Firecrackers, celebration, no-ball: Hampshire vs Lancashire T20 Blast final witnessed all the drama

Hampshire and Lancashire played out a thrilling final in the T20 Blast on Sunday (July 17) at Edgbaston. Hampshire held their nerve in the end to win the last-ball thriller by just one run. However, there was a lot of drama involved on the last ball with the fast bowler Nathan Ellis delivering a no-ball and not being aware of the umpire’s call, everyone began to celebrate only for it to halt, albeit temporarily.

Having pulled things back nicely in the death overs, Hampshire had five runs to defend on the last ball. Ellis had bowled a terrific over until then and castled the batter off the final delivery for the celebrations to start. Even the crowd was ecstatic and the commentators also announced that Hampshire were crowned champions and the scorecard also showed the same. All the celebrations were over the top and even the firecrackers were burst to celebrate the champions.

Unfortunately, all the celebrations came to a halt when the umpires adjudged it to be a no-ball and the Hampshire players couldn’t believe it. The batters had run a single as well which meant Lancashire now needed only three runs off a free-hit final ball of the innings to win the trophy. Moreover, the teams had to wait to deliver the final ball as there was a lot of smoke on the ground thanks to the firecrackers that were burst.

Ellis keeps his nerves

Nathan Ellis though kept his nerves intact to deliver a brilliant slower delivery which the batter couldn’t connect to and they could only scamper through for a bye. Interestingly, Lancashire needed only two runs to win the tournament as a tie would’ve sufficed for them having scored more runs in the powerplay. In T20 Blast, according to the rules, if a match ends in a tie, a winner is determined by the number of wickets lost. If the sides are equal in that aspect, then the powerplay runs separate them.

Lancashire had scored 60 runs in the powerplay compared to Hampshire’s 48. But all those calculations weren’t needed as Nathan Ellis delivered a legal ball to seal the trophy for Hampshire which also turned out to be seventh successive win, sixth while defending a total this season. However, after the victory, no Hampshire celebrated and they just shook hands before walking off the field.

Here’s the video: