One-Day Cup: Alex Lees hits unbeaten 126 as Durham go top of Group A
- Published
Alex Lees passed 50 for the third game in a row before going on to produce a career-best one-day knock of 126
Alex Lees' unbeaten 126 helped Durham beat Essex and leapfrog their opponents to go top of the One-Day Cup's Group A.
Lees' second century of the campaign was instrumental in his side chasing down Essex's 227-6, which included an excellent 109 from Feroze Khushi.
Meanwhile, Glamorgan stayed at the summit of Group B with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Nottinghamshire.
They remain on course for a home semi-final after chasing down a modest total of 73 in a weather-affected contest.
Elsewhere, Hampshire picked up a six-wicket win over Kent, Northants defeated Somerset and Yorkshire saw off Derbyshire in a game reduced to 10 overs each.
Brilliant Lees takes Durham top
Durham won the toss and elected to bowl first in the big game at the top of Group A against Essex, with both sides looking to consolidate a place in the top three and guarantee a spot in the knockout stage.
Alastair Cook scored three boundaries in his 12 off nine balls but his innings was cut short by Chris Rushworth before Nick Browne and Tom Westley also fell cheaply as Essex found themselves in a spot of bother on 38-3.
But a 101 partnership between Josh Rymell (40) and Khushi put them back on track - and the latter continued to hold the innings together until he fell to the penultimate ball of the reduced 45-over game.
Durham's response was led by an excellent batting display from opener Lees, who kept his head when his team-mates were falling around him to guide the hosts to a two-wicket win at 233-8 with five balls remaining.
Ian Holland ripped out Kent’s top order with 4-12 as the hosts failed to bat out their allocated 24 overs
Ian Holland's fine haul of 4-12 kept Hampshire's slim hopes of qualification alive as they triumphed at Group A's bottom side Kent in a game reduced to 24 overs each because of persistent rain in Beckenham.
Openers Ollie Robinson (27) and Tawanda Muyeye (24) started strongly but Kent lost three wickets in as many balls, all to Holland, and collapsed to 105 all out.
Tom Alsop (37) got Hampshire off to a good start before Joe Weatherley (25) and Holland (30 not out) calmly guided them to a six-wicket win.
Heavy rain in Manchester forced second-placed Lancashire's match with fourth-placed Worcestershire to be abandoned without a ball being bowled.
With the final positions now being determined on a points-per-game basis following the Covid-enforced cancellation of Gloucestershire's match with Middlesex, Lancashire need only to beat Essex in their final home game on Thursday to be sure of progression.
Worcestershire will need to beat Durham at New Road on Tuesday but must wait until Thursday before discovering whether that will be sufficient to see them through as one of the top three sides.
Glamorgan look set for semi-finals
Glamorgan have one foot in the next stage after cantering to victory over fourth-placed Nottinghamshire, who still have hopes of qualifying.
Weather was again a factor, with a 23-over game finally getting underway at 15:00 BST and it was done and dusted within three hours.
Nick Selman carried his bat, scoring 37 off 47 balls, with Glamorgan only losing two wickets on their way to a victory with 42 balls remaining after James Weighell (3-7) had earlier helped skittle Notts for 73.
Yorkshire's Josh Sullivan took 4-11, including three in four balls, with his leg-spin
Derbyshire and Yorkshire had even less time on the pitch, with their game starting shortly before 17:00 BST and consisting of only ten overs each.
Josh Sullivan (4-11) removed Brooke Guest and Alex Hughes in consecutive deliveries before Fynn Hudson-Prentice made some valuable lower-order runs, 38 from 17 balls, to help Derbyshire post 108-6.
Yorkshire opener Will Fraine, another to carry his bat, was the star of the response as he hit 69 from 32 balls, including four sixes, to take the game away from Derbyshire and move the visitors up to second.
They leapfrogged Somerset, who tasted defeat for the first time in the campaign, as they fell to a 81-run Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method defeat by Northamptonshire.
The Steelbacks' top order fired them to just a second One-Day Cup victory, with Ben Curran falling six runs short of a century, but slightly outdoing captain Ricardo Vasconcelos, who hit 88 from 93 balls in an imposing 305-6.
Somerset's Lewis Goldsworthy led the charge in response, racking up 80 from 61 balls, before falling in unusual circumstances when he hit his own wicket.
Captain Josh Davey carried on the fight with a run-a-ball 53 before being caught and bowled by Simon Kerrigan - the pick of the Northants bowlers with 4-48 - who took the final wicket of Sonny Baker to seal the win.