A review of Wednesday's action in the Royal London One-Day Cup, including the match scores and reports.
Royal London One-Day Cup: Reports & scores (May 17)
Click on each fixture for a full report and match scores
South Group
Gloucestershire v Surrey (abandoned, rain)
Hampshire v Sussex (abandoned, rain)
Kent v Essex
Middlesex v Somerset (abandoned, rain)
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Essex landed their seventh win in eight games and marched through to the Royal London One-Day Cup semi-finals with a 57-run triumph over Kent on the Duckworth/Lewis method.
In pursuit of the visitors' 307 for six, Kent had slumped to 50 for three after 11 overs when the rain, which had already wiped out the day's three other South Group games, abruptly ended proceedings and inflicted a seventh defeat upon the hosts.
Batting first after winning the toss, former England captain Alastair Cook swept to a comfortable run-a-ball fifty and, in the process, moved past the 500-run milestone in this season's competition.
Essex will host either Somerset or Nottinghamshire in the semi-finals.
Sussex and Hampshire were frustrated by the rain as they were both knocked out of the competition without a ball being bowled at the Ageas Bowl.
The Sharks needed a win from the final round of fixtures but a full day of precipitation ended their hopes of progression.
Hampshire also had their exit from the List A competition confirmed as the clash was abandoned with no play possible.
Constant rain all day put any plans of play to bed with umpires Graham Lloyd and Michael Burns finally calling the match off at 4:50pm.
Hampshire required a win and were hoping that Gloucestershire would beat Surrey to help in their efforts to reach the quarter-finals.
But - after the game in Bristol was abandoned - their hopes of qualifying were destroyed.
Somerset will face Nottinghamshire at Taunton next month after securing their place in the knockout stages without playing at Middlesex.
Their game at Lord's was washed out and the point Somerset secured from a no-result ensured they finished second in the south group behind Essex, who have automatically qualified for the semi-finals as group winners.
They now entertain Nottinghamshire, who finished third in the north group, on June 13, in a play-off to secure a semi-final place.
Somerset are bidding to win their first domestic one-day final since 2001.
Umpires Richard Evans and Rob Bailey called off play at Lord's at 5pm following an afternoon of persistent rain and with a bleak evening forecast.
Middlesex, who had no chance of qualifying, finished eighth in the group with just two wins from their eight matches.
No play was possible between Gloucestershire and Surrey at the Brightside Ground in Bristol.
The fixture ended up being flooded, rather than floodlit, as incessant heavy rain throughout the morning and early afternoon left numerous areas of standing water on the outfield.
With Surrey going into the game needing a victory to guarantee third place and qualification for the quarter-finals, umpires Jeff Evans and Billy Taylor delayed the abandonment for as long as possible.
But there was no let-up in the rain and after a 3pm inspection they decided there was no chance of the ground drying out sufficiently.
That left Surrey hoping that Sussex, the one team with a chance of snatching third place from them, would suffer a similar fate at Southampton where prospects for play against Hampshire looked equally bleak.
Gloucestershire were already out of the battle for a place in the knockout phase.
