T20 Blast 2019: Wayne Parnell stunningly defends 7 runs to take Worcestershire to the final

The finals day is currently in progress of the T20 Blast at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The first semi-final took place between the defending champions Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire. The game went down to the wire with the latter being the favourites in the chase right through. However, there was a twist in the tale as the Moeen Ali-led side defended 10 runs in the last two overs to qualify for the finals.

After opting to bowl first, the Nottinghamshire bowlers did a fine job to restrict the opposition to a below-par score of 147 runs for the loss of nine wickets. Only Ross Whiteley could play a dominating innings for Worcestershire with the bat as he smashed 36 off just 24 deliveries to propel the score past the 140-run mark. Matthew Carter was the best bowler for the Notts with 3/32 while Harry Gurney and Steven Mullaney assisted him well.

Thrilling chase

The score was never a daunting one for Nottinghamshire to gun down and their openers Chris Nash and Alex Hales seemed to be making light work of it as well. They added 51 runs within the powerplay overs and even after the former got out, Ben Duckett came out and forged a decent stand with Hales. The latter got out after scoring 52 runs in the 14th over and until the 19th over began, the chase was well under control for the Notts.

However, all went haywire for them with Pat Brown bowling an exceptional penultimate over. The bowler sent back Daniel Christian and Tom Moores and then a mix-up between Mullaney and Duckett led to a run-out. Only four runs were scored in the over and the Notts were left to scoring seven runs off the last over.

They were still the favourites to seal their spot in the final and with Wayne Parnell, who had already conceded 37 runs in his three overs, to deliver, many felt that the result was a foregone conclusion. But Nottinghamshire had pressed the panic button already. Samit Patel missed the first ball of the over but then he and Duckett managed to eke out 5 runs off the next four balls.

Nottinghamshire needed only a tie to go through as they had lost only five wickets to Worcestershire’s nine. The jam-packed held its breath as Wayne Parnell ran to bowl the final ball. He delivered a pitched up delivery which held its line and Duckett swung his bat only to miss. Everything freezed for a moment before Worcestershire realised that they have pulled off a heist.

An epic game ended with joy at one end and despair at the other with the Notts themselves to blame for panicking at the wrong time. Wayne Parnell and Brown were the heroes for the defending champions as they await for the second finalist.

Here’s the video of the last ball: