T20 Blast 2018, Finals Day: Round-up

The action in the Vitality T20 Blast resumed nearly after 20 days. The last day of the tournament was quite a hectic one. Three games, including both the semi-finals and the final, were played on this day. There were some amazing performances on display. With all the three games being played at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the fans who were at the stadium had a complete package of entertainment.

By defeating Sussex in the final, Worcestershire have emerged as the new champions in the tournament. Their wicketkeeper, Ben Cox was just magnificent and thus adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’ in both the games that he played. With 614 runs in 14 innings, Laurie Evans ended the tournament as the highest run-scorer while Patrick Brown is the leading wicket-taker with 31 scalps in 16 matches. Here is how things panned out in the three games on the last day of the T20 Blast:

Lancashire vs Worcestershire – 1st Semi-Final

Worcestershire were put into bat first in this encounter. In their quota of 20 overs, they put up a modest total of 169 runs on the board and lost 6 wickets. Ben Cox with an unbeaten 55 off 34 balls and skipper Moeen Ali with a quickfire 41 off 21 were the top performers with the bat. Matthew Parkinson continued his good form and picked two wickets in his four overs.

The chase for Lancashire was a complete struggle. Their opener Alex Davies was run out for just 9 runs. Soon, Ed Barnard accounted for the wicket of Liam Livingstone (30 off 18 balls). The team kept losing wickets at regular intervals thereon. There wasn’t any good partnership out there in the middle which could have got Lancashire closer to the target. Keaton Jennings with an unbeaten 51 was the lone warrior out there in the middle. While Patrick Brown picked 4 wickets, Moeen had two to his name as his team won the match by 20 runs.

Brief Scores:

WORCS: 169/6 in 20 overs (Ben Cox 55*, Moeen Ali 41, Matthew Parkinson 2/23)

LANCS: 149/9 in 20 overs (Keaton Jennings 51*, Liam Livingstone 30, Patrick Brown 4/21)

Result: Worcestershire won by 20 runs

Sussex vs Somerset – 2nd Semi-Final

Luke Wright set the stage on fire in this match after having won the toss and electing to bat first. He smashed 92 off just 53 balls and was looking dangerous. However, he missed out on a well-deserved century as he was dismissed in the 18th over by Corey Anderson. Also, David Wiese was great with a 29-ball 52 and provided the team with a finishing touch. Sussex ended their innings with 202 runs on the board for the loss of 8 wickets.

Just like the first semi-final, the team that was chasing the target found the going tough. Although opener Johann Myburgh started off really well with 22 off 11 balls, the other three batsmen in the top four failed. In the act of redemption after being down to 48/4, Tom Bell and Corey Anderson joined hands to play some brilliant knocks. While the former scored 48 off 29 balls, his partner piled up the same number of runs in 32 balls. Once, these two got out, there wasn’t any gas left in the Somerset batting line-up. Lewis Gregory, who has been one of the biggest match-winners this season for Somerset only managed to get 7 off 14 balls.

Brief Scores

SUS: 202/8 in 20 overs (Luke Wright 92, David Wiese 52, Jerome Taylor 4/20)

SOM: 167/8 in 20 overs (Tom Abell 48, Corey Anderson 48, Jofra Archer 3/32)

Result: Sussex won by 35 runs

Worcestershire vs Sussex – Final

Yet again, in this encounter, Sussex opted to bat first after winning the toss. But, possibly playing two matches back-to-back without much of a break didn’t work in their favour. Openers Philip Salt with 17 off 8 balls and Luke Wright with 33 off 25 balls provided the side with a good start. Laurie Evans followed it up by getting to a half-century but took quite a while in the middle. With the help of his 44-ball 52, the side reached 157 runs in 20 overs which was definitely going to be below par in the finals.

It was quite a comfortable chase for Worcestershire. To start things off, Joe Clarke (33 off 27 balls) and Moeen Ali (41 off 27 balls) put up a good opening stand of 61 runs in 6.5 overs. Although the other batsmen in the middle order seemed to struggle, Ben Cox was great once again with an unbeaten 46 off 27 balls. He ensured that his team got past the line in just 18.3 overs and with 5 wickets remaining.

Brief Scores:

SUS: 157/6 in 20 overs (Laurie Evans 52, Luke Wright 33, Moeen Ali 3/30)

WORCS: 158/5 in 18.3 overs (Ben Cox 46*, Moeen Ali 41, Danny Briggs 2/19)

Result: Worcestershire won by 5 wickets

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