England hopeful Brook fires again in Blast | Kent start title defence with loss

England Test hopeful Harry Brook continued his electric form by smashing 60 not out from 27 balls as Yorkshire Vikings beat Worcestershire Rapids by seven wickets in their Vitality Blast opener.

Brook is in England's squad for next week's series opener against New Zealand at Lord's, although he looks likely to be the batter to miss out of the final XI.

The 23-year-old gave another reminder of his talent at Clean Slate Headingley on Wednesday night, with a ninth fifty-plus score in 10 County Championship or T20 innings so far this season.

Brook creamed three sixes and six fours as his unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 87 with captain Joe Root (35no off 24) inside eight overs eased Vikings to their target of 173 with 11 balls to spare.

Brook has racked up 840 runs in six County Championship matches this term, with three hundreds and fifties in nine knocks, at an average of 140.

His T20 fireworks followed him plundering 486 runs in the same competition last year during Yorkshire's run to the quarter-finals, which helped him earn an England T20 debut in the West Indies.

Yorkshire had wobbled from 70-0 to 88-3 against Worcestershire once the opening stand between Adam Lyth (40 off 24) and Dawid Malan (33 off 30) had been snapped.

Worcestershire's innings had earlier stalled amid a cluster of wickets once top-scorer Jack Haynes (61 off 33), who nailed five sixes, was dismissed from the final ball of the 12th over - the Rapids slipping from 123-2 and going on to post an under-par 172-9.

Jordan Thompson picked up three wickets for Yorkshire, while Root dismissed Brett D'Oliveira at the end of a 20-run sixth over having been blasted for two sixes and a four.

Defending champions Kent Spitfires, meanwhile, began their title defence