Bears, Durham, Kent & Hants claim T20 quarter-final spots
Latham and Davies lead Bears mauling of Falcons
At Derby, Samit Patel was hoping to sign-off with a win in his final game for the Falcons but he endured a miserable evening as the Bears sealed their qualification with a commanding victory.Latham (104 off 51 balls, with eight sixes) and Davies (89) shared an opening partnership of 187 - the joint-fourth highest in the Blast - as the visitors piled-up 233-5 with Patel finishing with 0-38 from his three overs.Derbyshire were quickly reduced to 62-5 in reply as Patel fell for six and they subsided limply to 106 all out to finish bottom of North Group.Northamptonshire skipper David Willey crashed six sixes in his 32-ball 63 and Matthew Breetzke made a rapid 52 as the Steelbacks threatened to derail Durham's qualification hopes at Chester-le-Street.But the home side made light work of their victory target of 204 to jump up to second place and earn a home tie.Alex Lees (101* off 49 balls, with eight sixes) and Graham Clark (79 off 41) shared an opening stand of 181 as Durham coasted to victory with three-and-a-half overs to spare.Young off-spinner Ahmed stole the show for Nottinghamshire as the Outlaws picked up a consolation five-wicket win over Lancashire at Trent Bridge.The 17-year-old younger brother of England's Rehan Ahmed claimed the third hat-trick of this year's Blast as he removed Luke Wood, Tom Aspinwall and Mitchell Stanley as he returned figures of 5-25.Leicestershire also held an outside chance of sneaking into the last eight but needed to beat Yorkshire and hope for some help from elsewhere - neither of which happened.Abdullah Shafique again impressed with the bat for the White Rose as his 64 anchored them to a last-ball victory at Grace Road helped by 52 from Matthew Revis as they chased down a target of 186.
Spitfires fire their way into last eight
Two-times T20 champions Kent made light work of rock-bottom Essex at Canterbury to secure their quarter-final spot from the South Group.Paul Walter (52) and Charlie Allison (48) helped the visitors reach 172-6 after being asked to bat but former Kent batsman Jordan Cox failed to follow-up his heroics against Hampshire on Thursday as he fell for just six.Tawanda Muyeye's 49-ball 80 got the home side off to a good start in their run chase before Harry Finch blasted six fours and three sixes in his 64 as Kent strolled to victory with 16 balls to spare.It could have been different for Kent as they completed their win and then had to watch as Sussex came agonisingly close to beating group winners Surrey and pipping them for the fourth qualification place.After Will Jacks (100 off 59 balls, with three sixes and 12 fours) had scored his fifth Blast century to set the home side a victory target of 205 at Hove, Sussex needed 13 runs from the final over only for their former all-rounder Chris Jordan to dismiss John Simpson and leave them eight short of the win.Glamorgan went into the evening needing to beat Middlesex and wait for results from elsewhere but their 52-run victory in Cardiff proved to be merely a consolation with Kent getting the job done against Essex.Last year's runners-up, Somerset, gained some revenge for their defeat by Gloucestershire in the 2024 final with a 16-run win at Taunton to finish second behind Surrey on net run rate.
Quarter-final pairings
T20 Blast quarter-finals will be played on 3, 5, and 6 SeptemberLancashire v Kent Spitfires, Durham v Hampshire Hawks, Surrey v Northants Steelbacks, Durham v Bears - dates tbcFinals Day will take place at Edgbaston on Saturday 13 September
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