Riaz ensures lights go out for Middlesex

Playing under their pristine retractable floodlights for the first time, Kent appeared out for the count at 21-6, yet the Spitfires hit back and moved up to fourth in the table after securing their third successive South Group win against the lacklustre basement visitors.

In pursuit of their modest target at an asking rate of only 5.8 an over, Middlesex were soon up against it once Paul Stirling and Scott Newman both miscued to mid-on against Azhar Mahmood’s slower balls.

Panthers captain Neil Dexter pulled a short one straight into the hands of deep mid-wicket and when Jamie Dalrymple top-edged a paddle sweep against James Tredwell to the keeper alarm bells began to ring on the Panthers dug-out.

John Simpson nicked to slip to give Tredwell another scalp, Dawid Malan mistimed a hook to long leg to give Mahmood his third wicket and former Kent favourite Ryan McLaren then drove firmly back to Charles Langeveldt to make it 68 -7.

The run-rate equation boiled down to 20 from the final over of the match from Riaz, but the Test left-armer kept his cool to concede only 10 to inflict a sixth defeat in seven starts on the Panthers.

Having been flown in by helicopter to conduct the toss, Kent captain Rob Key duly lost the call and must have been rueing his luck as the Middlesex attack made hay in seamer-friendly conditions.

The pitch initially prepared for the match had been ruined by storms in the south east leading to an 11th hour switch to a new strip – a move that gave bowlers the edge throughout, Joe Denly being the first to suffer, falling for a duck to the fifth ball of the game from Anthony Ireland.

Twenty20: Nottinghamshire Outlaws continued their relentless run towards the quarter-finals with their fifth win in five home matches as Northamptonshire Steelbacks were beaten by 23 runs.

Overseas batsman Adam Voges was again the star, as the competition’s leading scorer hit 49 from 32 balls to help the hosts reach 183 -6.

Fellow Australian international David Hussey contributed 33 while David Willey took 3-31 for the visitors.

In reply, the Steelbacks never got to grips with the Notts attack and although Alex Wakely struck an enterprising 61 from 36 balls with three fours and two sixes, they eventually finished on 160-6, with former Notts batsman Bilal Shafayat making 37.

Samit Patel kept things tight to claim 2-29 with his left-arm spin and fast bowler Darren Pattinson, the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, took 2-32.

Twenty20: England Lion James Taylor put his name in the frame for the forthcoming one-day series against Sri Lanka with a match-winning cameo for Leicestershire against Derbyshire at Derby.

Taylor scored an unbeaten 15 from seven balls, including an overhead scoop for six off pace bowler Steffan Jones, as the Foxes celebrated a five-wicket victory with five balls to spare.

Australian all-rounder Andrew McDonald’s 62 off 45 balls and Abdul Razzaq’s 40 from 25 set the stage for Taylor to take his side past the Falcons’ 160 -4, in which Martin Guptill led the scoring with 44.

The Falcons had lost Wes Durston in the second over when he chopped Harry Gurney into his stumps and the Foxes should have removed Guptill cheaply three overs later.

Guptill was on 10 when he drove Razzaq to mid-off but Matthew Hoggard misjudged the catch and the ball went through his hands to the boundary.

The Leicestershire captain had plenty of time to reflect on that as the New Zealander batted for another 11 overs and, with Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen, laid the platform for a late onslaught, Garry Park and Ross Whiteley plundering 44 from the last 23 balls.

Tim Groenewald yorked Josh Cobb with the fourth ball of the Foxes’ reply.

Guptill plunged full-length at deep midwicket to send back Jacques du Toit in the fifth over but McDonald kept the Foxes in the hunt, reaching his 50 by cutting Hughes for his sixth four.

McDonald’s excellent innings ended when he drove back a return catch in the 16th but Razzaq drove two sixes before he was bowled by Jon Clare.

Taylor silenced the home fans when he drove Jones to the cover boundary and then flipped a full toss over the wicketkeeper for six, leaving White to strike the winning blow against his former county.