1. Lintott on a trot<\/p>\n
The first time I saw Jake Lintott bowl, television commentators made much of him being a part-timer with a job in a school, giving the impression that he was a gentleman of the 1950s or that plucky qualifier who leads the Open on day one at 8am, but misses the cut by 10 shots on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
The pictures told a different story. His left-arm wrist spin was full of imagination and confidence and, in England at least, that is very rare. He also had that bounce in his demeanour that comes after a late start in the game and numerous rejections. Pathways are important, but they don\u2019t suit everyone, perhaps especially those who dedicate themselves to the sport\u2019s hardest art.<\/p>\n
I was surprised that Warwickshire let him go to Kent, who are suddenly getting so much right. Their decision to sign him has paid off already, his three wickets reducing Surrey from 44-2 to 53-5, those mid-innings wickets so valuable in the Blast. In this year\u2019s competition, Lintott has five wickets and the best economy rate in the country \u2013 you can\u2019t hit what you can\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
There was no way back for Surrey from there, Kent leapfrogging them to go second in the South Group.<\/p>\n
2. Vince says vincer\u00f2, and he does<\/p>\n
Hampshire are enduring another tough season in the Championship, but they flattened Middlesex to round off a hat-trick of wins in the Blast. Of course, the players on the field are different \u2013 one of the aspects of the season that makes narratives hard to construct or follow \u2013 but it also gives counties a chance to revive a flagging campaign.<\/p>\n
Liam Dawson is available again but surely the biggest lift to the club comes from the returning James Vince. But it\u2019s not all golden oldies \u2013 Manny Lumsden, the very promising 17-year-old, has played in three of their four matches and nobody sleeps when his rockets are whistling by.<\/p>\n
James Vince is captaining Hampshire in the T20 Blast. Photograph: Tom Sandberg\/PPAUK\/Shutterstock3. Steelbacks backing their Aussie<\/p>\n
In the snappily titled Central and West Group, the snappily titled Northamptonshire Steelbacks boast the only 100% winning record in the Blast.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t quite \u201cOur Aussie against your Aussie\u201d but Beau Webster and Chris Lynn were at the crease for 39 of the match\u2019s 40 overs. Webster, having endured a very funny runout (for which he was entirely to blame) two days earlier, gave a more constructive response than glaring at Rob Yates by belting 97 to lift Warwickshire to an imposing 208\/7, the kind of score that demands a batting side goes big in the powerplay and keeps going big after too.<\/p>\n
Lynn, calling upon 309 previous T20s, did exactly that, registering his highest score \u2013 115 not out \u2013 in his 310th match. Back in the day, reaching a target in the final over would look like a tight match but, wickets in hand, it really is not these days. It was good entertainment, but the EdgBLASTon crowd (sorry about the typo last week<\/a>) might have preferred a first win of the season.<\/p>\n 4. Crane good again for high-flying Glamorgan<\/p>\n Glamorgan, another of the teams of the year so far in the Championship, have lost a couple of tight matches in the Blast. But they got their campaign under way by marmalising a 172-run target set by Somerset. Tom Banton led the way for them, but was out for 59 at the end of the seventh over, as Nathan McAndrew and Mason Crane, enjoying a fantastic spring, reined them in.<\/p>\n