Crawley stars in Kent comeback win - T20 Blast round-up

Zak Crawley responded to his omission from England's Test side with a blistering 75 not out from 41 balls as Kent Spitfires saw off Sussex Sharks to record back-to-back wins in the T20 Blast.

Crawley - left out of England's squad to face New Zealand after a poor start to the season - completed an impressive turnaround by the Spitfires after Sussex stormed to 92-0 in the sixth over at Canterbury, with opener Tom Clark hitting a career-best 79 from just 29.

But South African all-rounder Dian Forrester took 3-25 on his Kent debut to restrict the Sharks to 197-6 before contributing 35 not out from 18 balls, helping Crawley to steer their side home by seven wickets.

Keaton Jennings, Matty Hurst and Ben McDermott - who blazed an undefeated 63 from 27 - all hit half-centuries to set up Lancashire Lightning's first win of the Blast as they overcame Notts Outlaws by 39 runs at Old Trafford.

The Lightning posted 208-4 and left-arm spinner Tom Hartley then finished with figures of 4-20 as Notts, who have now lost two games out of two, could only manage 169-9 in reply.

Clark's electrifying knock gave Sussex a flying start – the left-hander smashed Matt Milnes for three sixes in quick succession and Tom Rogers' second over cost 30 as the visitors raced to 92-0 in the powerplay.

But once Clark was caught in the deep to provide former Sussex off-spinner Bertie Foreman with his first Spitfires wicket, Kent clawed it back through fellow debutant Forrester, whose career-best figures included a double wicket maiden.

James Coles (28 from 26) and ex-Kent batter Jack Leaning (30 from 25) did their best to regain momentum but, despite a late flurry by Danny Lamb, with an unbeaten 22 from 12, the visitors fell just short of 200.

Kent kept the required rate under control throughout, with openers Tawanda Muyeye (26 from 15) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (29 from 19) scoring rapidly before Crawley and Sam Billings added 55 from 32.

Spitfires skipper Billings (28 from 17) miscued Fynn Hudson-Prentice and was caught at backward square, but Forrester immediately settled in with successive cover boundaries as Crawley stepped up the pace.

He was given a life on 42, drilling Danny Briggs to long-on – only for Tom Alsop to fumble the ball across the rope – and capitalised by pummelling Lamb for three sixes in an over before Forrester thumped Tymal Mills to the fence to seal victory with 10 balls to spare.

Although Lancashire lost Michael Jones early on, Jennings (51 from 31) and Hurst (57 from 40) gradually began to accelerate as they put on 97 for the second wicket.

Seasoned medium-pacer Benny Howell's spell of 1-24 applied the brakes, with the pair both falling in successive overs, paving the way for McDermott to launch a ruthless assault on Outlaws seamer Dillon Pennington.

The Australian made a sedate start before savaging Pennington, whose three overs went for 61, including a trio of sixes and several fours at McDermott's hands to lift Lancashire above the 200 mark.

Despite that, Notts made a positive start to their chase as Joe Clarke (21 from 15) struck a string of boundaries off Chris Green and George Munsey (37 from 21) helped to bring up 50 inside four overs.

Lancashire had to reshuffle their bowling options when seamer Jack Blatherwick limped off at the start of the sixth over – but Hartley replaced him and removed Clarke with his first ball to trigger a procession of wickets.

George Balderson (2-29) picked up two in an over, while part-time off-spinner Harry Singh took 1-27 and completed two catches before Pennington salvaged some pride, hitting an unbeaten 37 from 18 as the Outlaws came up short on 169-9.

All start times BST

Tuesday

South Group

Hampshire Hawks v Essex Eagles (19:00)

Wednesday

North Group

Leicestershire Foxes v Derbyshire Falcons (18:30)