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One day after an epic 57-ball hundred put his side into the semi-finals, Patrick Matautaava’s spectacular all-round show floored Italy in a six-wicket win for Vanuatu to secure promotion to WCL Division Four. Italy came into the match undefeated after topping Group B but were bowled out for a well-below par 183, having lost the toss.The Italians overcame medium pacer Callum Blake’s double-strike in the fourth over to lay a solid foundation behind half centuries from Peter Petricola (60 off 80 balls) and Damian Crowley (65 off 94 balls). The pair added 124 for the second wicket to take their side to 137 for 2 in the 32nd over.But a day after his four-for set the stage for a dramatic chase against Germany, offspinner Jelany Chilia sparked a collapse by snaring both Petricola and Crowley in back-to-back overs and finished with a vital 3 for 32. Captain Andrew Mansale and Matautaava then hastened the slide by taking two wickets apiece in late spells to wipe out the tail in quick fashion as Italy lost their last five wickets for 13 runs and were all out in 46.4 overs.Openers Jonathon Dunn and Joshua Rasu started the chase in confident fashion, adding 73 in 14 overs for the first wicket, setting up a cakewalk for the middle order. But rather than coast, Matautaava stayed true to his natural instincts and bashed a half-century off 31 balls, bringing up the mark in the 24th over with his seventh four. He then teed off on Hasnat Ahmed’s legspin in the 25th, carting him for three fours and a six before eventually falling for 83 off 60 balls.By that stage, Vanuatu needed just 11 to win and Mansale finished the job, striking a boundary off the fifth ball of the 35th over to remain unbeaten on 15. Five years ago, Vanuatu played in the now defunct Division Eight held in Samoa, beating Ghana in the final. Vanuatu’s win over Italy, and the promotion to Division Four that comes with it, puts them in the top 30 of the ICC’s one-day rankings for the first time.Jersey avoided the banana peel in the day’s other semi-final, trouncing Qatar by seven wickets, after Anthony Hawkins-Kay’s opening spell reduced them to 30 for 5 in the 16th over. The tall medium pacer bowled an unbroken 10-over new-ball spell, finishing with figures of 4 for 10, including four maidens.Qatar’s outlandish hopes of crawling back into the match were pinned to No. 6 batsman Tamoor Sajjad, who scored more than half his side’s runs to finish with 79 off 103 balls as no one else in the top nine reached double digits. New ball left-arm swing bowler Cornelis Bodenstein returned at the death to claim Sajjad for the ninth wicket in the 45th and then knocked over tailender Mohammed Nadeem for a duck in the next over to wrap up Qatar’s innings for 152 in 46.3 overs.Ex-captain Peter Gough and Nat Watkins added 83 in 16 overs to cruise toward the target. Gough eventually finished unbeaten on 71 off 80 balls as the winning runs came courtesy of four overthrows with 22.1 overs to spare. Jersey will meet Vanuatu in the Division Five Final on Saturday while Italy play Qatar in the third-place playoff.In the loser’s bracket, Guernsey held off a late rally from Ghana to win by 23 runs. The decision to shuffle opener Matthew Stokes down to No. 4 resulted in a top score of 75 off 99 balls in Guernsey’s total of 213.Ghana were 8 for 2 only seven balls into the chase before Samson Awiah entered at No. 4 and fought back with 65. Awiah added 89 for the fourth wicket with Obed Agbomadzie before his wicket triggered a middle-order slide from 131 for 3 to 143 for 6, leaving Ghana to get 70 off the last 10 overs. Julius Mensah fought valiantly with 33 off 25 balls but when he fell to end the 47th, the tail needed 24 off 18 balls. Instead, the match lasted just another three deliveries as Jamie Nussbaumer took two wickets while the No. 11 Godfred Bakiweyem was injured and unable to bat.Germany will meet Guernsey in the fifth-place playoff on Saturday after defeating Cayman Islands by five wickets. Sacha de Alwis continued his solid run but was on the losing end for the fourth match in a row. De Alwis added 127 for the first wicket with Darren Cato (62 off 90 balls) and brought up his half-century off 66 balls but lost steam late in his innings. He only hit one more boundary after he crossed 50 until he was eventually dismissed for 94 off 127 balls in the 48th over as Cayman failed to ram home their early advantage before finishing on 268 for 6.Venkatraman Ganesan followed up his 2 for 29 with the ball by top-scoring with 59 off 57 balls in the chase. Kevin Bazil took 3 for 57 but the tournament’s weakest bowling unit was exposed again as Germany overhauled the target with 8.1 overs to spare. Cayman has one more shot at registering their first win of the tournament in the seventh-place playoff against Ghana on Saturday.

Joe Denly shared a record opening stand•Getty Images

Kent’s opening pair of Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond compiled a world-record T20 opening partnership of 207 on a night when records tumbled and Kent moved closer to qualifying for the NatWest Blast knockout stages.Denly led the carnage with 127 from 66 balls, including 11 fours and seven sixes, beating his own Kent record score of 116. The stand with Bell-Drummond, who was unbeaten at the end on 80, was the third highest for any wicket in the history of the competition.It also beat the 163, a Kent record for any wicket at the time, the same two batsmen put on earlier in the season against Surrey at the Oval.However, they were run close by Essex, for whom Varun Chopra hit a career-best T20 114, his second of the season. His 58-ball innings included nine sixes and six fours. When he was out in the 18th over, Essex were 29 runs short with two overs to go, and they finished 11 runs adrift.Kent now know that a third victory in a row on Friday night against Surrey at Canterbury will take them through to the last eight. Essex also require a win at Hove against Sussex to stand any chance of making the top four in the ultra-tight south group.For Essex, only Mohammad Amir, who finally removed Denly in the penultimate over, returned decent bowling figures – his four overs cost a comparatively parsimonious 20. Of Essex’s seven bowlers, only Ravi Bopara went for less than 10 an over. Calum Haggett conceded just 18 in his four overs in Essex’s reply, crucial in keeping Kent competitive in the field.The start of play was delayed for 20 minutes while the air ambulance landed on the outfield to attend to a steward who had suffered a suspected heart attack.Put in, Denly started as he meant to go on, contributing 37 of Kent’s first fifty runs including sixes over cow and long-leg off Jamie Porter and Paul Walter respectively. The former Middlesex opener reached the 23rd T20 half-century of his career from the 27th ball he faced.Denly’s third six came from a free hit after an inadvertent beamer from Walter, the ball being lost as it sailed out of the ground over midwicket. A fourth cleared the ropes in the same vicinity in an over that went for 22 runs and took Kent into three figures in 12 overs.Bell-Drummond had played second fiddle to his older partner, but a six off Simon Harmer took him to 37 and past the previous first-wicket partnership record of 119 for Kent against Essex in the format.A swept four off Ryan ten Doeschate took Bell-Drummond to his fifty from 35 balls, and he had a second six to his name in the same over for good measure.Denly reached his second century of the campaign with a boundary past mid-off. It had taken him 54 balls and contained 10 fours and a fifth six the ball before, hit straight off Zaidi. Another six took Denly to the highest of his three T20 centuries.There was drama when the world record was broken: it looked at first as if Denly had gone on 119 to a catch on the long-leg boundary by Callum Taylor. But the fielder admitted he trod on the rope and Denly was not only reprieved, but credited with his seventh six.He was finally out in the 19th over when he went for another big hit against Amir and was caught behind by James Foster. Kent lost a second wicket in the final over when Sam Billings was caught behind to give Walter his 15th wicket of the season, but at a personal cost of 65 runs on the night.Essex went off like an express train in reply. By the end of the Powerplay overs, they were 94 without loss and Chopra had reached his half-century from 19 balls. Mitchell Claydon felt the force in the sixth over when Chopra hit him for three successive sixes followed by three fours to move Essex from 64 to 94 in six balls.Chopra had already hammered two sixes before that in the previous over from Claydon, whose first two overs went for 46. Sixes number six and seven came off successive balls from Imran Qayyum over long leg and then straighter.Having put on 118 for the first wicket in nine overs, Dan Lawrence departed for a 22-ball 41, with one six, bowled by Calum Haggett. But at the halfway point, Essex needed 95 from 10 overs; incredibly, they were 34 runs ahead of the Kent total at the same stage of their innings.They lost Bopara on 138, caught sweeping at Qayyum at short fine leg, as the brakes were applied to the Essex charge. Only 37 runs were scored in the six middle overs from the ninth to 14th and the pressure got to Zaidi who holed out to deep square leg in Darren Stevens’s first over.A straight six off Neesham, his eighth, took Chopra to his century from 52 balls with six fours. With 39 needed off 18 balls, Chopra carted Neesham for six over midwicket before exiting two balls later, caught in the covers.Ten Doeschate chipped a six over square leg off the last ball of the 19th over to leave Essex needing 16 from the last six balls. The captain went to the second ball, caught at deep cover by Qayyum, and Adam Milne tied up Paul Walter and James Foster in the final four balls..

ScorecardJames Pattinson claimed three wickets for no runs to wreck Kent’s top-order•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire are in no rush to sign up another overseas player when James Pattinson returns to Australia after Saturday’s Royal London One-Day Cup final.The 27-year-old fast bowler has given the Division Two leaders outstanding service, with 12 wickets in his nine one-day matches and 31 to date in five appearances in the Championship, having reached that total by taking three wickets in eight balls to begin the dismantling of Kent’s first innings here, after which Nottinghamshire came through a testing first floodlit passage of the match in what they will feel is pretty good shape.Had Pattinson not missed four Championship matches during the Champions Trophy, when he was frustrated not to play in any of Australia’s fixtures, he could be past 50 first-class wickets for the season already, which is why Nottinghamshire will keep his place in the side vacant for as long as possible in the hope of seeing him again before the summer is out.Pattinson is in the squad for Australia’s tour of Bangladesh at the end of August but until the contract dispute between the players and Cricket Australia is settled, it cannot be taken for granted that the tour will go ahead. The current contracts expire on Friday.Were Nottinghamshire to have Pattinson back when the Championship run-in begins on August 28, they could confidently expect to have the firepower to bring a successful conclusion to their promotion bid, irrespective of whether Stuart Broad and Jake Ball are required by England.”Happily we’ve got a bit of time on our side,” Mick Newell, the county’s director of cricket said. “After this match, we just have the Championship match against Derbyshire between now and August 28 and there is the option to play Dan Christian or Ish Sodhi in that one. So we can wait and see how things unfold with James before we decide whether to look at anyone else.”Kent were probably fortunate to lose only three wickets to Pattinson as Nottinghamshire’s attack, missing Broad because of the heel injury that threatens his participation in Saturday’s one-day final, proved as effective with the pink ball as they have been with the red.He bowled just as impressively in his second spell as his first, bowling full and straight and fast, getting inswing and outswing, and another burst of wickets always seemed likely. As it was, after seeing Will Gidman escape twice in the same over, dropped by Steven Mullaney in the slips and then almost snapped up by Chris Read, he had to be content with three.Only Daniel Bell-Drummond came between Kent and a still-more painful indictment of their decision to bat first on a greenish pitch, carrying his bat for 84. At 23 years old, he continues to grow in stature, steadfast where others at times were betrayed by impatience or misjudgement.At 6 for 3, Sam Billings – dropping in for half this match between T20 and England Lions assignments – decided to counter-attack aggressively, taking on both Pattinson and Ball with some success. It was a major blow for Kent, then, that a loose drive against Luke Fletcher saw his assault ended earlier than it should have been.Darren Stevens also paid the price for taking liberties with Fletcher. Gidman, having survived against Pattinson while in single figures, helped Bell-Drummond add 55 before being yorked by Harry Gurney but the prospects for a Bell-Drummond century and a Kent batting point receded rapidly as Mullaney, something of a partnership-breaker with his skilful medium pace, took three wickets in the space of 13 deliveries. Mitch Claydon, not unusually, did not hang around long enough to delay the second interval.Thus Nottinghamshire had maximum bowling points, as they have in all their nine matches so far. Yet the achievement was double-edged this time, perhaps, in that it required their batsmen to step into the unknown, facing the pink ball under lights.Kent didn’t threaten them much at first. Matt Coles offered too much width and Stevens, who took the new ball ahead of the debutant New Zealand quick Adam Milne, was fairly easily kept out, with little forewarning of the edge to third slip that saw Jake Libby depart at the end of the 14th over.They were now at the difficult stage, when the floodlights were not quite in charge, for which they had practised in a mock-up last Friday evening without gaining much confidence.Kent’s tails were up briefly as Brendan Taylor and Samit Patel, both in form – Patel with back-to-back double hundreds – went cheaply, although the balls that did for them would probably have succeeded in any light and with any colour. Taylor was caught behind trying to fend off a snorter from Milne and Patel lost his off stump to a lovely ball from Coles that swung late, much to the relief of Joe Denly, who had dropped him at gully second ball off Milne.Nottinghamshire’s confidence, then, will have been much bolstered by emerging from the remaining hour and a half with no more setbacks, particularly given that Mullaney, dropped on 50 off a hard chance to gully off Stevens, had to contend with an upset stomach as well as a hostile Milne. He and Alex Hales have added 83.

Seeing out Graeme Cremer and staying positive will reverse a little pressure and bring a mammoth 388 target within reach, according to Dimuth Karunaratne. The opener made 49 to help set the tone for the innings.Zimbabwe claimed his wicket and two others with balls that took substantial turn. The delivery that dismissed Karunaratne spun more than any other in the match, hitting the fast bowlers’ footmarks and darting alarmingly into his offstump. Kusal Mendis, who had also been positive at the crease, and Angelo Mathews, are the overnight pair.”I do think we can make it,” Karunaratne said. “We have already scored 170 for three wickets and we need only 218 more. We’ve also batted out the period when he ball is hard and does a little bit more. All Zimbabwe have now is the support from that rough.”Angie and Kusal are set now. If those two guys keep on batting for an hour or more tomorrow morning, they can get set again. If that happens, I don’t think it’s easy to get them out unless we do something silly.”Mendis, whose 60 has come off 85 deliveries, was busy at the crease, and used his powerful flat sweep shot to good effect. Mathews has already used the reverse-sweep himself, during his 33-ball 17. Both those options may be key to manipulating the field.”They’re bowling on the leg side with more fielders. So we need to have a plan to change that field may be playing a reverse sweep,” he said. “If we do that, we will be able to put some runs on the board quickly.”If we just to survive, we’re losing the opportunity to win the match. We need to be positive. When another 60 to 70 runs are scored, I think they will spread out the field. Then we can get the single and have a chance. We have to put them under pressure.”Cremer, who had claimed a five-wicket haul in the first innings, appears the key figure in the opposition attack. He has already bowled 58.3 overs in the match, however, and Sri Lanka may have hopes of tiring him out, as they had once done with Yasir Shah, in Pallekele. Sean Williams was the other wicket-taker on Monday.”Cremer is bowling in good areas and turning it well. As a wrist spinner, he gets a lot out of the surface. What Sean doing is that he pegs the batsman down and forces him to commit a mistake against Cremer. Other than those two, I don’t think there will be a huge threat. The reality is that those two cannot keep bowling right throughout the day.”

As much as Australia’s bowlers were panned by Steven Smith for their looseness in the opening match against New Zealand that was ultimately wrecked by rain, the vice-captain David Warner admits the top order batsmen were similarly out of rhythm in the early overs of a curtailed chase.The early English summer will not always suit an Australian side heavy on pace and power but not always so adept at nuance, something demonstrated by how Warner, Aaron Finch and Moises Henriques made early exits in the face of diligent New Zealand bowling before showers enveloped Edgbaston.Ahead of a match against Bangladesh that Steven Smith’s men must now win to avoid early elimination, Warner said the batsmen needed to strike a better balance than the one seen in his wild swish at a wide ball. Finch and Henriques then mistimed catches in front of the wicket.”There were, I think, a few rushed overs there especially in the first 10 [overs]. We probably didn’t allow ourselves to actually pick off the ones and twos and play normal cricket shots,” Warner said. “We tried to heave it a bit too much and wait for the bad ball too much I think. And as we know with New Zealand how they are, they are very disciplined in their line and length. They made us play a different kind of way to how we usually play. And from my stance, me and Finchy, I think we were a little bit disappointing.”Warner said he and Finch had walked out to bat with a very aggressive mind-set, something that was then exploited by the discipline of New Zaland’s attack. The bowlers of other nations, most particularly Bangladesh and England, will have taken note.”Initially that was what me and Finchy were talking about, making the most of that seven overs [in a rain-shortened chase],” Warner said. “After the first two overs we knew it was going to be a little bit difficult.”We just knew that if you hit the right length on that wicket, the wicket would do its course. It would hold up a fraction. They bowled with a wobbly seam, we tried to swing the ball, when it didn’t swing we went straight to cross seam. On the flip side of that, when you are facing a wobbly seam it can do something.”But they just hit their right lengths and made us play the shots. So, credit to them. And we tried to hit the ball too hard. I tried to move around the crease a little bit but found myself in some situations probably trying to muscle the ball a little bit too much, and Finchy said that as well.”The early wickets brought Henriques to the crease at No. 4, ostensibly in place of the injured Mitchell Marsh, but ahead of not only Glenn Maxwell and Travis Head but also the unselected Chris Lynn and Marcus Stoinis. Warner pointed to Henriques’ strong recent IPL displays as evidence he deserved the chance.”Obviously Steve had the thought process that Mo has been batting well enough to bat in that role. I look at his IPL, and I played with him, he was hitting the ball unbelievably,” Warner said. “To give him credit, the last 12 to 18 months his technique has gotten very good and he’s had the capability and strong performances on the board for New South Wales to warrant that selection.”His one-day numbers have been fantastic in the Matador. He’s used to playing on wickets coming in when it is swinging. And credit to him, he’s been able to do that and lock that down for New South Wales, and he’s been given that opportunity by the selectors here and Steve to play at number four for us.”I think you saw a couple of those pull shots he played, he’s been working on that for a while as well. And his all-round game is fantastic at the moment so hopefully, he can keep continuing his success and hopefully not too many inside edges onto the pad.”

Wayne Parnell has been included in Kent’s squad for Friday’s Royal London match against Sussex despite a health scare earlier this week.Parnell, the South African seamer who is with the club on a short-term stint as an overseas player, left the pitch feeling unwell after bowling four overs during Tuesday’s match against Somerset. He reported an elevated heart rate and feeling light-headed.While he was keen to return to the action after a few minutes, the club’s medical team insisted he sit out the remainder of the game as a precaution. Parnell was hospitalised in 2013 after complaining of similar symptoms while playing for South Africa A against India A. Subsequent tests revealed no long-term problem, with the issue instead put down to a virus.He did not go to hospital on Tuesday and instead travelled back to Kent on the team bus at the end of the game.He saw a doctor on Wednesday and underwent a series of basic tests. The club insist that some reports of his condition have been “greatly exaggerated” and suggested that they would not have named him in the squad for Friday’s game if there was any risk to his welfare.Cricket South Africa have been kept fully informed of Parnell’s condition and condoned his return to action.It is not certain he will play on Friday, though. He will undergo a fitness test ahead of the game before any final decision is made.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:46