
We have finally reached the end of the group stages of the Blast and four of last year’s quarter finalists have progressed. Two of the teams that made it through to Finals Day in 2023 have progressed in the South Group, with Sussex Sharks following up their strong showing in the Championship, with an impressive run in this competition. Surrey sealed top spot with a five wicket win against Hampshire Hawks. 66 from Toby Albert helped the Hawks to 183, Jordan Clark taking 3/24. Then despite being 42/3 at the end of the power play, a maiden T20 century from Sam Curran, his 102 not out coming off 58 balls, took Surrey home with five balls to spare. The win guaranteed Surrey a home quarter final.
They were joined in the quarter finals by Somerset following their win against Sussex Sharks, who had already qualified. The Sharks were restricted to 158/9 thanks in a large part by 4/17 from Ben Green. Somerset then knocked off the runs inside 18 overs for the loss of just four wickets, young George Thomas continuing the impressive start to his career with 42 from 30 balls and Tom Abell seeing them home with 47 not out from 34 balls.
The final quarter final spot in the South Group was between Essex Eagles and Gloucestershire. Gloucestershire kept themselves in the hunt with a win against Middlesex, who had put in some better performances in their last few games, including a win against Gloucestershire. The home game for Middlesex was played at Chelmsford and choosing to bat first Gloucestershire reached 179/8, thanks mainly to 87 from Cameron Bancroft, scored off 54 balls. Ryan Higgins was the most effective of the Middlesex bowlers with 2/25 from his four overs. The Middlesex opening pair of Leus du Plooy and Martin Andersson made an excellent start to the chase, putting on 102 in 12 overs before Matt Taylor removed Andersson for 49. The middle order were then unable to hang around with du Plooy, the next five batters all dismissed for single figure scores and despite du Plooy finishing on 73 not out, they fell 10 runs short. The result meant Gloucestershire had to await the result of the game between the Eagles and the Hawks 24 hours later, the Eagles just needing one point to progress.
The Hawks have underperformed in this year’s competition, but having been put in to bat they posted a competitive total of 181/5 thanks to runs from the top three: Ben McDermott with 64, James Vince 41 and Tom Prest 41. The Eagles were then 4/2 by the end of the first over and were five down for just 58 runs after 8.4 overs, with wickets from Chris Wood and John Turner. The innings was revived by two 19-year-olds, Charlie Allison and Luc Benkenstein. They put on 107 runs from 51 balls for the sixth wicket, but when Benkenstein was dismissed for 54, Allison was not quite able to get them over the line, finishing on 69 not out. Turner finished with 4/23 as the Eagles ended on 174/7, seven runs short and Gloucestershire were through with a superior net run rate.
When it came to the second home quarter final slot from the South Group, the Sharks pipped Somerset, thanks to a win against Middlesex in their final match, while Somerset went down to Glamorgan. At Hove, Middlesex could only muster 159/9, Jack Davies making 52 while Ollie Robinson took 3/27. The Sharks then rattled off the runs for the loss of one wicket, with 22 balls to spare. Harrison Ward made 56 from 42 balls and Daniel Hughes 96 from 54, putting himself top of the run scoring table with 560 at an impressive strike rate of 70.21. Meanwhile in Cardiff, Somerset were beaten by a sizable 120 runs, thanks to 135 off 64 from Glamorgan’s Kiran Carlson, helping them to an imposing total of 243/4. Having to go hard, Somerset lost wickets regularly and were bowled out for 123 in 13.3 overs, Marnus Labuschagne taking a club best 5/11.
The Birmingham Bears have been the dominant force in the North Group, as they were in 2023, but were undone by the Northants Steelbacks on Thursday night as the Steelbacks chased down a quarter final spot. The Steelbacks were grateful to 86 off 41 balls from Saif Zaib as they posted 197/6 and then David Willey got them off to the best possible start with the ball, dismissing Moeen Ali first ball and Dan Mousley three balls later to leave the Bears 1/2 at the end of the first over. Ben Sanderson removed Alex Davies at the end of the next over before a recovery was mounted by Sam Hain (93) and Jacob Bethell (50), but despite 29 not out from George Garton the Bears fell 11 runs short. The Bears were already guaranteed a home quarter final, while the Steelbacks and Lancashire Lightening played off on Friday for the other home slot.
Lancashire Lightning had secured their quarter final spot with a comfortable win against a struggling Notts Outlaws side. 51 from Lyndon James was the only meaningful score in the Outlaws’ total of 131/7, Luke Wood taking 3/23. The Lightning’s two England stars, Phil Salt (70) and Liam Livingstone 54*) then helped knock off the runs inside 15 overs. Interestingly the Lightening have signed Ireland’s George Dockrell for the remainder of the competition.
The battle between the Lightning and the Steelbacks was a high scoring affair at Old Trafford, Dockrell leading the onslaught with 45 from 25 balls as the Lightning finished on 201/9. A century opening partnership between Ricardo Vasconselos (36) and Matthew Breetzke (76) saw the Steelbacks well on their way to chasing down the target and when Vasconselos was out at the end of the eighth over they had already reached 102. Luke Wells removed both openers to finish with figures of 2/23, but he was the only bowler that could keep the scoring in check. The experienced duo of Ravi Bopara (36) and David Willey (26) took the Steelbacks most of the way home and they reached the target with eight balls and four wickets to spare.
Four teams were competing for the final top four spot in the North Group, Leicestershire Foxes in the pole seat with a one point advantage. They had the tough job of travelling to Edgbaston to face the Bears and came up against an in form Moeen Ali who plundered 103 runs from 59 balls as the Bears reached 194/5. The Foxes reply never really materialized, Lewis Goldsworthy top scoring with 35 as they were dismissed for 122 in 16.4 overs, Danny Briggs taking 3/30.
Derbyshire Falcons and Durham met at Derby, both sides in the hunt, while Yorkshire Vikings had seemingly the easiest draw against the Outlaws. The Falcons were put into bat at the County Ground and reached 155/8, the batters all making starts, but not able to kick on, Alex Thomson and Wayne Madsen top scoring with 22. Nathan Sowter and Ben Raine were the pick of the bowlers with 2/18 and 2/19 respectively. The total did not look enough and 72 from Alex Lees and 54 from Colin Ackermann saw Durham home with eight wickets and seven balls to spare.
A win for the Vikings would have seen them into a top four spot on net run rate, but having asked the Outlaws to bat first they were faced with chasing an imposing target of 210. The Outlaws total of 209/9 was based on runs from three youngsters at the top of the order. 19-year-old Freddie McCann, playing his first Blast match, made 48 from 32 balls, while 21-year-old Sam King, also making his Blast debut, scored 44 from 25 balls as the two added 87 for the second wicket. Jack Haynes chipped in with 50 from 21 balls, while Ben Cliff took 4/31. Chasing a big total is never easy when the stakes are high and wickets fell too regularly for the Vikings to be able mount a successful challenge. James Wharton scored 52 from 46 balls and Jordan Thompson struck 50 not out from 29 balls at the end, but they fell 28 runs short. Calvin Harrison was the pick of the bowlers with 2/19. The result meant Durham were through.
The results mean that the quarter final fixtures are:
3rd September: Surrey v Durham
4th September: Sussex Sharks v Lancashire Lightening
5th September: Northants Steelbacks v Somerset
6th September: Birmingham Bears v Gloucestershire
Unfortunately this competition seems to be going the way of the One Day Cup as the ridiculous scheduling of the quarter finals, being delayed by six weeks throws into confusion the availability of overseas players. Finals Day is then sandwiched between two England v Australia T20 internationals. Given the performances in the group stage, Surrey and Sussex Sharks must start favourites in their matches, particularly with the absentees from the Lightnings line up. The Bears should be able to overcome the disappointment of missing out on Finals Day last year, while the Steelbacks will have their work cut out against the reigning champions.
Final Standings
North Group
Pos | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Net RR | Points |
1 | Birmingham Bears | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | +1.308 | 20 |
2 | Northamptonshire Steelbacks | 14 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | −0.151 | 18 |
3 | Lancashire Lightning | 14 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | +1.109 | 17 |
4 | Durham | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | -0.325 | 15 |
5 | Leicestershire Foxes | 13 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | +0.179 | 14 |
6 | Derbyshire Falcons | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1 | +0.112 | 13 |
7 | Yorkshire Vikings | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1 | -0.035 | 11 |
8 | Worcestershire Rapids | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | -0.192 | 8 |
9 | Nottinghamshire Outlaws | 14 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | −1.699 | 8 |
South Group
Pos | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Net RR | Points |
1 | Surrey | 14 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | +0.777 | 20 |
2 | Sussex Sharks | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | +0.607 | 18 |
3 | Somerset | 14 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | +0.497 | 17 |
4 | Gloucestershire | 14 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | +0.503 | 15 |
5 | Essex Eagles | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | +0.201 | 15 |
6 | Glamorgan | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1 | −0.592 | 13 |
7 | Hampshire Hawks | 14 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 3 | −0.556 | 11 |
8 | Middlesex | 14 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 3 | −1.487 | 9 |
9 | Kent Spitfires | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | −0.486 | 8 |