cleaned up the tail with two wickets as Gloucestershire were all out for 105. Bandara then got the wickets of Stephen Moore and Vikram Solanki with successive deliveries, but Chris Gayle guided the hosts home with an unbeaten 53 off 70 balls, as Worcestershire won with more than 20 overs to spare. (Cricinfo scorecard) Table at 4 September Matches of 5–9 September Hampshire v Middlesex (5 September) Middlesex (4pts) beat Hampshire (0pts) by two wickets Two days after their win in the C&G Trophy Final, Hampshire Hawks were defeated by Middlesex Crusaders, to move closer to relegation in the National League. They were put in to bat, and lost wicket-keeper Nic Pothas for 5 early on, but John Crawley and Sean Ervine fought back with a 101-run partnership for the second wicket. The Middlesex bowlers frequently interrupted with wickets, though, and Crawley failed to hit the ball hard enough to end with only six fours in his 122-ball 92. Hampshire closed on 227 for 6, with five Middlesex bowler. Middlesex lost Paul Weekes in the first over, but a blistering 139-run stand between Owais Shah and Jamie Dalrymple turned the match around. Despite three wickets each from Hampshire's Chris Tremlett and Greg Lamb, Middlesex' Chris Peploe held his head calm, and with 14 not out he guided Middlesex to a two-wicket victory with 11 balls to spare. (Cricinfo scorecard) Essex v Lancashire (7 September) Essex (4pts) beat Lancashire (0pts) by 55 runs Dutch–South African Ryan ten Doeschate hammered a career-best 89 not out as Essex Eagles powered their way to 273 for 6 at Chelmsford. His innings included five sixes and four fours, as Sajid Mahmood was the main recipient of his boundary-hitting – ending with figures of two for 67 in nine overs. England Under-19 player Tom Smith, who had taken 15 Test wickets in three U-19 matches with Sri Lanka, proved that the gap between Under-19 cricket and List A cricket is huge, as he finished with 42 off his five overs. When Lancashire Lightning batted, Darren Gough got an early wicket of Iain Sutcliffe, and despite scores in the 30s from Andrew Crook and Mal Loye, Lancashire lost their first four wickets for 91 runs. Andrew Symonds rebuilt with Mark Chilton, but once Symonds was bowled by Gough – who ended with four for 31 – there was nowhere to hide for Lancashire. Kyle Hogg blitzed his