Rory Kleinveldt’s miserly 1-20 was not enough to prevent Northamptonshire go down to Warwickshire by two runs in the Natwest T20 Blast.
Warwickshire vs Northamptonshire
The 2014 champions, Warwickshire, have extended their lead at the top of the North Group with their fourth win in a row, despite decent shifts from South African pair Kleinveldt and Richard Levi. Warwicks posted 172-9 from their allotted overs, with New Zealand export Colin de Grandhomme’s 37 off 16 balls the stand-out knock. Kleinveldt was the pick of the bowlers once again, backing up his 3-25 against Worcestershire last week with 1-20 from his four overs.
The defending champions were rollicking towards victory, with the in-form Levi and Adam Rossington obliterating the Warwick’s attack with 58 inside just 4.3 overs. Levi’s 13-ball blitz, in which he scored 33 runs, including five fours and two sixes, came to an end, and that put the brakes on the chase. Eventually they needed 13 runs off the final over, which proved too much, as they fell an agonising two runs short.
Kent vs Hampshire
It wasn’t a particularly successful outing for Hampshire’s South African contingent either, as they lost by five runs against Kent to miss out going up to second in the South Group.
Kyle Abbott, who dished out a disappointing 0-45 from his three overs against Gloucestershire a few days previously, took 1-31 as Kent posted 159-6. Rilee Rossouw contributed 13 off eight balls, but despite the efforts of James Vince (39 off 26) and George Bailey (41 off 32), Hants fell five runs short of the target.
