County cricket’s biggest day out is here once again. The Edgbaston pitch is being prepared, the club mascots are in the final stages of their pre-race training and four hopeful teams are dreaming of glory, as the Natwest T20 Blast reaches its conclusion on Finals Day this Saturday.
The climax to last year’s tournament certainly did not disappoint with 991 runs being scored on the day, as Warwickshire took the title on their home ground. We saw an unforgettable final as the Bears edged out Lancashire Lightning by four runs despite heroics from the returning Andrew Flintoff.
Saturday promises to be a spectacular finale to a so far incredible tournament.
Northants
Captain — Alex Wakely
Group position — Third
The 2013 champions arrive at their third finals day after storming to victory in the first quarter-final. David Willey smashed a 40-ball century and took three wickets as the Steelbacks swept Sussex aside. Willey will be the key if Northants are to repeat their heroics of two years ago. If he plays and is on form, Warwickshire must take him out quickly. Otherwise he could take away the game. His opening partner Richard Levi has also found form in this competition with 406 runs at a strike rate of 145. Runs for Josh Cobb, Alex Wakely and young Ben Duckett have also proven useful for the Steelbacks in their quest for glory. Rory Kleinveldt is also a fantastic timer of the ball lower down the order. Write him off at your peril.
Despite Northants’ dominance in the quarter-finals, they didn’t show complete supremacy in the group stage. The plan has mainly been to out-bat the opposition rather than dominate them with the ball. Only Willey and Kleinveldt have bowled more than 20 overs at an economy rate of less than eight and a half, and their leading wicket taker Azharullah has gone at nearly nine. Shahid Afridi played only six games, after which Josh Cobb and Graeme White took over as the spinners. They too have been expensive.
Success for Northants would be vital for a team who have this season declared themselves in need of financial assistance and have already had to plan for life without David Willey. Solid runs at the top of the order and a bowling improvement from the likes of Cobb, Crook and Azharullah could ensure a repeat of two years ago and a fairytale ending to Willey’s time at the club.
Warwickshire
Captain — Varun Chopra
Group position — First
The holders stormed through the North group, winning ten out of fourteen games, carrying on from where they left off a year ago. With a fine balance of productive batsmen and accurate bowlers, the Bears have dominated once again and look as good a bet as any to win on Saturday.
A key aspect of their domination has been their economical bowling unit, consisting of Rikki Clarke, Josh Poysden and Jeetan Patel. Combined they have bowled 135 overs at an economy rate of six and a half, as well as picking up 32 wickets. Young Poysden had only played his first T20 game last year, but has fit right into this Warwickshire team which has also seen Recordo Gordan put in good performances in his first prolonged stay in the first-team. Only three players have taken more than his 21 wickets in the tournament so far.
This season Warwickshire unveiled Brendon McCullum as their overseas star and he lived up to expectation against Derbyshire, smashing a sparkling 158*. Whilst he may not have inspired the rest of the batting line-up to go hard and go fast (the next highest strike rate for anyone with 200 runs is 122) some can still boast of a healthy run tally. Captain Varun Chopra has led the way with 326 runs with Will Porterfield and Laurie Evans not too far behind.
The quarter-final victory against Essex allowed Laurie Evans and Chris Woakes to showcase their talents once again. These two were at the centre of the Bears’ title victory in the Final a year ago and shared a vital 69-run partnership, helping them progress this year. With Chopra up front, Clarke and Patel choking the opposition batting and the home advantage Warwickshire will have, who’s to say they will not go on to lift the trophy two years in succession?
Hampshire
Captain — James Vince
Group Position — Third
By beating Worcestershire in their quarter-final, Hampshire have already created history as the first team to reach six consecutive finals days. In that quarter-final, captain James Vince hit his first T20 century with the royals going through via the Duckworth-Lewis method. This put Vince within thirteen of the leading run-scorer Michael Klinger. 641 runs has been a monumental effort, a captain leading from the front, and his opening partner Michael Carberry has also scored a healthy 443.
An integral part of Hampshire’s success has been the way these two have applied themselves at the top of the order and their hard-hitting has helped them register four partnerships of over fifty. The experienced Owais Shah and the exciting Adam Wheater have also helped add runs to boost the team, with 390 and 314 respectively. All four have a competition strike rate of at least 130 showing how prolific they have been. On finals day Hampshire will need these players to step up.
In the bowling department, once again Danny Briggs has been exceptional this season. With an economy rate of just over seven, the spinner has picked up sixteen wickets. In fact, spin has been a vital part of Hampshire’s successful bowling displayed with Will Smith having a similar economy rate, whilst picking up thirteen wickets.
Hampshire even unveiled Mason Crane in the group stage, attracting so much attention he has been picked for the England under-19s. Pace Bowler Fidel Edwards bowled with accuracy and was also economical in his short T20 stint at the Ageas Bowl and Chris Wood and Yasir Arafat, despite being expensive, showed skill and experience to pick up a combined total of 35 wickets.
On finals day, the Royals will be looking for their third T20 title. The top of the order must shine and they will be looking to Danny Briggs to choke the Lancashire batsmen. If these come together, the trophy might just return to the Ageas Bowl.
Lancashire
Captain — Steven Croft
Group Position — Fourth
The runners-up in last year’s competition will be looking to go one step further this weekend but they very nearly failed to make the quarter-finals, only getting through because Nottinghamshire’s final game was rained off.
Lancashire are probably the best T20 team never to lift the trophy. They have reached finals day on six occasions but have never won the competition. Captain Steven Croft wants to change that this year and he has certainly helped the situation, amassing 460 runs with a strike rate of 133. Opening the batting, Ashwell Prince has been starting innings solidly, scoring 398 runs with four fifties and Karl Brown, who scored a fifty in vain in last year’s final, has notched up 317. Despite his Ashes woes, Jos Buttler has helped win two vital T20 matches — a roses clash and the quarter-final. He should also be available for finals day and, on a day where world-class players are priceless, it could be the difference between an early exit and T20 glory.
Lancashire have possibly the best bowling unit in the competition. Faulkner, Lilley, Parry and Croft have all bowled more than 40 overs, have all taken at least eleven wicket and all have an economy rate of below 7.2. Faulkner in particular has been superb. Adding to his 277 runs, the Australian has 20 wickets at an economy rate of 6.14, carrying out expert death bowling and proving himself to be one of the best in the world. Stephen Parry has taken 21 wickets, including a brilliant 4-16 against Derbyshire, extracting turn which is usually found on an Edgbaston pitch, especially in late August after some rain.
Lancashire lost last year’s final by only four runs, which shows that this team can be a trophy-winning one. A batting order with prolific run scorers, two international stars and a bowling attack that can silence any team could equal a team that lifts the T20 trophy on Saturday.
