Blast Finals Day joy beckons for Lancashire, Somerset, Northamptonshire or Hampshire
Joy too as Leicestershire win promotion, but it’s tight at both ends of Division One
Ball one: On Saturday, Dickson vs Livingstone I presume
Cricket being cricket, all of a sudden, The Blast was back! Some of July had passed, all of August and a few days of September, but we recalibrated to twenty overs each and to players last seen in county fatigues, well when exactly? It was definitely after Covid, but not sure.
Lancashire’s Liam Livingstone (not a historical reference as it happens) proved the key figure in their win over Kent. After a handy 2-21 with his liquorice allsorts from his four overs (spin twin, Tom Hartley, also impressing with 1-21 off his full allocation), he hit more sixes off his own bat than Kent managed as a team.
It can be infuriating watching Livingstone as he can win matches on his own, but we have to accept that he can’t win all matches on his own. So, just two more please Liam.
The first of those will be the Finals Day opener against Somerset who had a matchwinner of their own in the rather less likely shape of Sean Dickson. In my mind’s eye, the Hollies Stand was filling with locals for Finals Day – Warwickshire’s players wouldn’t have been human if they weren’t thinking the same thing right up to the very bitter end. Somerset were losing the match for 237 of the 239 balls bowled, but Dickson had the night out to end all nights out with 71 off 26 to send the Bears white ball team into hibernation. You can’t play against that.
Ball two: Ravi raves on
Another pyrotechnic innings from an even less likely source saw Northamptonshire beat a strong Surrey XI to book a slot at Saturday’s jamboree.
We’ve known since at least the second match of Twenty20 cricket ever played, that Ravi Bopara has the talent but, with a 20+20 on his personal scorecard, could the 40 year-old still do it? In for the second ball of a rain-affected 14 overs game, he was there at the end too, 105 not out. No home batter could get near the veteran’s strike rate of 228 and Northants will prepare for Hampshire in the afternoon semi-final.
They’re there largely because three of their top four (Toby Albert, Chris Lynn and Hilton Cartwright) made half centuries at strike rates in excess of 180. Chasing down 222, everything needed to go perfectly for Durham, and that’s music to Benny Howell’s ears, the best inducer of batter error in the competition taking 2-28 off his four overs.
Ball three: Saucy Worcester pitch spices up title race
The County Championship returned, along with the first rain since about Christmas meaning few teams were able to squeeze out a result between the showers.
New Road has its unique problems with Worcestershire seeking alternative accommodation that doesn’t flood quite so often, but there’s no doubt that interesting pitches make for interesting cricket. For Division One frontrunners, Nottinghamshire and Surrey, it was also an interesting result.
Like Brighton and Hove Albion against Chelsea, there were plenty of old friends catching up and it was two ex-Worcestershire quicks who did most of the damage for the visitors in the first innings, Josh Tongue and Dillon Pennington sharing 12 wickets in the match, with that most handy of players, Lyndon James, chipping in with six to back up the big lads.
The Swiss Army Knifeish James with bat in hand made 35 off 42 to help secure a first innings lead and then a cool-headed 17 not out off 67 to see Notts over the line, seven down.
The all-rounder is probably too ‘bits-and-pieces’ to get an England call, but Pennington, also 26 years old, has a lot of what it takes to bowl fast, especially on Australian pitches. He could be a bolter for The Ashes squad, but, more likely given the attrition rate of England quicks, I’d advise him to stay fit and have his phone and passport close to hand come November.
Ball four: Burns burned?
Have Surrey developed a problem in getting the wins that have seen them win four of the last six pennants? No defeats in 12 matches this season looks good, but with eight draws, the South London juggernaut looks less unstoppable than in previous seasons.
The latest draw came at home to Warwickshire, the visitors fighting hard to maintain a toehold in the race themselves, a chance now probably gone.
In what became a two innings match, The Oval’s pitch eased (as it does these days) and Surrey’s top five, all England Test batters, each made scores. Those runs allowed Rory Burns to set the Bears 390 for the win, which is probably what he had in mind at the start of the second innings.
But rain had already arrived in South London on day three and there was plenty on the radar for day four. Could Burns have been bolder, pulling out with a lead of 313 buying himself at least 13 more overs and encouraging a bit of a chase? It probably wouldn’t have made any difference and Surrey’s captain has a set of gates near the site of the old mechanical scoreboard, so he knows best I’m sure.
Just one point separates the champions from second place Nottinghamshire, who roll into town on Monday for a showdown.
Ball five: Ben and Matt bloom under pressure
Raine and Potts sound like two segments on a Gardeners World running order, but they combined to earn Durham a vital draw and drag Essex back into a squeaky bum quartet (add Yorkshire and Hampshire) looking over their shoulders in the last two weeks of the season. The eighth wicket pair defied Simon Harmer and co for well over an hour in an unbroken stand of 77 at Chelmsford to earn their eight points for a draw.
Essex’s Dean Elgar (150), Matt Critchley (129) and Jamie Porter (7-113) can feel somewhat aggrieved at the stalemate, but, at the end of a long and dizzyingly varied season, grit can be just as important as class. And those two bowlers who bat have never been short of that quality.
Ball six: Red ball Leicestershire: Division Two’s big cheese!
If Worcestershire look certain to yoyo back to Division Two, they will be replaced by the very unyoyoish Leicestershire, back in the top flight after a long absence.
With their talismanic figure, Rehan Ahmed, away developing his game by wearing a hi vis vest and running batting gloves for England, the outstanding team in county cricket were indebted to Lewis Hill and Shan Masood. Their fourth wicket partnership of 152 was critical to avoiding the follow on after Gloucestershire had racked up 482, Graeme van Buuren’s ton complemented by four half centuries. The draw was odds-on once the first innings deficit was limited to 140 and rain was about.
To survive in whatever structure the top flight takes in 2026, Leicestershire will need to hand on to Ahmed, Hill and the inspirational Peter Handscomb and hope that Ian Holland and Ben Green continue to take wickets and that Josh Hull’s progress continues (but not enough to catch the England selectors’ eyes).
It’s a tough ask to survive in the Division One bearpit after two years away: Leicestershire have been gone for 22!