Essex and Somerset grab slim victories, Surrey and Hampshire make light work of their opponents

Essex, Somerset, Surrey, and Hampshire notched up wins over their opponents to book a place in the semi-finals of T20 Blast 2023. 

While Laurie Evans and Jason Roy powered Surrey to a semi-final place, Nathan Ellis’ four-wicket haul helped Hampshire defeat Worcestershire with 25 deliveries to spare. Let’s have a look at what happened across the four quarter-final matches.

Match 1: Warwickshire vs Essex 

Batting first, Warwickshire lost both their openers Rob Yates and Alex Davies for 0 and 11 respectively. Glenn Maxwell’s four boundaries and one six instilled some fight in Warwickshire but fell on 32 off 23 balls. Sam Hain’s half-century helped them cross the 160-run mark with quickfire 20s by Chris Benjamin and Dominic Drakes down the order taking them to a below-par total of 167 runs.

Essex had a contrasting start to that of Warwickshire as they got off to a score of 69-1 by the end of the powerplay. Adam Rossington got run out at 21 off 11 but Dan Lawrence batted till the 18th over to put up 62 off 49 deliveries. 

Warwickshire came up with a strong reply in the middle overs and Dominic Drakes picked the wicket of Lawrence in the penultimate over This put Essex in a troublesome situation but Shane Snater bailed them out with a six off the penultimate delivery to win the tie with two wickets at Edgbaston. 

Match 2: Lancashire vs Surrey 

Jason Roy scored a half-century for Surrey

Surrey lost Will Jacks inside the powerplay but Laurie Evans and Jason Roy made the most of the conditions to steer to their respective half-centuries. While Evans smacked 6 fours and 3 sixes to score 70 off 41 balls, Roy timed his drives and cut to perfection with 4 fours and 1 six to end up with 50 off 34 deliveries. With Jamie Overton swinging hard, he found a lack of support from the other end as Surrey was able to finish 187-5 when 200 looked more like a formality in the middle. 

Lancashire started the chase in a controlled fashion keeping one eye always on the required run rate while preserving their wickets. Jos Buttler and Steven Croft were the architects of the innings, having put up 42 and 55 runs respectively at a strike rate under 135. 

With 54 required off the last five overs and seven wickets in hand, it looked like Lancashire would come out on top. But, Sam Curran and Chris Jordan’s yorkers and variation in pace changed the equation to 19 required off the final over. Sean Abbott conceded only five runs as Surrey booked their place in the semi-finals after a thrilling win at Old Trafford in Manchester. 

Match 3: Somerset vs Nottinghamshire 

Nottinghamshire found themselves in a spot of bother as their top three – Joe Clarke, Alex Hales, and Colin Munro – found themselves back in the hut inside the powerplay. Matthew Montgomery and Samit Patel stitched a partnership of 69 runs for the fourth wicket but lost their wickets with five overs to go. Nottinghamshire could only go from 102 to 157 in the end as Imad Wasim’s innings of 31 runs off 15 balls was too little too late. 

Somerset, too, had a shaky start as they lost half their side back to the hut inside the first ten overs. Calvin Harrison and Wasim were the destructors-in-chief with two wickets each. However, Lewis Gregory and Ben Green stayed unbeaten and batted till the end to help Somerset pick up the win with three balls to spare at Taunton. 

Match 4: Hampshire vs Worcestershire 

Put in to bat first, Worcestershire were no match to the masterclass produced by the defending champions Hampshire. They were 29-6 at one point with Chris Wood and John Turner not giving any hopes to the batters. Ed Pollock and Usama Mir produced a saving grace for Worcestershire with 24 and 39 runs respectively as the visitors limped to a score of 100 all out. Nathan Ellis cleaned up the tail to end up with four wickets in his bag. 

Hampshire lost wickets at regular intervals as none of the batters were able to cross the 30-run mark. Spin twins Usama and Mitchell Santner produced a fabulous performance under pressure but had too few runs to defend. In the end, Hampshire won the contest with 27 balls remaining at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.