T20 Blast North leaders Birmingham Bears demolish Nottinghamshire – BBC Sport

Leaders Birmingham Bears made it six wins in a row in the T20 Blast North Group with a quickfire demolition job on Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge.

The home side were dismissed for the fourth-lowest total in English Twenty20 Cup history, making just 57 in 17.2 overs.

George Garton took two wickets in two balls and with Moeen Ali – back in harness after England World Cup duty – taking 2-2, the Outlaws struggled throughout their innings, only two players reaching double figures.

Rob Yates hit an unbeaten 35 off 20 balls to ensure the Bears, captained by Danny Briggs in his 500th career game in all formats, got home in just 5.2 overs for a nine-wicket win.

Derbyshire Falcons made light work of Yorkshire Vikings on a difficult pitch at Chesterfield, reducing the visitors to 130-9 to set up a seven-wicket win with five overs to spare.

Yorkshire were in disarray from the off as Alex Thomson accounted for their top three batters in his first over to finish with 3-26.

After they slumped to 21-5, Vikings were revived by a 58 partnership from Donovan Ferreira (44) and Matthew Revis (30) but David Lloyd breezed to 50 off 32 balls to see the Falcons home and maintain their chances of landing a top four finish.

Australian Ashton Agar, making his debut for the club, helped Northants Steelbacks over the line against Durham in a low-scoring affair at Wantage Road.

Durham stumbled to 140 all out, exactly half of the runs provided by Colin Ackermann (70), while the outstanding Ben Sanderson claimed 4-15, removing Alex Lees and Ollie Robinson for nought.

Opener Ricardo Vasconcelos gave the home side an anchor with 41 before Lewis McManus (25*) and Agar (11*) saw them over the line with two balls to spare.

Luke Wood pulled the penultimate ball of the match for six to keep Lancashire Lightning on course for the quarter-finals in a tense finish against Worcestershire Rapids at Old Trafford.

Josh Cobb’s superb 74 off 53 balls had bolstered the Rapids’ total and Adam Hose’s unbeaten 45 off 26 balls saw the visitors post a formidable 181-4.

Lancashire lost regular wickets in their reply and needed 39 off the last three with Tom Bruce (50 not out) keeping their hopes alive.

When all-rounder Chris Green holed out in the deep and Matthew Waite took two wickets in two balls it looked to be all over until Wood lifted Tom Taylor’s fifth ball into the crowd.

Essex’s top four hopes took a blow at Glamorgan as they fell to a 26-run defeat in the South Group.

They reduced the Welsh side to 87-4 but Colin Ingram (47) and Chris Cooke (38) put on 67 for the fifth wicket in just 27 balls and Glamorgan finished on 182-8.

Timm van der Gugten’s 3-20 reduced the Essex reply to 27-3 but opener Adam Rossington (41) and the excellent Paul Walter (53) lit the blue touchpaper on their innings with an 83 partnership.

However, both fell quickly, Rossington going to Marnus Labuschagne (3-26) and Mason Crane conceded just two from the 16th over to leave Essex with too much to do as they stumbled to 156 all out.

Gloucestershire chased down Somerset’s total of 194 to stay in the hunt for the knockout stages in a thrilling finish in Taunton.

Tom Banton carried his bat for 77 and Ben Green hit his best T20 score of 47 off 25 balls as the home side posted a daunting target.

The visitors conceded 32 off the final over with Josh Shaw removed from the attack midway through the over after bowling two no-balls over waist height.

Gloucestershire kept the scoreboard ticking in the chase as Miles Hammond (42), James Bracey (31), Beau Webster (39) and Jack Taylor (27) all made valuable contributions.

They still needed 13 off the last over, only for Ollie Price and Ben Charlesworth to hit a six apiece off Green’s bowling to win it with one ball left.

Rain reduced play at The Oval to 10 overs each and South Group leaders Surrey wasted no time, running up 103-5 with Laurie Evans scoring 25 off 13 balls and Kent bowler Grant Stewart conceding 19 off the final over.

Another rain interruption lopped two overs off the Kent reply, meaning they needed 87 off eight.

They got off to a poor start as England paceman Reece Topley had Daniel Bell-Drummond caught by Ben Geddes off the second ball.

Feroze Khushi hit 35 off 19 balls and with 17 needed off the last over, Chris Jordan conceded just 11 as Kent fell five runs short.