Defending T20 Blast champions Hampshire Hawks cruised to a 10-wicket win over Sussex while Birmingham Bears were beaten by 11 runs by Notts Outlaws.
Sussex posted an under-par 144 at the Ageas Bowl, which James Vince (71 not out) and Ben McDermott (69no) chased down with over five overs to spare.
At Edgbaston an unbeaten 89 from Joe Clarke and Colin Munro’s 87 helped Notts to 214-3 from their 20 overs.
The Bears fell just short despite Sam Hain finishing on 97 not out.
A first win in three outings gets the Outlaws back on track in the North Group, while the Bears – who had won their opening four fixtures – suffered a second successive defeat following their defeat at Derbyshire on Friday.
The hosts had looked out of it after losing openers Moeen Ali and Alex Davies and all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in the powerplay, leaving them 40-3 in the fifth over.
But Hain and Dan Mousley added 52 in six overs for the Bears before Mousley (28 off 18 balls) fell to a brilliant catch by Matt Montgomery, racing in and diving forward from deep point.
They took 26 runs from the 16th over by Matt Carter to bolster their chase and leave them needing 59 off the final four overs.
Ed Barnard added a useful 19 off 10 balls before falling trying to take on mid-on but, with 24 required off the final over, the scoreboard pressure proved too much as Jake Ball removed Danny Briggs and Jake Lintott and the Bears ended on 203-9.
Earlier the Outlaws had recovered from the early loss of Alex Hales, bowled by Henry Brookes for one, as Clarke and Munro put on 122 for the second wicket off just 68 balls.
New Zealander Munro crashed nine sixes and four fours in his 43-ball innings, with Clarke ending with six maximums and seven fours.
Sharks no match for ruthless Hawks
In the South Group in Southampton, Sussex were without captain Ravi Bopara, who was delayed getting to the ground in traffic on the M27, and fast bowler Tymal Mills, who was rested as the Sharks face a spell of six games in eight days.
The visitors continued to offer up easy wickets on a good surface, including three run-outs, and the Hawks turned the screw after the powerplay as Sussex went from 61-2 to 66-6.
Dan Ibrahim was run out following sharp work by Ross Whiteley and Tom Clark departed soon after for 36, sending an outside edge from Scott Currie to James Fuller at short third man.
Shadab Khan skied Liam Dawson (2-18) high into the sky and was caught behind before Michael Burgess was the victim of a freak stumping two balls later as the ball hit his wicket off the thigh of McDermott.
Sussex eventually managed to steady their innings thanks firstly to a 27-run stand between James Coles (19) and George Garton (18), and then Fynn Hudson-Prentice’s flurry of 31 off 16 balls, but were eventually bowled out with seven balls unused.
Hampshire only scored one run off the first two overs of their reply, with Garton bowling a maiden, but after that it was plain sailing for Vince and McDermott.
The pair played with control and composure and never looked like giving their wickets away as wicketkeeper McDermott reached his half-century off 34 balls while Vince took just 24 deliveries.
The pair recorded Hampshire’s highest-ever opening partnership in T20 cricket to make it back-to-back wins for the Hawks following Friday’s 118-run win at Essex.
Vince now has 351 runs in this year’s Blast as he scored the winning run with 31 balls to spare.
