Last season’s beaten finalists Somerset beat Surrey as they made an impressive start to their T20 Blast campaign.
Jason Roy hit a blistering 92, but Surrey were restricted to 146-9 at Taunton before the hosts completed a five-wicket win.
Holders Gloucestershire started their defence with a narrow four-run defeat to Kent Spitfires, while the returning James Vince stroked 62 as Hampshire Hawks thrashed Essex by 106 runs in the other South Group fixture.
Jack Haynes’ unbeaten 89 eclipsed Sam Hain’s 92 as Notts Outlaws chased down Bears’ 226-5 with five balls to spare at Trent Bridge.
Sol Budinger smashed a 15-ball 50 as Leicestershire Foxes defeated Derbyshire Falcons.
And David Willey smashed 54 and took three wickets as Northamptonshire Steelbacks held off Yorkshire Vikings’ brave chase in a runfest at Headingley.
Unlike elsewhere, the bowlers held their own at Taunton where 2023 winners Somerset beat Surrey in a low-scoring repeat of last season’s semi-final.
Just two Surrey batters reached double figures as New Zealand seam bowler Matt Henry (3-21) and Australian paceman Riley Meredith (3-26) restricted the visitors to 146-9.
Former England white-ball destroyer Roy appeared to play on a different pitch to his team-mates as he belted seven maximums in an aggressive 92, with Sam Curran the next best with 22.
England all-rounder Curran (2-30) then removed Somerset openers Tom Banton (23) and Will Smeed (35), while Yousef Majid took 2-26 as the hosts wobbled.
But Ben Green (23*) and Tom Abell (29*) nursed them home with 13 balls to spare.
At Bristol, Daniel Bell-Drummond (60) compiled his 38th T20 half-century and Tawanda Muyeye made 42 to give Kent a good platform against holders Gloucestershire.
England red-ball batter Zak Crawley added 37 off just 17 balls – including four sixes – before Joe Denly (48 not out) took Kent up to 208-3.
Gloucestershire looked to be falling well short as they reached just 64-3 at the midway point, needing another 145 runs.
Ollie Price hit 51 off 26 balls and captain Jack Taylor smacked 23 off just eight balls as the hosts accelerated, and David Payne and Ben Charlesworth (38) took 19 off the final over, but Kent held on for a four-run win.
Over in Southampton, Vince looked happy to be back in his first Hampshire appearance of the season following his decision to step back from red-ball cricket this year.
Leading the side against Essex, Vince raced to a 25-ball 50 before holing out for 62, while fellow opener Toby Albert added 54 off 34 balls.
But it was debutant Dewald Brevis who top scored, plundering six maximums in a 32-ball 68 as the hosts set an imposing 230-7.
The chase began disastrously as Dean Elgar was run out for a duck, and although Michael Pepper showed defiance with 51, the Essex batting subsided meakly to 124 all out.
Trent Bridge has been a happy hunting ground for the Bears in recent seasons and proved so again for half of this game.
After racking up the highest total in English T20 cricket of 261-2 there in 2022, the West Midlands side skittled Nottinghamshire for 57 last summer as they topped the North Group for a third successive campaign.
Sam Hain hit 112 in that record score and was in the mood again, launching six sixes in an unbeaten 92 off 49 balls, supported by a rapid innings of 55 from Ed Barnard as the Bears again made hay, posting 226-5.
But the Outlaws responded in kind, racking up 88-0 from their powerplay, led by captain Joe Clarke who set the tone with 58 from 23 balls.
The reply looked to be faltering when the Notts skipper fell to Danny Brigg’s second ball and Lyndon James also perished to spin soon after as Jake Lintott struck.
However, experienced Aussie all-rounder Moises Henriques hit 34 on debut, while Jack Haynes took charge, smashing an unbeaten 89 from 41 balls to cap a superb chase and a seven-wicket win.
The biggest feast of runs on a night of big totals came at Headingley which served up a mammoth aggregate of 461 runs.
Northants skipper Willey (54) smashed six sixes in reaching 50 off just 20 balls, adding 85 runs for the third wicket with Justin Broad in just 35 balls.
Broad was three balls slower to his 50 on his way to a 32-ball 67 as the Steelbacks piled up 237-4 against Yorkshire – the highest total of the evening.
Yorkshire were soon in trouble at 9-3 as Willey (3-42) removed Dawid Malan and Will Luxton and then ran out Adam Lyth.
Rapid knocks of 58 from James Wharton and Will Sutherland kept the Vikings up with the rate but the lower order could not pull off an epic chase as they closed just 13 runs short.
Leicestershire brought their red-ball momentum into the T20 campaign as they saw off East Midlands rivals Derbyshire by five wickets at Leicester.
The County Championship Division Two leaders, led by Logan van Beek’s 3-37, reduced the Falcons to 51-5 before Martin Andersson’s unbeaten 70, from 46 balls, pulled the visitors to 170-6.
The total was soon put into context when Foxes opener Budinger plundered 28 runs from a single Pat Brown over to reach 50 in only 15 balls – just two slower than Marcus Trescothick’s record set in 2010.
Afghan spinner Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar picked up two wickets as the Falcons fought back, but an unbeaten 45 from Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood took the Foxes home with eight balls in hand.
North Group:
Edgbaston: Bears v Durham
Old Trafford: Lancashire Lightning v Nottinghamshire Outlaws
