Bears, Durham, Kent & Hants claim T20 quarter-final spots

New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham hammered his first T20 Blast century as the Bears qualified for the quarter-finals alongside Durham, Hampshire and Kent on a tense final night of group games.

Latham shared an opening stand of 187 with Alex Davies as the Bears thrashed Derbyshire by 127 runs at Derby in the North Group.

With Lancashire Lightning and Northamptonshire Steelbacks having already qualified, Durham knew a win over the latter would book them a last eight berth which they duly managed with a crushing nine-wicket victory and a maiden Blast century for Alex Lees.

Nottinghamshire youngster Farhan Ahmed took the third hat-trick of this year’s competition as the Outlaws gained a consolation win over Lancashire at Trent Bridge

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.

“We probably saved our best performance for when it mattered most in a must win game so to get that big score on the board was really pleasing,” said Bears head coach Ian Westwood.

“It was a special knock (from Tom Latham) – he’s shown glimpses this campaign without really going on to get that big one but that’s why you get great players who are experienced like Tom.”

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 by removing 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 with Matt Milnes hammering the last balls for six to seal a dramatic win for the visitors at Grace Road

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’s a very special feeling, those scenes at the end there were like watching England in the World Cup, so it was pretty cool,” said Finch.

“Getting into the quarters is great – we know when we’re on it we’re as good as anyone in this competition, we really believe that.”

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.

T20 Blast quarter-finals will be played on 3, 5, and 6 September

Lancashire v Kent Spitfires, Durham v Hampshire Hawks, Surrey v Northants Steelbacks, Somerset v Bears – dates tbc