LONDON, Saturday: Cameron Delport’s 38-ball century for Essex in an astonishing win over Surrey at Chelmsford was the highlight of a rain-affected day of T20 Blast action.
In a game reduced to 15 overs per side, Delport’s extraordinary 129 off 49 balls helped Essex post 226-4.
Surrey scored 31 off their first eight balls, but then lost four wickets for one run and they ended on 174-7.
Durham were the only other winners, successfully defending 148-4 to beat Northants by seven runs.
Four games were washed out, with no play possible at Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire and Hampshire.
There was also no result in the match between Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, which also fell foul of the weather.
Glamorgan were struggling on 96-8 when the rain intervened at Cheltenham, meaning Benny Howell’s career-best 5-18 was in vain.
Imran Qayyum took a career-best 5-21 as Kent began their T20 Blast campaign with a 41-run win over Somerset.
Ollie Robinson’s 53 helped Kent to what looked a below-par 165-9 at Canterbury. But, having confidently reached 54-1, Somerset collapsed to 124 all out, with Pakistan’s world number one T20 batsman Babar Azam falling for just seven.
In Saturday’s other game, Mark Watt and Billy Godleman starred for Derbyshire as they opened with a five-wicket victory over Yorkshire.
Slow left-armer Watt took 4-19 as the Vikings made 164-8 from their 20 overs - having at one point been 77-6.
Only a late cameo from Jordan Thompson dragged them towards a competitive score, clobbering five sixes as he made 50 off 27 deliveries.
England white-ball specialist David Willey dismissed Flynn Hudson-Prentice early on, but an unbeaten 70 from captain Billy Godleman saw the Falcons over the line with five balls left.
The wicket of Hudson-Prentice aside, it was a night to forget to Willey, who made just six batting at number three and returned figures of 1-29 off 3.1 overs with the ball.
Remarkably, despite Somerset’s fine record in T20 cricket, they have never won in this format of the game at Canterbury.
AB de Villiers produced a batting masterclass to guide Middlesex to a seven-wicket win over Essex at Lord’s.
The South African, making his first appearance in English domestic cricket, scored 88 not out off 43 balls.
Elsewhere, England World Cup winner Moeen Ali took 4-18 as holders Worcestershire beat Notts Outlaws.
In the other match, Tom Banton hit 64 off 34 balls in Somerset’s eight-wicket victory against Glamorgan.
Colin Ingram plundered 26 off Glamorgan’s final over to leave the visitors 181 to win at Sophia Gardens, but a rapid opening stand of 98 between Banton and Pakistan’s Babar Azam set up the One-Day Cup winners’ successful run chase.
Gloucestershire beat Leicestershire by six wickets in the last over of a dramatic final session at Cheltenham.
Leicestershire appeared to be cruising towards a draw when, at the tea interval, they still had six second-innings wickets remaining.
But they lost centurion Hassan Azad for 121 straight after the break and collapsed from 255-4 to 299 all out.
The hosts had eight overs to chase 48, and Gareth Roderick sealed victory with a six over cover with three balls left.
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