County cricket: the race is on to qualify for the T20 Blast quarter-finals

1. ‘After Rew. No, after Rew’

You can’t win them all but there is a real art to timing your defeats. After booking their place in the T20 Blast knockout stage with eight straight wins, Northamptonshire lost for the first time in the competition. And, as is often the case after such a run, the defeat was a big one, going down by 105 runs at home to Somerset.

We witnessed another instalment in the fraternal battle of Rew v Rew (which sounds a bit Dr Seuss). This time Thomas scored more runs than his elder brother James (57 v 30). With Jos Buttler, another product of the Somerset development programme, looking in the twilight of his international career, a slot could open up in England’s white-ball squad.

The brothers’ more immediate concern is to win three straight matches and give Somerset a chance to defend the trophy on Finals Day. Nobody is writing them off just yet.

2. Tariq the freak 

Gloucestershire, who are still somehow second in the Central and West Group, are proving the point above about timing defeats in the reverse. Three defeats in a row have jeopardised what looked like nailed-on progression.

Their latest defeat came at Edgbaston, where they ran into Usman Tariq, who knocked over their top three en route to some old-school figures of 3-12 from his full allocation. As you might imagine, he employs methods that are very much not old school to achieve those results, jumping sideways into the crease, pausing, like a bad penalty-taker, in his action and almost dropping to full round arm in his delivery.

Even in cricket’s most circumscribed job – bowling in T20s – there is room for innovation and eccentricity, especially when the only real sin is to be predictable. Maybe other counties should seek out their own highly mysterious spinner.

Usman Tariq showed his brilliant best as Warwickshire beat Gloucestershire. Photograph: Naomi Baker/ECB/Getty Images

3. Notts tie up opponents in chases

Greedily, in addition to topping Division One, Nottinghamshire also top the North Group of the Blast after seven consecutive wins.

The last two of those came by tight margins; they beat Lancashire by one run and Durham by two. Many factors contribute to a side getting over the line, particularly when defending a target, but clarity of roles, confidence and team spirit play as big a role as skills executed under pressure. Those qualities sit in reserve for a team in form.

Durham were big favourites when they needed 58 off seven overs with eight wickets in hand but the slow left-armers, George Linde and Liam Patterson-White, put the squeeze on and their six overs in the match went for just 26 runs while each took two wickets. Durham needed boundaries and could not find them.

Whether under Haseeb Hameed with the red ball or Joe Clarke with the white, Notts usually find a way to win, a very handy attribute in the stop-start English cricket season. 

4. Lyth muscles another huge score

Yorkshire look likely to join Notts in progressing from the North Group after topping 200 in each of their last two matches.

Getting up in the last over against Durham was a collective effort, but setting the target of 208 for Leicestershire, which allowed Hasan Ali and Andrew Tye to do their thing with four wickets each, was very much down to one man – Adam Lyth.

His 131 not out was the kind of knock that might prompt people to say “2014 is knocking on the dressing-room door and wants its innings back”. That was his golden season and, at 38, he is unlikely to add to his seven international appearances. He needs just three more centuries to notch 50 for Yorkshire and that much-deserved milestone will mean a lot to a born and bred Tyke. 

Adam Lyth inspired Yorkshire to victory against Leicestershire. Photograph: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com/Shutterstock

5. Vince a convincing captain

Hampshire gained quick revenge for defeat at Canterbury by inviting Kent straight back to the Rose Bowl, where they won to consolidate their lead in the South Group.

James Vince top scored in both matches. His batting and captaincy in white-ball cricket make a big difference to Hampshire’s fortunes. With Harry Brook likely to replace Ben Stokes as the captain of the Test team, England will have to consider how that affects his workload. Vince could provide experience and leadership. He is a franchise cricketer these days, and lives abroad, but a deal that allows Jacob Bethell to lead the T20 side while Vince captains the ODI team might suit all parties.

6. Sun shining on Surrey at long last

Surely that’s not misfiring Surrey winning a critical match against Essex to leapfrog them into second place in the South Group? It is, you know. Jason Roy, Laurie Evans, Josh Philippe and Ollie Pope enjoyed the short boundaries at Chelmsford as they posted 240. That proved just enough after a late blitz from Shane Snater and Zaman Akhter almost wrested victory from the jaws of defeat for the hosts.

The return match at the Oval on Sunday, in front of a big crowd likely recovering from the drama of England’s World Cup quarter-final against Norway the night before, could be a showdown of its own in the midsummer heat.