Falcons soar after rampant Reece puts Northants to flight
DERBYSHIRE Falcons are the early pace-setters in the T20 North Group thanks to two wins in the space of 24 hours.
They beat defending champions NORTHAMPTONSHIRE in their opener with a rampant seven-wicket win at Wantage Road, as Luis Reece scored a brilliant 75 from 51 balls.
They then followed that up with a thrilling three-run victory over YORKSHIRE VIKINGS at Chesterfield.
Yorkshire were chasing 166 but came up short at 162-7 needing 18 from the final over despite an excellent 68 from Adam Lyth.
Wayne Madsen made 42 from 28 balls and Daryn Smit an unbeaten 30 from 20 to carry the Falcons to 165-8 and then Imran Tahir starred with the ball, taking 3-18.
BIRMINGHAM BEARS also got off to a strong start with two wins from two but their triumph over NOTTINGHAMSHIRE was overshadowed by the injury to bowler Outlaws bowler Luke Fletcher .
The 28-year-old bowler has been ruled out of action for the rest of the season after he was struck by a straight drive from Birmingham’s Sam Hain during Saturday’s game, being helped off the field before a break in play.
Fletcher said: “I am disappointed, but after the head scan, one of the doctors did mention that I might not feature again this season.
“I got my head around it pretty early on. I went back to see the surgeon in Birmingham and he just told me that it would be it for the season.
“It is hard to take. I worked hard this winter to make sure I could put the performances in to help Notts.
“But if you look back at the footage, I feel lucky in other ways to still be around.”
The injury overshadowed the fact that Birmingham won the match by six wickets after dramatically reaching their target of 159 with a single off the final ball, as Michael Lumb missed the simplest of run-outs to snatch a tie.
That victory followed a convincing eight-wicket win over WORCESTERSHIRE RAPIDS, in which Ian Bell, right, scored an excellent 39-ball half-century. Colin Ackermann delivered a thrilling three-wicket win for LEICESTERSHIRE as they chased down 174 against LANCASHIRE. Ackermann hit the final ball for six when three were needed to seal the win. Elsewhere, Ben Duckett’s 56-ball 72 helped NORTHAMPTONSHIRE to a six-wicket triumph over DURHAM JETS – who prop up the table after sustaining two defeats in their opening two games, after also losing by 52 runs to LANCASHIRE LIGHTNING.