Month: August 2018

6:01 PM ET ESPNcricinfo staff Sussex, who claimed a quarter-final place with three wins in less than a week, have been rewarded with a 500-mile round trip to Chester-le-Street where they will meet the North Group’s surprise packets, Durham. Quarter-final ties: Kent Spitfires v Lancashire Lightning – Thursday 23 August (7pm) Durham Jets v Sussex Sharks – Friday 24 August (6.30pm) Worcestershire Rapids v Gloucestershire – Saturday 25 August (3pm)…

3:00 AM ET ECB Reporters Network Kent 203 for 5 (Bell-Drummond 80, Denly 45) beat Essex 201 for 6 (Wheater 40) by five wicketsScorecard Daniel Bell-Drummond hammered his this third Vitality Blast half-century of the season to help Kent finish second in South Group and set up a home tie in the last four. Bell-Drummond was out at the start of the final over for 80 from 51 balls as…

3:00 AM ET Paul Edwards Nottinghamshire 169 for 2 (Hales 71*) beat Yorkshire 163 for 6 (Willey 51, Williamson 44, Lyth 44, Gurney 1-16) by eight wicketsScorecard Four years ago on a steamy Leeds evening Nottinghamshire Outlaws also derived great pleasure from arriving at Headingley and dumping Yorkshire out of the T20 Blast. The visitors’ six-wicket victory on that occasion was achieved in a match that saw 401 runs scored…

3:00 AM ET ECB Reporters Network Worcestershire 209 for 5 (Moeen 115, Poysden 3-41) beat Birmingham 194 for 7 (Hose 45, Pollock 36, Parnell 3-47, Brown 2-23) by 15 runsScorecard Moeen Ali‘s scintillating century against Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston lifted Worcestershire Rapids to a 15-run Vitality Blast victory which booked them a home tie in the quarter-finals. Former Bears batsman Moeen smashed his maiden T20 ton – 115 from 56…

3:00 AM ET ECB Reporters Network Sussex 215 for 5 (Salt 66) beat Middlesex 184 (Simpson 62, Stirling 58, Briggs 2-22) by five wicketsScorecard Sussex were given a fright by Middlesex before reaching the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast for the first time since 2015 with a 31-run win at Hove. Skipper Luke Wright, returning after missing two games with a back spasm, made 74 and fellow opener Phil Salt…

3:00 AM ET ECB Reporters Network Northants 154 for 6 (Duckett 37, Cobb 30) beat Leicestershire 148 for 7 (Dearden 61) by four wicketsScorecard A wretched season for the Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the Vitality Blast at least ended on a high note as they avenged their morale-sapping opening-day defeat at the hands of the Leicestershire with a comprehensive win at the Fischer County Ground. Chasing 149 to win, the Steelbacks…

3:00 AM ET ECB Reporters Network Hampshire147 for 4 (Vince 48*, Rossouw 42) beat Gloucestershire 144 for 8 (Klinger 43, Wood 4-16) by six wicketsScorecard James Vince and Sam Northeast’s 66-run stand coupled with four miserly wickets for Chris Wood prevented Gloucestershire from securing a home Vitality Blast quarter-final as Hampshire recorded just their second success in the competition. Gloucestershire, who had already qualified for the knockout stages, needed to…

Root explains tough Stokes-Curran swap (1:47) The England captain says the decision to leave Curran out has been one of his most difficult as a captain (1:47) 11:37 AM ET Deserve, as Clint Eastwood said, has nothing to do with it. While it’s probably unfortunate to evoke an Eastwood character in connection with Ben Stokes at present – the above quote comes from Unforgiven, where Eastwood played the part of…

9:30 AM ET Danyal Rasool Former Pakistan captain and World Cup winner Imran Khan has won a parliamentary vote, confirming him as the next prime minister of Pakistan. Following the success of his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice), in elections across the country last month, his election to the top political job was imminent. He beat the rival candidate, Shehbaz Sharif, by 176 votes to 96. All that…