Taylor guides Notts to crushing win

James Taylor was once again the scourge of Hampshire as Nottinghamshire kept their hopes of a Clydesdale Bank 40 semi-final place alive with a crushing six-wicket victory over the Group B leaders at Trent Bridge.

Hampshire had only lost once previously in the competition this summer, to Nottinghamshire at the Ageas Bowl in late May when Taylor had slammed 115 not out off 77 balls, including seven sixes.

This time he was altogether more circumspect in his innings of 74 but no less effective and, with the aid of Alex Hales (70), Riki Wessels (38) and Samit Patel (36), helped complete a convincing triumph with 17 balls to spare.

In Group A, captain Alex Gidman led from the front as Gloucestershire moved into second place with a four-wicket win over Worcestershire at Cheltenham.

First Gidman claimed three for 20 from eight overs after winning the toss to help restrict the visitors to a modest 144 for seven, Phil Hughes top-scoring with an unbeaten 64.

Then after Gloucestershire had plunged from 51 without loss to 81 for five in reply, Gidman steadied the ship with an unbeaten 33, sharing a key sixth-wicket stand of 47 with Ed Young (28) as his side won with 12.5 overs to spare.