Fantastic Finch still flying high in England

Aaron Finch has continued his red-hot form in England with a sizzling half-century in a domestic T20 victory for new county Surrey.

Finch blasted 51 from 26 balls to help Surrey to a 15-run win against a Somerset side that included Sri Lanaka great Mahela Jayawardena

Scorecard: Surrey v Somerset

Opening up the batting, Finch raced out of the blocks, including hitting 16 runs from the first three balls of Somerset's 24-year-old quick Lewis Gregory.

.@AaronFinch5 is in the mood for runs. Head to @SkySports 2 now as Finch smashes his way towards 50 #Blast16https://t.co/NdZsCTwx9w

— NatWest T20 Blast (@NatWestT20Blast) July 8, 2016

Hitting three sixes and five boundaries in total, Finch raced to his half-century in 24 balls. One boundary was well caught by a fan in the Peter May Stand, which netted the lucky punter a cool £1,000 (A$1,700).

The Australian opener was out in the eighth over having pushed Surrey to 2-68, and the Michael Di Venuto coached team went on to post 154 but, worryingly, were only able to add two more boundaries in the final 13 overs.

Three wickets to the returning Jade Dernbach helped Surrey defend that target as Somerset fell short by 15 runs and managed to score 6-139 in their 20 overs. Somerset needed 33 from the final four overs with five wickets in hand but Dernbach allowed just eight runs and Tom Curran nine to close out the victory. The win kept Surrey's hopes of making the T20 competition's quarter-finals alive.

.@surreycricket are battling hard in the field, and it all started with @Jwd_16's first wicket back after injury 🎉💪🏻https://t.co/oc3xjIwNnZ

— NatWest T20 Blast (@NatWestT20Blast) July 8, 2016

Finch joined Surrey after Australia's Caribbean tri-series triumph, smashing a first-class century on his debut for his new team. Finch had played for Yorkshire last season.

He scored 31 in Surrey's T20 match against Bristol last Wednesday, but made headlines with a leaping, acrobatic catch at mid-on to remove fellow Australian Michael Klinger.

Finch must quickly switch back to red-ball mode with Surrey to face his former side Yorkshire, the two-time defending county champions coached by Jason Gillespie, at The Oval from Monday.

Elsewhere, Jos Buttler faces an anxious wait after an X-ray on his thumb following a painful blow on his left hand during Lancashire's win against Worcestershire.

Buttler was standing up to the stumps to keep wicket when he was struck by a bottom edge from Worcs batsman Ben Cox's bat and was in obvious discomfort for the remainder of the innings.

Scorecard: Worcestershire v Lancashire

However, the injury did not prevent him from blasting a 20-ball half-century as the Red Roses chase down Worcs' 199 in a seven-wicket win.

Buttler bludgeoned seven fours and four sixes in his 57 off 23 deliveries opening the batting for Lancashire.

Lancashire head coach Ashley Giles said the injury concern was "not ideal".

"I don't want to speculate, but it's a nasty knock. Once we get it X-rayed, we'll know," Giles said.

"He played beautifully. To strike some of those balls that he did there, there's not many, if any, in world cricket who can do that.

"He did make a comment that he doesn't use his top hand anyway. He now opens the batting as well. What doesn't he do?"

Buttler had been in great form in white-ball cricket, his half-century in this match following an unbeaten 73 for England in their T20 win against Sri Lanka, while he also hit 93 and 70 in the one-day series.

However, Buttler was overlooked for a recall to the Test team because of a lack of red-ball cricket, with former England batsman Gary Ballance getting the call-up.