T20 Blast round-up: Webster hits ton as Warwickshire claim first win

Warwickshire Bears' Beau Webster raising his bat in his left hand.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,

Beau Webster is back in his second season for Warwickshire

Published2 hours ago

ByChris Harby, BBC Sport England and Matthew Cresswell, BBC Sport England

Australia all-rounder Beau Webster smashed the first T20 century of his career as Warwickshire Bears picked up their first win in this season's T20 Blast against holders Somerset.

Webster's 112 came off 61 deliveries, hitting nine fours and seven sixes, as he formed a third-wicket partnership with Dan Mousley (74 not out) worth 145 to help the Bears claim a six-wicket victory in a run-fest at Taunton.

Elsewhere, Yorkshire saw their North Group lead cut to four points as they slipped to a second defeat of the campaign away to Leicestershire.

Jonny Bairstow made a rapid 39, but the Tykes were dismissed for 135 as the Foxes sealed a third straight win.

Notts Outlaws also won a third straight match, beating Derbyshire, to go second - above Leicestershire on net run rate.

Sussex ended a run of four straight defeats by beating Kent to climb off the bottom of the South Group, leapfrogging Middlesex who were thrashed by second-placed Essex.

Rehan Ahmed celebrates with Ian Holland after taking a wicket against Yorkshire

Image source, ShutterstockImage caption,

Rehan Ahmed took three wickets in his first T20 Blast match of the season on his return from England Lions duty

North Group: Foxes & Outlaws close in as Yorks lose

Jack Kelly got Leicestershire off to a good start against pacesetters Yorkshire, making 44 off 31 balls, but when the New Zealander holed out off Hasan Ali it started a run of four wickets in 15 balls as they slumped from 90-2 to 96-6.

Ben Cox hit a defiant unbeaten 33, but Hasan (4-18) returned with two wickets in three balls as the Foxes were restricted to 147-8.

The total looked a meagre one when Bairstow, fresh from his 73 in Friday's Roses clash, smashed 39 off 21 balls before becoming the first of two wickets in Ian Holland's first over.

Will Luxton hit 38 off 27 balls to take Yorkshire to 100-3 in the 13th over, but the other Tykes batters struggled to get going as the home attack chipped away.

Aided by the farcical run-out of Moeen Ali for 11, and falling behind the rate required, the visitors lost their last seven wickets for 35 runs.

Nottinghamshire opener George Munsey set the tone at Trent Bridge with his second fifty in three matches, sharing stands of 50 with Joe Clarke and 67 with Jack Haynes, before falling for 53.

Haynes brought up his 50 off 35 balls, but went to the next delivery as Derbyshire fought back, but Tom Moores hoisted three sixes in a late cameo of 39 to lift the Outlaws to 183-6.

Pakistan pacer Mohammad Ali (3-25) continued his fine form by removing Aneurin Donald, Caleb Jewell and Matt Montgomery in the powerplay to check the Falcons' fast start.

Most of the Derbyshire batters made starts, but Wayne Madsen's 27 was the top score as Dillon Pennington also chipped in with three wickets to keep the visitors down to 173-9.

Lancashire failed to bounce back from their heavy loss in the Roses match on Friday as they went down to a two-wicket defeat by Glamorgan in gloomy conditions at Blackpool.

Liam Livingstone fired 81 off 37 balls, launching eight sixes in his innings, and collected impressive figures of 3-13 for the Red Rose - and with two overs remaining, Glamorgan still needed 41 to win.

Chris Cooke's 44 not out off just 15 deliveries proved decisive though as Glamorgan chased down a target of 202 to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat off the final ball.

Luc Benkenstein hits out while batting for Essex

Image source, ShutterstockImage caption,

Luc Benkenstein hit a career-best 67 in Essex's 60-run win

South Group: Essex climb to second as Middlesex slump again

A third-wicket stand of 133 between Luc Benkenstein and Charlie Allison provided the backbone of the Essex innings against Middlesex at Merchant Taylors' School.

Allison was the more aggressive with four sixes in a 37-ball 61, while Benkenstein made a T20 career-best 67 from a marginally more sedate 56 balls as the visitors set 176-5.

Zaman Akhter removed Josh de Caires and Ben Geddes in his first over to put the skids under the chase at 32-3.

Noah Thain repeated the trick with two wickets in his first over on his way to 3-11 as Middlesex were skittled for 116, despite 36 from Ryan Higgins, for a fifth Blast defeat of the season.

Kent were looking to move within four points of South Group leaders Hampshire, but fell to a surprise second defeat of the campaign to Sussex at Hove.

Sean Hunt (3-9) took two wickets in five balls, including Zak Crawley for a four-ball duck, and then caught Sam Billings off Tymal Mills in the next over to reduce Kent to 18-3.

It was 39-4 when Harry Finch (27) became Hunt's third victim before Joe Denly (42), Chris Benjamin (22) and Keith Dudgeon (29 not out) led a partial recovery to 133-8.

Dudgeon then took two wickets in the Sussex powerplay, including John Simpson (33), but opener Dan Hughes hit an unbeaten 41 and shared an unbroken 56-run stand with Oli Carter (32) as the hosts got home with 16 balls to spare.

Central & West Group: Bears claim first win; Gloucs go level at top

Gloucestershire's Duan Jansen celebrating while clenching his fists.

Image source, ShutterstockImage caption,

Gloucestershire's Duan Jansen picked up 4-37 from his four overs

Warwickshire picked up their first victory of the T20 Blast season against holders Somerset, who succumbed to their fourth Blast defeat on the spin.

After being put into bat, Somerset were in a bit of bother at 98-4 after brothers James and Thomas Rew were dismissed in consecutive deliveries by Jordan Thompson.

But Jordan Hermann (90) and Lewis Gregory (55) put on an unbeaten stand of 117 from the final eight overs as Somerset set Warwickshire a daunting looking target of 216.

When Webster was eventually dismissed for 112, caught by Alfie Ogborne off the bowling of Gregory, Somerset still looked in a decent position.

But Mousley crunched four consecutive boundaries in the penultimate over as the Bears got home with two balls to spare to pull off a club record T20 chase with Somerset's chances of defending their title quickly diminishing.

Gloucestershire made it five wins from six in the Blast, picking up a slender three-run victory over Worcestershire Rapids at Bristol, to go level on points with Northamptonshire at the top of the Central and West Group.

The home side recovered from 29-3 to end on 148-8 with Ben Charlesworth top-scoring with 49.

Four of Worcestershire's top five batters failed to reach double figures as Duan Jansen ripped through the top order, producing figures of 4-37.

Sikandar Raza's 47 off 31 gave the Rapids hope but Adam Finch was last man out when he was caught off the bowling of Matt Taylor as the visitors went down to just their second defeat of the competition.

Glamorgan have leapfrogged Worcestershire up to third following their stunning win at Lancashire.

Cooke's four boundaries in the penultimate over gave them a chance and, with four runs needed off the final ball, Timm van der Gugten's exquisite ramp shot went to the boundary and claimed a third win in four.