Thursday's NatWest T20 Blast results
Wantage Road: Northants beat Worcestershire by 7 wickets
Lord's: Middlesex beat Essex by 72 runs
Canterbury: Kent beat Somerset by 7 wickets (D/L method)
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Thursday's review
Brendon McCullum led from the front with an exhilarating 63 off 28 balls as Middlesex beat Essex by 72 runs at Lord's.
Middlesex captain McCullum smashed five sixes and six fours and was given fine support by a John Simpson half-century as the hosts amassed 203 for six.
Dan Lawrence claimed three for 21 from his four overs for Essex but Tom Helm was the star with the ball for the hosts as he claimed a personal and county T20 best five for 11 runs from 3.2 overs as the visitors were skittled out for 131 in the 17th over.
The win was vital for Middlesex, who were level with Essex and two other counties on five points at the bottom of the NatWest T20 Blast's South Group before the game, but have now moved up into the middle of a tightly-packed table.
Defending T20 Blast champions Northamptonshire beat Worcestershire by seven wickets with 14 balls to spare.
Chasing 159 to win, the Steelbacks eased home thanks to impressive contributions from Richard Levi, Adam Rossington and Alex Wakely.
All three made 40s, with captain Wakely hitting an unbeaten 46 from 28 balls to see his men over the line.
The Rapids lost all 10 wickets for their 158 runs, Brett D'Oliveira (52) top-scoring while Richard Gleeson took three for 12.
Kent Spitfires clinched their third T20 Blast success of the season with a seven-wicket win against Somerset - under the Duckworth-Lewis method - in a rain-affected match at Canterbury.
Chasing a revised victory target of 181 off 18 overs under the method after two overs had been lost due to a downpour, Spitfires captain Sam Northeast saw his side home with an undefeated 54.
The Spitfires had reached 77 without loss in the sixth over when rain stopped play and the match resumed at 9.35pm.
Openers Joe Denly (46) and Daniel Bell-Drummond (39) laid the Spitfires' solid foundations and although they were both removed by Max Waller, Northeast struck three sixes and five fours in an unbeaten 54 off 27 balls.
South African Johann Myburgh had earlier blasted six sixes for Somerset on his way to 64 off 35 deliveries after wicketkeeper/opener Steve Davies had set the tempo by clearing the boundary twice and hitting seven fours in his 32-ball 62.
Peter Trego chipped in with a quickfire 26 to help take Somerset on to 197 for six before being run out on the final ball.
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