McDermott smashes T20 reminder as Lynn falls first ball

While David Warner and Aaron Finch were thumping Australia to a 10-wicket T20 victory in the opening match of the Sri Lanka tour, Ben McDermott sent a reminder of his own destructive power.

The Tasmanian was in the XI in Australia's previous T20 in Lahore in April, but while they were in Asia, he was playing in the London suburb of Radlett for Hampshire in England's domestic T20 competition.

McDermott smashed 83 from just 30 deliveries, including nine sixes and five fours as the Hawks thrashed Middlesex by nine wickets with eight overs to spare.

The 27-year-old and skipper James Vince – himself a Big Bash League standout in recent years – shared a whirlwind stand of 132 with Vince making an unbeaten 54 from 37 balls.

Middlesex had been restricted to 7-142 with former England spinner Liam Dawson collecting 3-14.

McDermott, who now has back-to-back T20 Blast half centuries, smashed Perth Scorchers quick Jason Behrendorff (0-18 from two overs) over the fence twice in an over, while Sydney Thunder off-spinner Chris Green also went the journey, conceding 19 from his two overs.

While disappointed not to be in Australia's limited-overs squads for the current Sri Lanka tour following a breakout series in Pakistan in March-April, McDermott said after the match it was a win-win for both parties.

"I'm a little bit disappointed I'm not involved in that Australian tour but again, they're happy for me to come over here and play a full season for Hampshire instead of running the drinks over there with all the big guys back in the mix," he said.

Big Bash free agent Chris Lynn suffered a rare miss of late, falling to NSW allrounder Hayden Kerr (1-23) for a golden duck but it mattered little as Northamptonshire chased down Derbyshire's 9-151 with 11 balls to spare.

Kerr, elevated to No.3 for Derby, scored 29 off 22 balls, his highest score of the tournament so far, before being dismissed by Kiwi allrounder Jimmy Neesham.

Image Id: 3A2F03346D8446D2AFFD59F6290BBA9A Image Caption: Lynn trudges off for a duck after being caught behind off Kerr // Getty

Tim David (24no off 17 balls) also sent Australian selectors a reminder with another destructive knock that included two sixes as Lancashire comfortably accounted for Leicestershire's 135 all out by seven wickets with almost four overs to spare.

The Singapore-born middle-order power-hitter, who also took 1-16 with his part-time off-spin, was not included in Australia's T20 squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka, but skipper Finch has indicated there will be opportunities for David to make his debut ahead of the home T20 World Cup in October-November this year.

Daniel Sams was the other Australian in action in the T20 Blast overnight with a superb four-over spell of 2-22 for Essex that helped restrict Kent to 9-130 from 20 overs.

After the first two weeks of the campaign both Lynn (266) and McDermott (239) are in the top four runs scorers of the tournament, while David sits 11th with 198 runs at a phenomenal strike rate of 181.

David is in action again tomorrow morning Australian time when Lancashire take on Yorkshire in the return Roses clash at Headingley, while AJ Tye will line-up for Durham against Birmingham at the Riverside Ground.

Australians in 2022 English T20 Blast

Birmingham: Nathan McAndrew

Derbyshire: Hayden Kerr

Durham: Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye

Essex: Daniel Sams

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser

Gloucestershire: Marcus Harris

Hampshire: Nathan Ellis, Ben McDermott

Lancashire: Tim David

Middlesex: Jason Behrendorff, Chris Green

Northamptonshire: Matthew Kelly, Chris Lynn

Nottinghamshire: Dan Christian, James Pattinson

Somerset: Peter Siddle

Sussex: Josh Philippe