20/20 for New Competition

The much-maligned Twenty20 Cup finally started last night, and there were some fine individual performances in all the games.

Durham vs Nottinghamshire

With Kevin Pietersen in their ranks, Nottinghamshire would've fancied their chances of posting a big score, but tight bowling, led by Ian Hunter and Nick Phillips restricted their batting, and only Jason Gallian, with 62 from 48 balls and a late flurry from Paul Franks with 29 from 19 balls got them to 157-7.

In reply, Nicky Peng hammered 49 from 29 balls, but 2 run outs in quick succession reduced them to 88-3. Enter Ashley Thorpe and, rather like his far more illustrious Surrey and England namesake, he guided his side home with a minimum of fuss with a 32 ball 35 for a 6 wicket win with 5 balls to spare.

Hampshire vs Sussex

A solid, if unspectacular, batting performance saw Hampshire to a total of 153 all out, openers James Hamblin and Derek Kenway putting on 66 in rapid time, and the rest of the order chipped in with the next 5 batsmen getting into double figures, but only John Crawley getting past 12!
Mark Davis twirled away at the end of the innings picking up the fine figures of 3-13 from 3 overs as the tail gave him the charge and both Nick Pothas and Alan Mullally were stumped.

The veteran Pakistani left armer Wasim Akram then showed that there's no substitute for quality accurate bowling, bowling Matt Prior and then trapping Murray Goodwin first ball LBW. When Dimitri Mascarenhas followed up by removing Chris Adams for 5, it was 27-3, and the writing was on the wall. Wicket-keeper Tim Ambrose tried to revive the innings, hammering an unbeaten 54 from 39 balls, but Mullally showed there wasn't just one left armer on show with talent, bowling his 4 overs for only 19 runs, and Sussex closed 5 runs short on 148-7

Somerset vs Warwickshire

On being put in to bat, Warwickshire struggled early on, and when Ian Bell was dismissed they were 76-5 and floundering. Enter the veteran Zimbabwean Trevor Penney, who smashed 4 fours and 3 sixes in a 28 ball 52, and at the other end, the Kenyan Collins Obuya added an unbeaten 34. Young Graham Wagg added the final touches with 13 from 6 balls as they piled up 188-7.

It was a tough ask, and stand in captain Nick Knight sprang a major surprise when Somerset came into bat, handing Ian Bell the unlikely role of new ball bowler. It wasn't a successful move, as Jamie Cox got the side off to a flyer, with 47 from 27 balls, but Wagg was in fine form, and bowled Carl Gazzard for 10, before following up with possibly the key wicket, bowling Ian Blackwell first ball. From 49-2, Somerset pressed on, as Keith Dutch batted superbly for 70 from 52 balls, but when Obuya bowled Cox, the innings began to fall away dramatically as all the bowlers maintained their composure and the run rate increased, eventually Somerset being bowled out off their final ball for 169, both Wagg and Obuya collecting 3 wickets.

Surrey vs Middlesex

This match belonged to Jimmy Ormond, who bowled superbly to pick up the wickets of five top order batsmen for 26 runs - only Andrew Strauss with 52 from 48 balls, and number 9 Robin Weston with 30 showed any real resistance, as Middlesex ended up 155 all out.

In reply, the top order all blazed away, James Benning with 27 from 14 balls, Adam Hollioake with 24 from 14 and Graham Thorpe with 23 from 15. With Ian Ward's steady 31, victory was a formality, brought up with 4 balls and 4 wickets to spare.

Worcestershire vs Northamptonshire

On choosing to bat, Northamptonshire got off to a good start with Mike Hussey making 67 from 59 balls and Philip Jaques 33 from 22, but the change bowlers, led by South African Andrew Hall's 2-17 from 4 overs, strangled the middle order, and despite Andre Nel's 2 huge sixes, they could only manage 150-9 in their 20 overs.

Gareth Batty and David Taylor set into the bowling from the off, Taylor making 46 from just 20 balls (42 of which came in boundaries), but there was another twist in the tail, as Ricaldo Anderson picked up 4 wickets in very quick succession and Worcestershire were struggling on 84-6. Enter young debutant Stephen Moore, who batted very cooly under the pressure, not even being fazed when the 9th wicket fell with still 7 runs needed, and he guided them home with 2 balls left for a nervewracking win.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE - 157-7 (Gallian 62, Franks 29*, Pietersen 25, Wells 3-39, Killeen 2-30)
DURHAM - 160-4 (Peng 49, Thorpe 35*)

HAMPSHIRE - 153a/o (Kenway 35, Hamblin 34, Davis 3-13, Lewry 2-31)
SUSSEX - 148-7 (Ambrose 54*, Zuiderent 25, Wasim Akram 2-22, Mascarenhas 2-51)

WARWICKSHIRE - 188-7 (Penney 52, Obuya 34*, Durston 3-31)
SOMERSET - 169a/o (Dutch 70, Cox 47, Obuya 3-16, Wagg 3-33, Smith 2-25)

MIDDLESEX - 155a/o (Strauss 52, Weston 30, Ormond 5-26, Azhar Mahmood 2-28)
SURREY - 158-6 (Ward 31, Benning 27)

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE - 150-9 (Hussey 67, Jaques 33, Liptrot 3-32, Hall 2-17, Batty 2-28)
WORCESTERSHIRE - 151-9 (Taylor 46, Moore 39*, Batty 29, Anderson 4-29, Swann 2-17, Nel 2-29)

Posted by Marc