36 runs per over, but has been given the nod due to his pace.
"Anrich has got another month before the World Cup starts so I have no doubt he'll hit his straps," South Africa coach Rob Walter said.
"It's good to see that his speed is up. The one thing Anrich has that separates him from others is raw pace. There's not many guys who can bowl 150kph and he can. Pace is an X-factor."
Lungi Ngidi has missed out, though he is a travelling reserve.
Quinton de Kock has not not been in good form, but has made the cut due to historical performances. He is no longer under contract at Cricket South Africa (CSA) and retired from ODIs last year.
"Quinny, we've seen him do it time and time again for us," Walter said.
"Reeza [Hendricks] has been a star performer for us in T20 cricket, was a standout in this domestic CSA T20 challenge again, and Ryan Rickelton has had two outstanding competitions really where he's played the brand of cricket that we're looking to play.
"And then we're going to have Markram and that'll be the top order. It's mostly a performance-based decision and from Quinton's point of view is just a real knowledge of what he's capable of."
Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman have been standout performers in the SA20 this year, and could earn their maiden T20I caps.
South Africa did not make it out of the Super 12 stage at the last World Cup in 2022.
Three big players, Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell, have missed out compared to the squad for that tournament.
The Proteas start their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 3, after playing a warm-up series against West Indies.
South Africa squad:
Aiden Markram (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
IPL: Stoinis key for LSG as they rise to third after seeing off Indians
Marcus Stoinis starred for Lucknow Super Giants as they edged to a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to move into third in the Indian Premier League.
Mumbai's chances of another high-scoring innings were dented early on as Ishan Kishan's low lob was taken by Mayank Yadav before Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind and walked after a successful Lucknow review inside the first three overs.
The Indians struggled to get going, and even Nehal Wadhera's 46 from 41 balls and Tim David's unbeaten 35 off 18 were not enough to drag Mumbai over the 150 mark as they finished their 20 overs on 144-7.
Having been left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, Lucknow captain KL Rahul managed 28 before he was dismissed in the fourth over.
But thanks to Stoinis' heavy lifting, as he plundered 62, including seven fours and two sixes, LSG looked set to cruise to victory.
The momentum stalled, though, when Stoinis was caught out by Tilak Varma, but Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya eventually saw them over the line with just four balls left to play with.
Data Debrief: Another happy away day for Stoinis
This is the third game in which Stoinis has passed 50, and he has enjoyed another high score away from home after reaching 124 in LSG's trip to Chennai Super Kings.
Despite making an early exit, Rahul (406), is now up to fourth in the race for this season's orange cap, although Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 500 runs.
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