T20 Finals Day 2012, Swalec Stadium

First topic message reminder :

Seen as it is currently raining, I thought I get this up now and give people a chance to throw some predictions out there and see who gets closest!

Semi final 1: Sussex Sharks Vs Yorkshire Carnegie

Matt Prior and Scott Styris are the big batting firepower for Sussex and this is what they will use to try and get themselves up to unassailable totals, but their bowling is perhaps their slightly weaker suit and with a Yorkshire batting line up including Bairstow, Miller, Root, Pyrah, Ballance and Gale this could spell trouble. The big trouble with Yorks is whether Big Tim will be allowed to play, as with Mitch Starc already out, it could leave them light on bowling too, with big pressure on the youngsters Rafiq and Ashraf. They are the best fielding side in the competition however, and given how close finals day normally is this could be the deciding factor.

Winners: Sussex


Semi final 2: Somerset CCC Vs Hampshire Royals

Well, the perennial chokers make it to their fourth successive finals day which is a great achievement in itself given the unpredictable nature of T20 cricket but they will be desperate to finally get over that last hurdle and secure Somerset's second T20 title. Much of their batting hopes rest on Trescothick, Buttler, Kieswetter and Trego, but with no Compton it leaves a lot of biff, but not a lot of graft. Hampshire beat Somerset in the second of their three successive final defeats although Somerset did gain revenge at this stage last year, and whilst Hampshire are probably the weakest side of the four on paper, any side can do it on their day and they have enough potential match winners in McKenzie, Briggs, Dawson, Adams, Vince and Dimi to beat any side they come up against.

Winners: Somerset


Final: Sussex Sharks Vs Somerset CCC

As a Somerset fan it pains me to say it, but I think Sussex will be too strong with Matt Prior the key player and will take victory this year.

Miller 50 with huge six

Mistake getting Ballance out....

skyeman wrote:Yorks 10 year wait for a one day title looks likely to continue

Maybe not.

21 from 2 overs needed.

14 off the last over.

What a game! Fitting for the Final!

Excellent from Briggs. 14 needed from 1 over.

Bresnan out....

JDizzle wrote:

What a game! Fitting for the Final!

Yorks need some pyrotechnics from Pyrah

Well done Hampshire

Another batsman plays on. There's been a lot of that today....

cracking final

Well done Hampshire!

JDizzle wrote:So, yeah. When I predicted a Sussex-Somerset final, I meant Hampshire-Yorkshire. Honest.

I predict the Yorkies for the final. So well done Hampshire on winning this years T20...

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:

JDizzle wrote:So, yeah. When I predicted a Sussex-Somerset final, I meant Hampshire-Yorkshire. Honest.

I predict the Yorkies for the final. So well done Hampshire on winning this years T20...

I predicted that my prediction would be wrong, and therefore predicted the winners by predicting the losers would win. Does that mean I am good or bad at predictions?

Great effort from Miller but lack of batting support.

Dimi leading and bowling with his brain.

Cracking final.

Dimi, Briggs, Ervine, Wood, Dawson

Superb from hants!

A few thoughts from me having watched the finals the old-fashioned way (i.e. on TV rather than on my laptop).

I thought the pitch was poor. Slow and low, and somewhat 2-paced. Apart from Miller right at the end and one shot from Vince early on against Somerset no one managed to hit through the line all day (Most of Bairstow's big hits were from full-tosses or very long half-volleys). I know it made for fascinating cricket, and the slow bowlers came into their own but I'd have liked a pitch with a bit of pace and bounce.

For such a good player Alfonso Thomas had a bit of a shocker, first of all in the field giving away a couple of 2s which really should have been singles, but most importantly with the ball. MfC points out that he misread the pitch, but how could he? Surely it was obvious you had to bowl cutters and dig the ball in? It was a strange performance by him...

How important is that little bit of luck? In the 2nd semi, Somerset lost two key wickets to drag-ons (Trescothick and Buttler), whilst Hampshire got away with 2 inside-edges just past the stumps at least (one to Carberry and one to Katich, both early on in their innings - the Katich one in particular could have been a game-changer). And how often does luck seem to favour the side on top? It was noticeable that once Yorkshire got back into the final all of a sudden the edges were going their way...

I really liked the energy in the field of the young Yorkshire side. Raffiq looks like a very useful cricketer, as does young Root.

I actually thought Mascarennas was wrong to bowl out in the final - well though he bowled I'd have kept myself an over in case things got tense. As it was his young guys responded brilliantly to the challenge. Having said that, what a good T20 bowler he is!

Briggs bowled nicely, he should be given a chance in the world T20.

England have to find a way to fit Bairstow into their one-day side. And it was nice to see him walk for his catch at the wicket. On the other hand his keeping was decidedly ordinary.

Sky really have a first class commentary team, led by the excellent Nasser Hussain. Bumble provides some very good light relief. Arlott isn't my favourite, he comes accross as a grumpy old man at times.

in response to Mike.

On the pitch: I agree, I think especially in T20s it's nice to have a pitch where you can hit through the line a bit. This one you couldn't really, though it does produce fascinating contests. It was noticeable that the powerplay scores were very low (did any team top 40 in their PP overs?)

On Thomas: well I said he misread the pitch, you say that shouldn't be possible and I agree, so maybe it's just that his thinking was muddled. Either way, he got it completely wrong: I counted two slower balls, one short ball in four overs I think, at the death he went nearly exclusively for fast yorkers, madness for someone with such a good slower ball on this pitch.

On Yorkshire in the field: agreed, very good energy, look a very well drilled outfit.

On Bairstow: England have to find a way of getting him into the ODI side, he's just too good a player to miss out. Unfortunately his keeping isn't upto international standards on what I saw today. I don't know if that's his usual standard or if he was below par, but to my eyes he was very ordinary with the gloves. He really struggled up to the stumps of Rafiq, and given Swann is (I imagine) harder to keep to I don't think he's ready for that yet.

On Nasser: truly excellent pundit. He's balanced but not afraid to speak his mind, and because he left the game quite recently he's much more up to date with the modern game than some (Holding for instance). He also gives some fascinating insights (the one about the cover sweeper being straighter if you're bowling yorkers I didn't know). My favourite commentator at present.

Mike Selig wrote:

I actually thought Mascarennas was wrong to bowl out in the final - well though he bowled I'd have kept myself an over in case things got tense. As it was his young guys responded brilliantly to the challenge. Having said that, what a good T20 bowler he is!

Briggs bowled nicely, he should be given a chance in the world T20.

Hi Mike,

As a hants fan having watched alot of 20/20 cricket. Dimi always bowls out straight away no matter what the situation. He has massive trust in bowlers Briggs and Wood and this was rightly shown last night! Although they are only 21/22, they have both played in the last 3 finals day, so they know what its all about.

Totally agree that Briggs deserves a chance in the 20/20 world cup, have been saying the same for months!

So proud of the boys for last night, underdogs again and we proved all the pundits wrong

I should of course have finished my post by congratulating Hampshire, who as a team played comfortably the best cricket yesterday, and fully deserved their win.

delighted

Mike Selig wrote:
Sky really have a first class commentary team... Arlott isn't my favourite, he comes accross as a grumpy old man at times.

By now Arlott would indeed be very old, and possibly quite grumpy as well. However, I thought by now he was quaffing claret in another part of the Sky empire....