Northamptonshire keep winning in T20 Blast – and lend a hand at Lord’s

4. Get a grip, please

Three wins in a row have ignited Essex’s campaign, lifting them to second in the South Group.

After Charlie Allison and Luc Benkenstein had dominated the first innings of the match, the 21-year-olds putting on 133 in 16 overs, Simon Harmer’s attack set about a Middlesex team low on confidence. The captain was the only bowler not to cash in as a procession of batters came and went, resistance rather feeble, the home side all out in less than 18 overs.

Middlesex are rock-bottom of the group after five defeats. With Sussex and Lancashire also in various states of disarray, that’s a sixth of counties in trouble. Domestic cricket cannot afford that and its governance should be robust enough to avoid it.

5. Rehan reins them in

Having dispatched a miserable Lancashire back down the M62 to make it four wins out of five, Yorkshire could have opened up a 12-point gap in the North Group over third-place Leicestershire with a win at Grace Road. But that sort of thinking can bite you on the bum in any sport, especially one as unpredictable as T20 cricket.

However, you can expect Rehan Ahmed to have an impact in any match, as three-dimensional a cricketer as one finds in the English game, a quality that possibly works against him representing his country.

Opening, he missed out with a duck as the home side limped to 147 for eight, Nick Kelly top-scoring with 44. With Jonny Bairstow teeing off, Yorkshire were going at 11 an over in the powerplay, but Ahmed caught Adam Lyth and then punctured the middle order with a four-wicket hole, three his own and one his run out.

Yorkshire are still top of the group, but they could have had one foot in the quarter-finals at the halfway mark without Ahmed’s intervention. The 21-year-old is surely too good to be bouncing between carrying drinks, the Lions, the county game and franchise competitions.

6. Lancashire’s problems illuminated at Blackpool

Not so long ago, Lancashire considered adopting a subscription model for their YouTube channel before (I presume) somebody asked the suit proposing it if he had seen the team play recently.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of providing live coverage from an outground (a chilly and windswept Stanley Park in Blackpool) the feed was a bit shambolic, with only commentator Scott Read and co’s good humour and patience, if not his Glamorgan colleagues’ pessimistic judgment, holding the show together.

Those more familiar with Lancashire’s form would not have been awarding the visitors the win prematurely, even if they needed 41 off 11 balls, eight wickets down. Chris Cooke and Timm van der Gugten have seen most things before and they played very well, but still, how can you lose from there?

Spare a thought for Liam Livingstone. He made 81 off 37 balls and took three for 13 off his four overs. His colleagues mustered 111 off 13.5 overs and took four for 186 off their 16. Lancashire were weakened by injuries but still had six internationals on the field. Not good enough I’m afraid – again.

This article is from The 99.94 Cricket Blog