Holders Somerset beat Hampshire - T20 Blast round-up
Matt Montgomery (74 not out) was on strike for Matthew Potts' final delivery of the innings with a six required to tie, but the England seamer bowled an excellent dot-ball yorker. The remaining two North Group teams lost to sides from other groups. Lancashire Lightning were well beaten by Surrey, who are bidding to win England's domestic T20 competition for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2003.
Jason Roy's 45 off 19 balls got Surrey off to a fine start, Ollie Pope made 31 and Tom Curran smashed an unbeaten 49 off 20 balls as the home side posted 213-6. Roy took a superb slip catch to dismiss Keaton Jennings first ball - one of two scalps for left-arm paceman Reece Topley (2-27) in the opening over of the visitors' reply - and Lancashire were eventually bowled out for 154. Meanwhile, unbeaten half-centuries from Nick Kelly and Ben Cox were not enough for Leicestershire Foxes as they lost by 18 runs to Worcestershire Rapids.
Gloucestershire's Duan Jansen is the twin brother of South Africa paceman Marco Gloucestershire put their early season red-ball woes to one side as they bowled Warwickshire out for just 74 to claim victory at Bristol. The 2024 winners were put into bat by the Bears and were bowled out inside 17 overs for 121, with Ben Charlesworth top-scoring with 25 as leg spinner Taz Ali collected 4-25. The chase never really got going for the Bears, however, as Beau Webster (six), Sam Hain (nine) and captain Ed Barnard (two) all went early in the innings and at one stage the visitors had slumped to 48-6.
Chris Woakes (five) was run out by wicketkeeper James Bracey's accurate shy at the stumps as the Bears ended 48 runs short of their target, with only two players reaching double figures as debutant Duan Jansen took 4-25. Last season's semi-finalists Northamptonshire Steelbacks squeezed past Glamorgan by three runs. Justin Broad top-scored for the Steelbacks with 38 off 25 balls and two sixes late in the innings by wicketkeeper-batter Lewis McManus helped the hosts reach 165-8, with debutant Fazalhaq Farooqi claiming 4-34 for the visitors.
At one stage, Glamorgan were 77-5 in reply and although Dan Douthwaite hit an unbeaten 51 off 34 balls, it proved to be in vain for the Welsh side as George Scrimshaw took 3-33 for the hosts in a dramatic victory. Sam Billings' 84 not out contained nine fours and five sixes Kent, the 2021 winners, began with a victory against last season's quarter-finalists Middlesex at Lord's. Billings hit 14 boundaries in his 84 not out as Kent set Middlesex a tough target of 209 to win.