Shah, Maynard score centuries by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	Edgbaston, Birmingham, County Ground, Taunton, Cricket Field Road, Horsham, Penrhyn Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay, Garon Park, Southend-on-Sea, St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury
Scorecard:	Warwickshire v Leicestershire, Somerset v Yorkshire, Sussex v Gloucestershire, Glamorgan v Northamptonshire, Essex v Nottinghamshire, Kent v Middlesex
Player:	IJL Trott, CEJ Thompson, JC Hildreth, Z de Bruyn, JA Rudolph, LJ Wright, Yasir Arafat, TL Maynard, SD Peters, JS Foster, RN ten Doeschate, SR Patel, OA Shah, DI Stevens
Event:	NatWest Pro40 League 2009

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DateLine: 10th August 2009

 

Division One

 

Essex outplayed Nottinghamshire by 34 runs to claim their first win of their campaign. Essex had won the toss and elected to bat first running up an average score of 224 in their stipulated 40 overs. Only Doeschate and Chopra crossed the fifty run mark, while Napier threatened to cut loose before a loose shot form him brought about his downfall. Nottinghamshire in reply never got their bearings right as they lost wickets in clusters. Kaneria starred for Essex as he took three wickets while Samit Patel scored a fighting half century. James Foster displayed some magnificent work behind the stumps as he claimed five victims off which he took four catches and effected one stumping

 

Sussex routed Gloucestershire by nine wickets and the highlight of the game was Arafat taking a hat-trick towards the end of the innings. Arafat finished off the Gloucestershire innings in the last over when he had Steve Adshead caught before yorkers accounted for Ian Saxelby and Steve Kirby. Sussex restricted the visitors to 189 on a good pitch with a fast outfield. They then cruised to their target in just 26.1 overs as Luke Wright and Ed Joyce put on 136 in 19 overs for the second wicket, with Wright contributing a blistering unbeaten 95. Wright's 95 came from just 62 balls with 18 fours and a six while Joyce contributed 66 from 77 deliveries as Sussex made it three successive wins in defence of their Pro40 title.

 

Somerset sailed past Yorkshire as they won the match by five wickets to register their first win this year's Pro40 League. Yorkshire had won the toss and elected to bat first and the foundation to a good score was laid by the openers Gale and Rudolph. But wickets began to fall regularly as Somerset bowlers led by de Bruyn wreaked havoc on the Yorkshire batsmen. Rudolph was the last man to fall for a well-composed 95. Somerset then made a good start to their run chase, with openers Marcus Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter making 39 and 37 before being dismissed. Yorkshire then picked up wickets of De Bruyn and Justin Langer quickly to sense a chance. But James Hildreth saw them through, ably assisted by Peter Trego and Arul Suppiah.

 

Division Two

 

Owais Shah played a magical innings but could not stop Kent from defeating Middlesex by 12 runs. Kent had won the toss and elected to bat first running up to challenging total of 258 in their stipulated 40 overs. Kent total was propped up by half centuries from Denly, Jones and Stevens. Stevens was the most aggressive of Kent batsmen as he hammered the daylights out of Middlesex bowlers. Middlesex in reply lost Malan early, but Shah kept them in the hunt with a well-paced century which included fourteen boundaries and four huge sixes. But in the end Middlesex fell just short of their target.

 

Tom Maynard played a sizzling knock, as he scored the fastest century for Glamorgan, but it was enough to stop Northamptonshire from winning the thriller by six runs. When Maynard came to the wicket Glamorgan were 103 for three in the 22nd over needing 269 for victory. But he cracked a remarkable century in only 57 balls, including four sixes and 14 fours. However, with 24 needed for victory from 12 balls, Maynard was bowled by Johannes van der Wath in the penultimate over. The platform for Northamptonshire's victory was Stephen Peters and Niall O'Brien's opening stand of 153 in 24 overs, a one-day record for any wicket at Colwyn Bay. That set Northamptonshire on their way to an imposing total of 267 despite four wickets for Robert Croft.

 

Warwickshire drubbed Leicestershire by nine wickets to register a comprehensive win. The Warwickshire bowlers had a stranglehold on the Leicestershire batsmen from the first ball of the innings as the batsmen struggled to get a move on. No batsmen could get make any substantial score with only Thompson trying to up the ante. Warwickshire batsmen in reply did not face any such issue as Trott and Carter played aggressively as they crossed the target in just 22.4 overs.