National League Division Two in 2005
In reply, England openers Rob Key and Geraint Jones both failed, before South Africa's Martin van Jaarsveld continued his great start to the season with an unbeaten 69.
For the Sharks, Johannes van der Wath top scored with 80 and shared a 110-run partnership with Robin Martin-Jenkins to pull Sussex out from 60 for 5 to a final total of 182 for 7 in 45 overs.
Winning the toss and bowling, Scotland did not quite get the wickets they wanted, the South African Martin van Jaarsveld top-scoring for Kent with 57 while Darren Stevens smashed 51 off 30 balls towards the end.
Winning the toss and batting, Scottish Saltires' bowlers Asim Butt, Majid Haq and Paul Hoffmann (who bowled 9 overs for 14 runs) tied the visitors down to 145 for 5 before Blackwell came on.
In reply Matt Prior made 77, but Sussex looked like a defeated side after 4 wickets from Keith Parsons sent them to 201 for 7, but Johannes van der Wath smashed 73 off 43 balls to sneak the victory, sharing an 82-run ninth-wicket stand with Jason Lewry.
Scotland Saltires then crumbled to 154, former England all-rounder Craig White taking three Scottish wickets as only the hired-in man from Durham, Gavin Hamilton, managed some resistance with the bat.
Kent captain David Fulton won the toss and chose to field, and Australian Michael Di Venuto ridiculed his choice with an 80-ball century with twelve fours and a six.
The Sharks chased down the target easily, as openers Matt Prior and Ian Ward put on 108, and whilst Scotland were able to take two wickets, Sussex sped home with 16.3 overs to spare.
Paul Hoffmann snared the important wicket of James Hildreth for 49, the lower order rolled over meekly to Arafat (who got 3–33), and with Jon Francis injured, the Sabres managed to lose the match by 15 runs as they were all out for 218.
Derbyshire Phantoms won the toss and batted, and it was only thanks to a century from Australian import Michael Di Venuto that they passed 200 and ended up with a final total of 220 for 8 – along with 33 not out from Andre Botha.
Despite Travis Friend making 52 and Graeme Welch only taking 24 balls for his unbeaten 37, Derbyshire still couldn't post more than 223 for 8, and after shaky initial batting from opener Nicky Peng, Durham Dynamos were guided to the target by 97 from Michael Hussey and 70 from Gordon Muchall.
(Cricinfo scorecard) Leicestershire (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by seven wickets The Scottish Saltires, playing their first National League match following their ICC Trophy victory, fell down to earth brutally at The Grange.
A Surrey Lions side including three debutants – Stewart Walters, Rory Hamilton-Brown and Jake Dernbach – crumbled despite the efforts of Mark Ramprakash who made 63, as they were all out for 171.
In reply, Warwickshire got to 19 for 0, but a fiery spell from Martin Saggers yielded three wickets, as Nick Knight, Ian Bell and Jamie Troughton were all dismissed in single figures.
Carl Gazzard and Malaysian Arul Suppiah gave Somerset a chance of chasing the big total with their 125-run second-wicket stand, but Jonathan Moss took four for 60 with his medium-pace and Andy Gray three for 47 with off breaks.
Paul Jaques, Ismail Dawood and Michael Wood all made half-centuries, but in the end Yorkshire Phoenix needed 23 to win off the last over, number 11 Deon Kruis facing Blackwell.
However, Zimbabwean Murray Goodwin scored a solid, two-hour 86 not out, and guided the team to the target, putting on 82 with Robin Martin-Jenkins after spinner Alex Loudon had taken two wickets to set Sussex back to 91 for 5.
Scotland had been put in to bat by Derbyshire captain Luke Sutton, and crashed to 42 for 4 after two wickets from new-ball bowler Graeme Welch, but Watts paired up well with the lower middle order before rain set in.
Watson then got three wickets and Cedric English two, as the visitors collapsed to 147 for 7, but Stubbings, still at the crease, held his head calm and ended on 75 not out to guide Derbyshire past the target with three balls to spare.
(Cricinfo scorecard) Sussex (4pts) beat Scotland (0pts) by seven wickets Rana Naved-ul-Hasan's pace bowling was too much to handle for the Scottish Saltires, as they whimpered to 132 all out despite Jonathan Beukes making 51.
Sussex Sharks strolled to the target in just over half the allotted time, Matt Prior smashing 13 fours and one six in a fifty-ball 69, while Sean Weeraratna took two for 20 for the Scots.
The visitors had opted to bat first, and lost three early wickets for 40 runs, but a calm rearguard from Mark Ramprakash set the stage for some fours from Azhar Mahmood near the end.
Michael Carberry, who came in with the score 27 for 4, made 63 with ten fours, but no other batsman passed 30, and Neil Killeen and Gareth Breese shared the last five wickets as Kent crashed to 140.
Two wickets from Derbyshire Phantoms' Australian all-rounder Jon Moss sent Leicestershire struggling to 42 for 4, and only an attritional partnership between Aftab Habib and Darren Robinson carried them past 100.
Yorkshire Phoenix batted first, however, and fifties from Michael Lumb and the in-form Anthony McGrath gave them a total of 237 for 6, despite Callum Thorp bowling seven overs for only 22 runs.
However, Troughton had added 144 with Jonathan Trott, and not even four late wickets from Rikki Clarke could stop the flow of runs, and both Jade Dernbach and Azhar Mahmood conceded 61 in their nine overs.
Fraser Watts and Ian Stanger both hit half-centuries for Scotland, as the Saltires made their way to 177 for 1, and despite two wickets from Jamie Anyon and the golden duck from West Indian Vasbert Drakes, the Scots ended on 220 for 5.
However, once rain shortened their innings to 33 overs and their target from 281 to 211, they failed to keep up with the required rate, ending with 170 for 6 with England Under-19 player Stuart Broad taking two for 35.
Derbyshire batsmen Ben France and Hassan Adnan started to build towards the target of 301 to win with an 81-run partnership for the second wicket, but both of them were stumped off Blackwell, and he also had three men caught off his bowling to end with five for 26.
Surrey's opening bowlers Tim Murtagh and Mohammad Akram reduced them to 40 for 5, but 21-year-old Omer Hussain made 52 in his first List A innings, adding 125 for the seventh wicket with Craig Wright, who ended unbeaten on 88.
