Yorkshire, Surrey, Warwickshire and Somerset have all secured their place in the Royal London One-Day Cup semi-finals, with all four sides targeting an appearance at Lord\'s for the domestic cup final showpiece.
Spitfires Nosedive As Vikings March On
Yorkshire are the only side to have secured a last four spot in both the 50-over competition and the NatWest T20 Blast after they added a victory over Kent Spitfires to their quarter-final success at The SSE SWALEC last Thursday.
Again it was England quick Liam Plunkett who did the damage for the Vikings, taking 4/52 from his 10 overs as Kent limped to 245 all out in reply to Yorkshire's first-innings score of 256/9.
Yorkshire's victory by 11 runs owed much to opener Adam Lyth, who had anchored their innings with a composed 88 from 96 balls. There was able support from returning England duo Joe Root (45) and Gary Ballance (37) but Matt Coles proved the pick of the Kent bowlers, picking up 3/39.
Kent faltered in reply, losing wickets at regular intervals. Darren Stevens and Alex Blake both hit fifties to lead a resurgence in the middle overs from the home side. The Spitfires had languished at 66/4 when Joe Denly was dismissed by Plunkett but the two all-rounders steered them to 152/4 when Blake fell and wickets continued to tumble. David Willey trapped James Tredwell LBW to clinch Yorkshire's victory.
Mahela Masterclass Sees Somerset Win
Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene smote an unbeaten century as Worcestershire were soundly beaten by Somerset at Taunton. Moeen Ali provide some resistance for the visitors with an elegant 81 at the top of the order but Somerset's paceman: Craig Overton, Josh Davey and Peter Trego, ran through Worcestershire to leave them 210 all out.
It was a meagre total on a good Taunton pitch and Jayawardene eased to 117, sharing an opening stand of 188 with captain Jim Allenby (81). Somerset strolled home by nine wickets inside 37 overs to banish their T20 woes with a One Day Cup semi final.
Bears Batter Under-Par Eagles
Another side who have struggled in T20 cricket salvaged something from their season with a Royal London one Day Cup semi-final. Warwickshire (or Birmingham as they're known in the Blast) secured their last four spot largely thanks to ex-England man Jonathan Trott, who led from the front with an assured hundred.
Trott set the Bears up for a big score by hitting 101, while Laurie Evans signalled his return from a loan move at Northants with a blockbuster 70 not out, which included three sixes. The Bears' total of 283/7 proved more than enough as the Eagles slipped from a strong start – 75-0 in the 13th over – to 167/7 20 overs later.
Josh Poysden and Jeetan Patel took three wickets apiece for the Bears to book a semi-final spot for Ian Bell's troops.
Surrey Snatch Thriller At Wantage Road
Surrey's clash with Northants was a much closer contest, going right down to the final ball when another Sri Lankan legend, Kumar Sangakkara, hit the winning runs to send Surrey into the semis.
Sangakkara smashed an unbeaten 130, batting from the second over until the very last ball as wickets tumbled at the other end. Surrey were chasing 277 to win after Northants were bowled out for 276 with an over to spare. Rory Kleinveldt blasted 76 not out to help the Steelbacks achieve a decent total.
But the experience of Sangakkara was enough. There was limited support for the ex-Sri Lanka skipper, from Rory Burns (42) and Sam Curran (26) but he didn't need much. Surrey won on the final ball to book a semi-final clash with Yorkshire.
Warwickshire will meet Somerset in the other semi-final with a place in the Lord's final on Saturday September 17 at stake.