Saturday 7 June 2014 09:11, UK
Kevin Pietersen made just five runs on his eagerly-anticipated return to English cricket as Surrey suffered a five-wicket NatWest T20 Blast defeat by Essex.
All eyes were on Pietersen at the Kia Oval for his first outing on home soil since his acrimonious parting of the ways with the national side, but the fireworks never started.
Having made just five, Pietersen tried to put Ravi Bopara over the long-on rope but only found the hands of Ryan ten Doeschate.
His poor knock came amid a Surrey total of 151-6, underpinned largely by Jason Roy's 57 and Gary Wilson's 45.
Essex made comfortable work of the chase, thanks largely to a thrilling base laid down by Jesse Ryder.
The New Zealander walloped a 16-ball 31 before perishing to Kevin O'Brien. Ryder hit the first ball for four, the second for six and accounted for all of Essex's first 25 runs.
Mark Pettini was a junior partner to Ryder and went not long after, run out for 12, but that just allowed Tom Westley (44) and Ten Doeschate (43 not out) to get the job done.
Glamorgan captain Jim Allenby led from the front and just missed out on a century as his side saw off Somerset by seven runs at Taunton.
The hosts lost three wickets as they set Somerset 178 to win, with Peter Trego almost doing enough to complete a successful chase in an entertaining game.
Nine fours and three sixes saw Allenby end the visitors' innings unbeaten on 96, with Graham Wagg (13 not out) at the other end.etersen was caught off the bowling of Andrew Salter for 34.
James Hildreth supported Trego whilst playing his own, aggressive game at the same time.
Trego hit 13 runs from the opening four deliveries of the final over to finish on 94 not out but Somerset ran out of time and, when Hildreth (33) was caught off Wagg with the final ball of the match, it was Glamorgan who were left celebrating another South Division success.
Daniel Christian's incredible knock of 129 off 57 balls proved in vain as Middlesex fell just short of chasing down Kent's 208-4
Sam Northeast and Alex Blake hit half-centuries for Kent as the hosts set a daunting target at Canterbury.
After 10 overs Middlesex needed 126 more runs to win and Christian kept the flame of hope flickering as he brought up his 50 with a six off only the 25th ball he had faced.
Middlesex needed 99 runs from the final 38 balls but the 15th over saw the relentless Christian wallop four fours and two sixes to close in on his century, which arrived two overs later as the Australian helped himself to another pair of sixes.
Suddenly, with two overs remaining, Middlesex were well within sight of the victory.
When Toby Roland-Jones fell to Doug Bollinger in the penultimate over the Panthers needed 20 runs off the final seven balls, yet it was not to be.
Griffiths called time on Christian's incredible stand with the first ball of the last six and quickly tidied up Rayner and Patel, both for ducks, to restrict Middlesex to a battling total of 192 all out.
Ian Cockbain smashed 84 off 51 balls and Graeme McCarter finished with five wickets as Gloucestershire held off Sussex by four runs at Hove.
Having found themselves 111-6 in the 13th over in pursuit of 190, Sussex - largely thanks to Will Beer's 17-ball 37 and Steffan Piolet's 25 from 20 - launched a spirited fightback in this NatWest T20 Blast South Division clash.
But it all unravelled in the final over as, needing 10 to win and with three wickets in hand, McCarter claimed three wickets to end the match with five for 35 and crush the home team's hopes of an unlikely triumph.
Cockbain's superb knock earlier included eight fours and three sixes, and helped the visitors post 189-6.
Yasir Arafat was the pick of the Sussex bowlers with 3-38, while Piolet finished with 2-39 - seeing off opener Michael Klinger (28) and then stopping Cockbain's rampage.
