Vitality Blast: Delight for Outlaws and Sharks; HeartBreak for Surrey and Bears

By Mark Kidger (@MarkFromMadrid)

Friday night saw a full round of matches in the Vitality Blast to determine the final qualifying places for the Quarter Finals and the crosses between teams. While three teams had qualified in each group before tonight’s games, the actual order of those teams was undecided in both and thus the home/away Quarter Final assignations. For example, Kent and Gloucestershire could have finished anywhere from 1st to 4th in South Group and any one of Sussex (who could finish as high as 2nd, or as low as 5th), Glamorgan and Surrey could take the final Quarter Final place. The North Group started the evening only a little less complicated, also with three teams (Yorkshire Vikings, Notts Outlaws and Birmingham Bears) in with a chance of the final place in the Quarter Finals, with Durham Jets and Worcester Rapids competing for top spot and Lancashire Lightning lying in wait for a home draw if either should slip up.

Meanwhile, rain encroaching from the west gave Birmingham Bears some slim hope that maybe they could get the double-cannon that they needed to qualify, in the form of winning their own game, while the Vikings – Outlaws game failed to give a result.
So, how did the action play out?

North Group
Durham Jets v Derbyshire Falcons: Durham’s game was abandoned without a ball bowled. The point ensured Durham a home Quarter-Final, with only Worcestershire Rapids able to overtake them. The equation was simple: if Worcestershire won, they would finish top; otherwise it would be Durham. In the end, Durham were pipped to top spot by 0.039 on NRR, equivalent to 10 runs and will host Sussex in the Quarter Finals.

Yorkshire Vikings v Notts Outlaws: This was the critical game, with the winner guaranteed to qualify for the Quarter Finals whatever the other results were on the night. Yorkshire won the Toss and elected to bat. The start to the innings was explosive, with the first ball of the innings hit for four and then a wicket to the second. Andrew Lyth and David Willey then added 92 at 8-an-over, giving Yorkshire hopes of a total of 190+ but, when Lyth departed to the first ball of the thirteenth over, caught behind for 44 from 36 balls, the momentum slowed. Willey departed for 51 from 40 balls two overs later and with him the hopes of a really imposing total, although Kane Williamson tried to push on, but had little effective support in his 44 from 26 balls, run out from the last ball of the innings. 163-6 was a useful total, but not one that you felt should be impossible for the Outlaws to pass. For the Outlaws, 1-16 from 4 overs of Harry Gurney and 1-2 from Steve Mullaney’s single over were the difference between chasing 164 to win and chasing a total in the range of 180-190.

Rikki Wessels and Alex Hales gave the Outlaws a quick, if rather brief, start, with Willey castling Wessels for 16 to the last ball of the third over, but Alex Hales and Jake Libby kept the Outlaws well ahead of the asking rate. Even though Lyth had Libby stumped for 30, Tom Moores came in and hit powerfully, with Hales acting as the anchor, and the Outlaws cruised to their target with an over to spare. Hale finished with 71 from 56 balls and Moores with 43 from 26, with the margin of victory of 8 wickets every bit as comfortable as it looks on paper.

Birmingham Bears v Worcestershire Rapids: The Bears won the Toss and elected to put in the Rapids, knowing that they had to win and hope that a local deluge rained-off the Vikings – Outlaws game. The Rapids knew that a win should put them ahead of Durham Jets to top the Group on Net Run Rate. Unfortunately for the Bears, they ran into the double-whammy of Moeen Ali in inspired form with the bat and rain in the North that stubbornly refused to reach Leeds. After an opening stand of 80 between Clarke and Moeen at almost 10-an-over, Moeen cut loose with Calum Ferguson as sleeping partner and put on 74 in 38 balls, before adding 30 in 12 balls with Ben Cox before falling stumped for 115 from 56 balls. If Moeen is needed by England, he is in prime form and ready. The chief sufferer was Aaron Thomason, who went for 53 from his three overs. With Moeen’s departure, the scoring rate slowed, and Ben Cox and Ross Whiteley were both run-out from the last two balls of the innings, but 209-5 left the Bears a formidable chase.

Ian Bell and Ed Pollock gave the Bears a tremendous start and their opening partnership of 55 was made well in advance of the asking rate. Unfortunately, although the top seven all reached double figures, no one was able to go on and make the sort of contribution that was needed to push the Bears over the line. No one passed Adam Hose’s 45 and, although the scoring rate kept right in touch with the target, wickets kept falling just as it seemed that the Bears were getting on top. Finally, with the batting knowing already that their hopes of qualifying had gone, the chase ran out of steam and 20 were needed from the last over, but Patrick Brown, who finished with 2-23 in a high-scoring match, allowed just 4.

The Rapids just sneaked ahead of Durham Jets on NRR. Had the Bears lost by five runs instead of by 15, it would have been the Jets who topped the group.

Leicestershire Foxes v Northamptonshire Steelbacks: This was a dead rubber, with the Steelbacks, with the worst record in either group, already certain to finish last in the North Group and the Foxes unable to finish any higher than sixth. Northamptonshire won the Toss and elected to put the Foxes in. The Steelbacks had an awful start when, after a quiet first over, Gareth Wade bowled high full tosses with his first and third delivery of the second over and was removed from the attack after just one legitimate delivery. Worse, the legitimate delivery was hit for four, with Wade finishing with the extraordinary figures of 0.1-0-9-0 and his over being completed by James Cobb, who restored sanity by delivering five legitimate deliveries – his only deliveries of the match – and conceding just three singles. From the relatively high point of 24-0 from 2.4 overs, Leicestershire slumped to 37-4 from 6.1 and were never in the match after that. Harry Dearden held the innings together with 61 from 40 balls and, when he was out in the eighteen over 27 came from the last 15 balls of the innings. All in all, 148-7 was a decent recovery, but never likely to be enough.

The Steelbacks needed a start, and Ben Curran (the brother of Sam and Tom) gave it to them in partnership with Ben Duckett, with fifty from the first 29 balls. The back of the chase was broken and, although Ben Curran fell for 29, Ben Duckett and James Cobb kept the run rate close to 10-an-over in a partnership of 40. The fall of the captain, Wakely, in the fourteenth over though led to a horrible wobble as the Steelbacks lost four wickets for 15 runs in 25 balls before Graeme White came in and leathered 2x4 and 2x6 in a 9-ball 21* to see the Steelbacks home for only the second win of the competition. 

South Group

Sussex Sharks v Middlesex: Middlesex put Sussex in and saw Sussex make a fantastic start, with the score 58-0 after just four overs, with Phil Salt reaching a fifty from 18 balls and then pushing on. Salt fell finally for 66 from 25 balls, but Luke Wright and Laurie Evans took up the charge, leaving horrendous damage to the figures of Tom Barber – 2 overs for 35 – and James Fuller – 4 overs for 53, although he did have the compensation of 3 wickets. It was utter carnage. Thirteen came from the last three balls of the innings and Middlesex’s case was not helped by the amazing total of 19 wides.

215-5 was a formidable total, and the betting was that Middlesex would not be able to get close to it. When Ben Scott fell for a duck to the fourth ball of the innings, the Middlesex supporters could be heard diving behind the sofa. What happened though was a blitz on the Sussex bowlers so brutal that it appeared that Middlesex would win with several overs to spare. Paul Stirling, who has blossomed this season, hit 58 from 29 balls and, in partnership with John Simpson, they put the Sussex bowlers to the sword. Together they put on 122 in 49 balls, leaving a highly gettable 92 from 67 balls for the rest of the batting. At that stage, it seemed that Middlesex were set to end the Sussex chances and with rain at Cardiff, Surrey would sneak into the Quarter Finals by the back door. Even when John Simpson followed soon after for 62 from 29 balls, Middlesex were right on top, and Eoin Morgan kept the scoreboard moving and Middlesex well on target to win.

The match turned on the first ball of the fifteenth over, with Middlesex needing 58 from 36 balls and, seemingly, cruising. Danny Briggs bowled to James Fuller, who hit it back towards the bowler. Briggs half-stopped it and tipped the ball onto the stumps, with Eoin Morgan out of his ground. What followed was pure Middlesex: there was plenty of batting left, the target was not a difficult one, but the panicked big time. Three balls later Franklin edged Briggs through to ‘keeper Burgess: 161-5. In the next over, Tymal Mills bowled Steve Eskinazi and, even more critically, had James Fuller, who could have won the match in two overs of clinical hitting, caught: 166-7 and Middlesex sinking fast. Archer bowled Andersson with the last ball of the seventeenth, and it was all over bar the shouting. Middlesex had imploded when it seemed easier to win and, with Middlesex now trying to play out the overs, a noisy crowd celebrated Chris Jordan taking the last two wickets with the third and fourth ball of the final over of the innings. Incredibly, Middlesex had lost by 31 runs and the tones of “Sussex by the Sea” rang out around the ground.

Would this win be enough though to get a home draw in the Quarter Finals? That depended on the goings-on at Canterbury.

Essex Eagles v Kent Spitfires: Kent won the Toss and elected to field only to see Wheater and Chopra end the Power Play 58-0 as the Kent attack struggled to contain the batsmen. 40 for Wheater and 37 for Chopra gave Essex and an excellent start, backed-up by the middle order. Only Matt Coles, who came in for the last four balls of the inning, failed to get into double figures as Essex looked to end a disappointing campaign on a high. The scoring rate had slowed a little in mid-innings, but 25* from 10 balls from Ravi Bopara pushed Essex past 200, and the qualifying scenario for the South Group started to get very interesting, with Sussex looking at the possibility of a wholly unexpected home Quarter-Final.

202 seemed like a big chase, but Denly and Bell-Drummond went off like a train. Shane Snater’s first over went for 23, as Bell-Drummond reached 50 from 27 balls. It looked as if Kent would make light of the target. When Denly fell for 45, the openers had put on 98 in 8.4 overs. Heino Kuhn came and went, bowled cheaply by Ravi Bopara, his dominant form of the One Day Cup long-forgotten. Sam Billings though is a superb limited-overs bat and, with Bell-Drummond, the target was reduced to a seemly simple 51 from 32 balls. Bopara and Snater kept the batsmen to a run-a-ball over the sixteenth and seventeenth overs, and the target started to get just a little tight. It came down to 9 needed from the last over. Bell-Drummond hit the first ball for a boundary but fell to the second for 80 from 51 balls. Coles then limited Gavin Stewart and Dickson to two singles. With three to win from two balls, the pressure was back on Kent to stay calm. Coles bowled the penultimate ball to the hero of the Kent One Day Cup Semi-Final victory, Gavin Stewart, who got the winning boundary and Kent had sealed a home Quarter-Final that looked to have possibly escaped them.

Hampshire v Gloucestershire: Gloucestershire were put in and struggled to time the ball. The outfield was slow, and the batsmen were allowing far too many dot-balls. At the same time, Maxy Klinger seemed to be struggling with his movement with the back injury that he has suffered from throughout the Blast campaign. Hammond and Cockbain fell quickly, leaving Gloucestershire 21-1 from 5 overs, with both out before Klinger had got off the mark and managed just 29-2 from the Power Play overs. In the end, the Shire struggled to 144-8, centred around Maxy Klinger’s 43. The lesson was that anything pitched up was almost impossible to get away, but short deliveries could be dispatched, as reflected by the fact that sixes (eight) in the Gloucestershire innings far exceeded the fours. For Hampshire, Chris Wood took 4-16 from his four overs. Gloucestershire were, quite literally hamstrung by Kieron Noema-Barnett pulling a hamstring badly early in his innings and being unable to bat again; more critically, he would not be able to bowl on a pitch likely to suit his dibbly-dobbly pace.

In reply, Payne bowled Dickinson from the fifth ball of the first over and, unexpectedly, James Vince did not come out to bat at the fall of the wicket. This was a deliberate tactic ploy as Hampshire set out to swing hard during the Power Play, which was what Gloucestershire had totally failed to do and paid for. Initially, Hampshire found timing just as hard as Gloucestershire had, but then David Payne bowled another poor over (he had been horribly off-colour at Bristol the previous night), and suddenly Hampshire were up and running. Andrew Tye came on to bowl and bowled an equally poor first over. Maxy Klinger was fuming in the field but, with a bowler missing, his options were minimal. Overall, it was a repeat of the previous night at Bristol: poorly directed balls down leg, misfields (sometimes giving away boundaries), dropped catches and a generally shoddy performance. At the end of the Power Play, Gloucestershire had been 29-2, while Hampshire were 67-2. 42 in 18 balls from Rossouw broke the back of the chase and solid scores from Sam Northeast (37) and James Vince (48*) ensured that there was no way back. Even a third wicket in two matches from the previous night’s debutant, Jacob Lintott, was no consolation for a second consecutive pretty desperate performance.

Gloucestershire who before the game last night, must have expected to top the South Group, now face a trip to Worcestershire Rapids and an in-form Moeen Ali with a point to prove.

Glamorgan v Surrey: For both Glamorgan and Surrey, the equation was simple – win and hope that Middlesex could pull off a win at Hove. With both sides needing the win there was some high-octane cricket. The Glamorgan top three all scored at a rate close to or above 200 as the first five overs brought 67 runs. No one though could push on to a decisive score, and wickets fell, bringing the inevitable brake on the headlong scoring. Even though no one in the top six scored fewer than 21, no one could score more than 39 and, from looking set for 225-230 if you double the score at 12 overs, 183-8 was a disappointing effort as the Surrey bowlers hauled their team back into the match. Tom Curran with 3-30 and veteran, Gareth Batty, with 0-23, each from their full stint of four overs, had much to do with the total being at least forty short of what seemed likely at one point. 

With the storm clouds gathering from the West and Sussex looking to be on the verge of defeat, Surrey knew that if they could get in five overs, there could pull off an amazing heist. Rain delayed the reply and, with more rain imminent, Burns and Finch needed quick runs to ensure that they would be ahead on Duckworth-Lewis. Aaron Finch scored 44 from just 16 balls as Tim van der Gugten, in particular, was treated brutally, his over going for 24 (3x4, 2x6). The umpires kept the players out, taking them off after the minimum five overs for a result had been completed, at which point Surrey were 60-0, well ahead of the 37 required on Duckworth-Lewis. The rain stopped, a rope went around the field and play was set to re-start, but it started raining again, and the umpires bowed to the inevitable. Surrey, who had the best NRR in the country, missed out on the Quarter Finals by a single win.

The Quarter Final line-up
Worcestershire Rapids v Gloucestershire
Durham Jets v Sussex Sharks
Somerset v Notts Outlaws
Kent Spitfires v Lancashire Lightning

And Finally…
Notts Outlaws, Lancashire Lightning and Birmingham Bears are in a close tussle for the title of Kings of domestic T20 cricket. Interestingly, Durham Jets, who were agonisingly close to winning North Group, have the third-worst record in the country (how many fans would have put Gloucestershire or Glamorgan as one of the three sides with the worst historical record in T20? Most would, I guess, have one of the two in their list). In contrast, despite having won the Blast in 2008, Middlesex are competing with Derbyshire for the title of, historically, the very worst T20 side in the country. While, begging their pardon, not too many people would go to Derby expecting to find a great depth of talent, the fact that year after year, Middlesex sides packed with talent struggle in this format, suggests serious structural problems: the one year that Middlesex won the competition with some gloriously carefree cricket, was the year when the dressing room was, reportedly, riven with strife and the members were in uproar. It is also interesting that Surrey, with traditionally the biggest chequebook in the country and frequently the biggest star names, have not been more successful historically in T20.

The numbers for historical success and failure are quite interesting. At the conclusion of the 2018 Vitality Blast qualifying, the overall Domestic T20 numbers for the years of competition are as follows:

Most Wins:
103 Lancashire 
103 Nottinghamshire
101 Birmingham/Warwickshire

Most Defeats:
108 Middlesex
102 Derbyshire
89 Durham

Fewest Wins:
56 Derbyshire
61 Middlesex
70 Durham

Fewest Defeats:
66 Nottinghamshire
67 Lancashire
73 Birmingham/Warwickshire

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