Bears overcome Rapids

Put in on a slow pitch, the Bears made 144 for five, a modest total but one which they defended comfortably as the Rapids, playing their first game of the year, replied with only 126. Rikki Clarke and Recordo Gordon each picked up three wickets.

The win continued Birmingham's happy home trend against their arch-rivals. It was their sixth win in seven T20 tussles between the teams at Edgbaston.

Yorkshire made it two wins out of two in this season's by beating Nottinghamshire by six wickets at Trent Bridge.

Set to score 144, the visitors chased down their target with seven balls to spare, with captain Andrew Gale leading from the front with an unbeaten 68.

Gale scored his runs from 55 balls, hitting five fours and a six and in the process he became the first Yorkshire batsman to pass 2,000 runs in T20 cricket.

The aggressive bowling of Shaun Tait and the batting of Ravi Bopara combined for Essex to ease to their first T20 of the season against Glamorgan.

Having restricted the home side to 144 for eight thanks to three wickets from Tait, Bopara was guiding his side to an easy win before floodlight failure at the Swalec Stadium saw the match held up for 30 minutes.

Once the lights had come back on Bopara and Essex continued their serene progression towards victory. Bopara finished on 81 not out off 53 balls and Essex won with 14 balls to spare.

Niall O'Brien hit 47 off 27 balls to guide Leicestershire to their first win of the season in all forms of cricket as they beat Derbyshire by seven wickets at Grace Road.

The Ireland wicketkeeper hit five fours and one maximum in an unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 69 with New Zealand international Grant Elliott to see the Foxes reach their target of 164 with an over to spare in conditions of almost Stygian gloom in front of a delighted crowd of close to 5,000.

Durham survived the loss of eight wickets and a career-best score of 78 for Lancashire veteran Ashwell Prince to claim a rare 16-run T20 win at Emirates Old Trafford.

The Jets secured only their third win in 12 attempts here after posting 155, although their total should have been more after captain Mark Stoneman's 57 off 38 balls helped them reach 105 for two in the 12th over.

Will Beer and Michael Yardy bowled Sussex to a five-run victory over Somerset at Taunton.

The two spinners shared five wickets for 46 runs as the hosts plunged from a promising 78 for one to 96 for six, chasing what looked a reasonable target of 176. Beer claimed three for 23 and Yardy two for 23.

Somerset were eventually restricted to 170 for eight, with Jim Allenby marking his T20 debut for the club with 79, including seven fours and three sixes.

Earlier, Luke Wright (49), Mahela Jayawardene (36) and Chris Jordan (37) had helped Sussex to a competitive 175 for six, while another spinner, Max Waller, conceded only 20 from four overs.

Batsmen Sam Northeast and Alex Blake produced a stunning chase as Kent edged past Hampshire with a five-wicket victory the Ageas Bowl.

Captain Northeast played the nudger to Blake's bat whirling aerial bombardment - both scoring fifties in a 108 run stand.

The pair saved the Spitfires, who had collapsed to 70 for five before seeing off some wayward Hampshire bowling as they reached their target of 173 with four balls to spare, with a Blake six finishing the game.