Lancashire’s poor start to their white‑ball campaign was arrested with a 26-run win against the champions Warwickshire thanks to a stunning innings of 127 from their captain, Steven Croft, which included three consecutive sixes in a 10-ball Oliver Hannon-Dalby over that cost 37.
Croft’s 83-ball knock propelled Lancashire to 351, which they defended despite a fifth-wicket stand of 126 between Tim Ambrose (68) and Rikki Clarke (76). James Anderson took two for 45 and ran out Ambrose, while Simon Kerrigan took three for 60, including the final wicket – of Keith Barker, who Croft had tucked in to earlier, smashing four sixes in an over.
Peter Handscomb’s 112-ball 140, which included six sixes, powered Yorkshire to 349, a 15-run win against Derbyshire and top spot in the North Group. In response, Wayne Madsen made 112 but was dismissed by Ben Coad, who brought his brilliant Championship form to his first List A appearance this season with four for 63.
Keaton Jennings, the captain, made it 403 runs in five games with a century that set up Durham’s third win, with Northamptonshire falling 20 short in response to the hosts’ 291.
Four wickets for James Pattinson and two for Stuart Broad bowled Leicestershire out for 217, which Nottinghamshire knocked off four down, thanks to No3 Samit Patel’s 79.
In a South Group thriller in Cardiff, Neil Wagner needed to hit the match’s last ball, bowled by Michael Hogan, for four to secure four successive wins for Essex. As he could manage just two, Glamorgan won by a single run, with Essex nine wickets down. Colin Ingram had scored a brilliant 142 in Glamorgan’s 281 and despite falling to two for two, Varun Chopra’s 124 took Essex to within a run of victory.
By beating Surrey by 95 runs, Sussex leapfrogged Essex into second place. Chris Nash’s 82 led Sussex to 300, before David Wiese’s four for 29 skittled Surrey.
Liam Dawson and James Vince may be surplus to England requirements for the Champions Trophy but they combined to give Hampshire an emphatic win against Gloucestershire. Dawson’s 10 overs brought three wickets and cost just 30 as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 237, with another spinner, the precocious leggie Mason Crane, claiming three for 53. Vince made light work of the chase, hitting an unbeaten 89 off 81 balls in a seven-wicket win, with Dawson 21 not out.
When Middlesex bowled them out for just 200, Kent were facing the ignominy of losing their first four games in the competition, but Wayne Parnell and Joe Denly took three wickets each to secure a 46-run win.
