VFTO TOTW Round two: D'Oliveira's fine all-round display sees him captain the side as Rapid's continue their fine early season form!

Brett D'Oliveira's fine all-round display for the Rapid's at Edgbaston sees him become our captain for week two.

Martin Guptill – Lancashire Lightning: Although his outstanding effort of 72 from 46 balls came in a losing cause as Durham Jets overhauled Lancashire's total, Lancashire's overseas signing showed the Red Rose fans why to be excited about his signing. His innings accounted for just under half of Lancashire's total and included some typical Guptill-style hitting – 10 fours and a solitary six to be exact. Guptill held together the Lightning innings, and after his departure in the 13th over Lancashire slid away to a paltry total, but it was largely down to the debutant that their score was, at least, something possible to defend.

Phil Mustard- Durham Jets: The former England man set the Durham innings off to a flyer, smashing 23 from the opening over of the Jets' chase of 150. Mustard powered his way to an eighteen-ball 46 before departing at the end of the powerplay overs. Mustard had the Jets well on their way towards their target which they eventually reached with plenty of time to spare – this innings was a crucial one from the veteran, and his powerful form set the tone for Durham's first win of the competition.

Dawid Malan – Middlesex: The South Africa-born Englishman propelled the Middlesex innings with a stunning 93 – producing some of the incredible form we saw last season from the opening batsman. All the more impressive is the fact that this was Malan's first experience of captaining the London side – and boy was this a captain's innings! 10 fours and six sixes were hit by the 27-year-old – four of which came off a helpless Tino Best's 1st over, the second of the innings. Some would say Malan deserved his century, but such is the nature of T20 cricket – the captain departed seven runs shy to the experienced Gareth Andrew, but plenty damage had already been done and Middlesex's score of 192 was, in fact, disappointing after a tight final few overs.

Brett D'Oliveira (c) – Worcestershire Rapids: A tremendous all-round display from the exciting Englishman led his side to a comfortable five-wicket victory over local rivals Birmingham Bears. D'Oliveira's performance began by bowling four economical overs in the Bears' innings, only conceding a minuscule 17 runs and also taking one wicket – that of Irishman Will Porterfield. The grandson of the late Basil D'Oliveria then followed up his impressive display of spin bowling with a perfectly paced batting effort to guide the Rapids' chase to what eventually turned into a stroll to victory. D'Oliveira mixed his clever exploitation of the field with the timing and shot selection that comes with his famous surname. Dolly, as known to his teammates, then brought up the victory in style, smashing Oliver Hannon-Dalby for a huge six – but the foundations were set for the win earlier on, in truth. His innings reached a healthy 62 not out, and came from 38 deliveries – including 4 fours, and 3 sixes; each of which seemed perfectly timed for the situation and full of thought. As classy a performance as you'll see.

Josh Cobb – Northamptonshire: Cobb, too, put an important performance in leading his Northants side to a record chase of 197 with two balls left. Cobb's innings of 35 came from 23 balls, and the eventual winning captain hit four fours and a six in that vital contribution. The former Leicestershire man's partnership with Richard Levi was crucial in setting the tone for a monumental chase. Cobb, too, provided two useful wickets earlier in the piece – his part-time off spin is often called upon in this format and seldom disappoints. The important wickets of Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen broke up the Derbyshire innings and left Northamptonshire with a more reachable target than what could have been, and Cobb's 2-21 from two overs was pivotal in restricting the Falcons as much as possible.

Kevin O'Brien – Leicestershire Foxes: The internationally experienced all-rounder put in a great performance in his team's dominant victory over the Yorkshire Vikings. The younger of the two O'Brien brothers, Kevin impressed more so with the ball than the bat – adding only 21 in his 16 ball stay, however, bowling figures of 3-27 are more than impressive. These bowling figures were key underpinning Yorkshire's effort to reach the target they had been set, a difficult looking 175. O'Brien removed key men, Alex Lees and Gary Ballance, before later adding Andy Hodd's dismissal to his haul. The Irishman's contribution was vastly important in pushing the Foxes onto their big victory.

Ben Raine – Leicestershire Foxes: A perfect day for the Leicestershire Foxes was highlighted by Raine's career-best performances with both bat and ball. The 24-year-old top-scored with the bat, ticking his innings along nicely for a score of 48, coming from a steady 43 balls. If there were any doubts about the pace of the innings, then those were abruptly put to rest with Raine's bowling efforts. His figures of 3-7 from 3.4 overs included an elusive maiden, as well as the big wickets of Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid. It was truly a day that could not have gone any better for the youngster more known for his bowling attributes, and the honour of finishing off the match was left to Raine – who bowled young Ben Coad to curtail Yorkshire's innings on a disappointing 120, in pursuit of 175. 

Barry McCarthy – Durham Jets: An impressive bowling performance came from the Irishman who has burst onto the scene this season. McCarthy took 3-23 from his four overs, impressive figures for a bowler of relative inexperience at this level. McCarthy took the pivotal wicket of Martin Guptill who was threatening to power Lancashire to an intimidating total, and followed that up with the scalps of Steven Croft and Alex Davies to leave Lancashire struggling to make a significant score, eventually setting Durham 150 to win – a score that was polished off with relative ease.

Ed Barnard – Worcestershire Rapids: Another impressive performance from another Worcestershire youngster clawed back the momentum from the Birmingham Bears who had blasted their way to a score of 50 from the first five overs. Barnard entered the attack at the end of a powerplay which the Bears had dominated, but the youngster quickly set about his plans – conceding only 5 from his first six balls. In his next over he had the dangerous Will Porterfield caught attempting a big hit, and again only conceded an economical 3 runs. Barnard continued to bowl right through his spell, conceding only the one boundary in his final two overs, and even more impressively the last of his overs went for only a single run. His figures finished up reading 1-14 from 4 overs, and in combination with the aforementioned Brett D'Oliveira slowed the Bears to a halt during the key middle overs of the innings, restricting them to a below-par total that was chased down later on with ease.

Usman Arshad – Durham Jets:  A fine four-over spell from the youngster gave him good figures of 3-30. Arshad began in extraordinary form, removing Alviro Petersen and the dangerous Karl Brown in consecutive balls – the latter for a golden duck. Arshad then continued on his merry way in taking the huge wicket of Jos Buttler, having him caught by veteran Paul Collingwood. Arshad's final over was the 19th of the innings, and he prevented the Red Rose from posting a dangerous score by restricting them to just six in that penultimate over. Arshad's performance was a far cry from his form last season, where his economy stood at just under eight – he will be looking to push on and carry on this good form and lead Durham to hopefully better fortunes than last time around.

Timm Van Der Gugten – Glamorgan: Dutch debutant Van Der Gugten astounded an Oval crowd by taking 4-14 from his first four overs in English T20. The dutchman began economically, with the first over of the match going for only five – but it was his second over that really set Surrey back. Van Der Gugten removed Steven Davies with the first ball and then removed Kumar Sangakkara with the fifth to leave their London counterparts reeling at 30/2. Remarkably, the man from Netherlands' third over also brought another pair of wickets – Gary Wilson and James Burke sent back for 5 and 0 respectively in what turned out to be a double wicket maiden. Glamorgan romped through Surrey's batting lineup to have them all out for 93, which was chased down impressively by their batsmen, but in truth, it was Van Der Gugten who had done the damage to earn the victory for the Welsh side. 

Star performer: Brett D'Oliveira

Written by Charlie Jennings (@AVCJX)

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