Surrey all-rounder Sean Abbott equalled the quickest century within the T20 Blast off 34 balls as they beat Kent at The Oval.
Abbott, whose earlier highest T20 rating was 41, matched Andrew Symonds’ effort for Kent in 2004 with a show of extraordinary hitting.
Coming in with Surrey in bother on 64-4, the Australia worldwide smashed 11 sixes to complete 110 not out off 41 deliveries and take the hosts to 223-5.
Daniel Bell-Drummond and Tawanda Muyeye’s opening stand of 108 obtained the guests off to a wonderful begin however they collapsed from 135-1 to 147-6 and fell quick on 182-7.
The recreation in south London was certainly one of eight performed on an exhilarating first Friday night time of the 2023 competitors.
Elsewhere, Worcestershire Rapids scored 20 off the ultimate over to beat Yorkshire Vikings and make it back-to-back wins within the North Group.
Graham Clark’s unbeaten 102 powered Durham to a 10-wicket victory at Northamptonshire Steelbacks and Notts Outlaws raced to a four-wicket win in opposition to East Midlands rivals Derbyshire Falcons.
There was extra fast scoring at Grace Road as Sam Hain’s 65 not out off 43 balls balls helped Birmingham Bears beat Leicestershire Foxes by 5 wickets.
In the South Group, James Vince’s 88 not out took Hampshire to an eight-wicket victory over Middlesex, Somerset chased 184 at Sussex and Glamorgan sneaked dwelling by two wickets at Gloucestershire.
Abbott into the report books
With a T20 batting common of simply 10.91 in 76 innings, few would have anticipated what was to come back when Abbott got here to the center within the ninth over.
The 31-year-old introduced up his maiden half-century off 22 deliveries after which proceeded to pummel Kent’s bowlers to all components of a packed Oval.
Paceman Kane Richardson took explicit punishment as Abbott blasted 30 off the seventeenth over after which went to his hundred with back-to-back flat sixes off Michael Hogan.
Only Chris Gayle (30 balls), Rishabh Pant (32 balls) and Wihan Lubbe (33 balls) have scored quicker centuries in T20 cricket.
Kent seemed effectively set to succeed in their mammoth goal of 224 with Bell-Drummond and Muyeye taking them previous 100 within the ninth over.
But as soon as Bell-Drummond swung Sunil Narine to Tom Lawes within the deep, Kent misplaced six wickets for 22 runs within the center overs to lose by 41 runs.
Last-over drama at New Road
Adam Finch was the hero for Worcestershire Rapids as he struck Yorkshire paceman Matthew Fisher for 3 sixes within the final over to take his facet to a two-wicket victory.
Finch, in simply his fourth T20 innings, completed on 30 off 10 deliveries because the Rapids obtained dwelling with one ball to spare.
“I don’t think I will ever manage to hit three in a row like that again but really glad about it,” Finch mentioned.
“With the last six, I think it was the longest period of time in my life, seeing the ball in the air and then keep going. It was really nice to see it land.”
Earlier Yorkshire had recovered effectively from 64-4 to put up 175-9 aided by a fifth-wicket stand of 56 between Matt Revis (42) and Jordan Thompson (36).
Adam Hose’s 44 put the Rapids heading in the right direction however there was then a clatter of wickets earlier than Finch helped them to 177-8.
Former Worcestershire batter Joe Clarke starred with 68 off 29 balls as Nottinghamshire eased to their goal of 179 to beat Derbyshire.
Fifties from Luis Reece and Wayne Madsen had taken the Falcons to 178-6 however opener Clarke and Matt Montgomery (51) made mild work of the chase. George Scrimshaw picked up three wickets within the seventeenth over to take some gloss off the victory however Notts had been already effectively dwelling by then.
Durham wanted solely 13.2 overs to go previous Northants’ 137 all out as Clark’s 49-ball century with help from Alex Lees noticed them to 141-0.
Durham leg-spinner Nathan Sowter returned essentially the most spectacular bowling figures of the night time with 5-15.
At Grace Road, no Leicestershire batter went previous 30 of their 166-7 and Birmingham Bears obtained to their goal simply with Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (47 off 27 balls) and Hain placing on 90 for the third wicket.
Vince reveals class for Hawks
Hampshire despatched Middlesex to their second defeat in consecutive days due to Vince’s stylish innings of 88 off 55 balls on the Ageas Bowl.
The guests seemed heading in the right direction for greater than their 171 all out having been 161-4 in the beginning of the 18th over, however after the wicket of Pieter Malan for 80 they may solely muster one other 10 runs off their ultimate 15 deliveries.
Ben McDermott and Vince took the Hawks to 91 with out loss and the hosts by no means seemed again as Vince went previous fifty for the 56th time in T20s.
At Hove, Sussex all-rounder Ravi Bopara matched Vince’s unbeaten 88 but it surely was in a shedding trigger in opposition to Somerset.
Bopara, taking part in his 440th T20 recreation, struck three fours and 7 sixes in his 49-ball innings as Sussex made 183-8.
Tom Banton obtained Somerset off to a flying begin, smashing 28 off the fourth over from Fynn Hudson-Prentice. Once Banton was out for 32, Tom Kohler-Cadmore picked up the mantle with 5 sixes in his 72.
Three fast wickets made it a nervy finish for the guests earlier than Ben Green hit a 4 within the ultimate over to assist them over the road with three balls to spare.
There was one other last-over end in Bristol as Glamorgan beat Gloucestershire with 5 deliveries remaining.
Ben Charlesworth’s 56 had helped the hosts get better from 49-4 to 161-9 and Glamorgan seemed in bother at 149-8 within the nineteenth over.
But back-to-back sixes from Ruaidhri Smith and Timm van der Gugten gave Glamorgan victory.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
