Hampshire Hawks Vitality T20 Blast Semi Final at Edgbaston Loss Report

 

18/07

OVERACHIEVING

OUTLAWS OUT PLAYED

Notts’ journey in the T20 competition ended in the semi-final with a 27-run defeat to Hampshire at Edgbaston yesterday.

Notts won the toss and elected to field – a surprise move given Notts are better at defending totals. A move though that Vince admitted in a post-match interview he would have replicated.  Pennington replaced Fernando, whose scheduled spell with the team had ended, in the Eleven. Pocklington remained in the team but never bowled and batted at eight.

There was a minutes applause for Sir Garfield Sobers, who died on Friday, prior to the commencement of the match.

Notts got off to a good start, Albert (4) edged the first delivery of the match for four but Amir (Pavilion End) had him caught behind by the juggling Moores next ball (4 for 1) eight off the first over. Weatherley hit Pennington for six over backward square leg, seven off the 2nd over. Vince hit a four through the covers off Amir, seven plus a leg bye off the 3rd over. Weatherley flicked Stone for a square leg four; eight off the 4th over, The next over bowled by Pennington proved expensive, Weatherley chipping him for six into the Hollies Stand and Vince top edging a heave for 6. Vince lofted Stone for 4 over cover, 6 off the over. Hampshire 52 for 1 off 6 overs.

Weatherley hit Linde for a Straight six and a four through backward point off consecutive balls; 14 off the 7th over. Howell went for seven off the 8th over. Patterson-White went for 3 in the 9th over. Vince guided Howell for 4 through wide third man, 9 off the over. Hampshire 85 for 1 off 10 overs. They were to add a further 102.

Weatherley deposited Patterson-White for a square leg six.  Vince was dropped on 34 low down by the sliding Haynes on the mid-wicket ropes – a costly miss.  Weatherley reached his 50 off 34 balls; 12 off the 11th over. Vince smashed Pennington for a massive mid-wicket six into the building site at square leg; ten off the 12th over. The fourth six of the day off Pennington. Weatherley hit Linde for four through backward point. Vince reached his 50 off 36 balls with a six over cow corner, 15 off the over. Linde (2-0-29-0) having a poor day. Vince hit Patterson-White (3-0-23-0) for four through long on; eight off the over. Vince (59 off 43 balls; 4x4, 3x6) holed out to Stone at long on off Howell (130 for 2). The second wicket stand was worth 126 in 14 overs and proved game changing. Weatherley clubbed Howell (3-0-21-1) for a straight four; 5 off the 15th over. Howell was Notts best bowler of the day but was not given over number 4. Amir went for six off the 16th over. 

Hampshire added 46 in the last 4 overs to take the game away from Notts. Weatherley hit Stone for 6 over long off, 13 plus a leg bye off the 17th over. Stubbs (8) was dropped on 6 low down by Pocklington running in from the mid-wicket ropes off Pennington but departed three balls later.  Going for a paddle shot he was caught by Linde, above his head, at short third off Pennington (4-0-39-1; 159 for 3), seven off the over. Weatherley pulled Amir for four through square leg. Off the 19^th over, Cartwright hit Amir (4-0-31-1) for fours through mid-wicket and mid-on – 11 off the over. Stone (4-0-41-0) conceded 14 off the last over including successive fours for Cartwright. Hampshire 187 for 3 with man of the match Weatherley scoring a career best 88 not out (off 58 balls, 5x4, 5x6). Cartwright (19*) with a useful late 9-ball cameo. An above par total, Notts badly missing an overseas seamer as they generally struggled to keep the runs down or take wickets.

Notts never looked like they were going to chase the score down. Munsey hit Wood (Pavilion End) for four through mid-wicket, seven off the opening over. Munsey pulled Baker for 6 over wide long leg, 8 off the 2nd over. Munsey (12) was caught on the square leg ropes by Stubbs off Wood (15 for 1), two off the 3rd over. It was his fifth failure on the row after a prolific start to the campaign. He though remained Notts leading scorer with 500 runs @45.45 (strike rate 138.88). Clarke off drove Baker for 4, six off the 4th over. Clarke hit Wood for four  through mid-wicket and then hit him for a four through cover, 11 off the 5th over. Currie went for three off the 6th over. Notts 37 for 1 at the end of the powerplay and already struggling.

Notts momentarily fought back. Clarke hit Dawson for 6 over long off and Haynes hit a four through extra cover; 14 off the 7th over. Off spinner Stubbs went for five off the 8th over but did not bowl again. Clarke hit Fuller for 6 over extra cover and followed it up next ball with a on driven four, 13 off the 9th over. Haynes hit Dawson (3-0-36-1) for 6 over extra cover, nine off the over. Notts 78 for 1 off 10 overs needing an unlikely 120.

Clarke looped edged Currie for four over keeper Albert.  A single off the next ball saw him to 50 off 35 balls, nine off the 11th over. The asking rate was now over 11 an over. Clarke hit Dawson for four through extra cover and Haynes hit him for six over mid-wicket. Notts though then lost both Haynes and Clarke 4 balls apart and were to collapse spectacularly losing 9 wickets for 60 in 8 overs as the required run rate went up and up.

Haynes (25) holed out to long on off Dawson; 100-2, 13 off the 12th over. The second wicket stand worth 85 in 9.2 overs. Next over Clarke, with a season high 64 (off 43 balls, 6x4, 3x6) was caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Currie off Fuller (102-3), two off the 13th over.

Moores clubbed Baker for 6 over midwicket, 8 plus a leg bye off the 14th over. Moores (9) was caught at long on by Dawson off Fuller (114 for 4); five off the 15th over. Linde edged a four-off Currie. Howell hit Currie for six over mid-wicket;  15 off the 16th over – 57 needed off the last four overs.

Linde (8) tamely plonked Wood to Dawson at long off (131 for 5). Howell thrashed Wood (4 0 31 2) for 6 over mid-wicket; 11 off the 17th over.  The last five wickets went down in 14 balls.

Howell (19) going for a legside heave lost his middle stump to Baker (144 for 6). Pocklington hit Baker (4-0-28-1) for a four through extra cover;  6 off the 18th over. Patterson-White (4) was caught and bowled by Currie (148 for 7). Pennington was bowled by  Currie for a golden duck (148 for 8). Pocklington missed three successive Currie (4-0-33-2) slower balls before getting a four to fine leg; nine off the over.

Pocklington (8) was bowled by Fuller (155 for 9). Stone (6) slogged a third man four and then was bowled by Fuller (3.5-0-26-4) next ball. Notts 160 all out off 19.5 overs with Amir on 1*.

Notts, well beaten by 27 runs, had done extremely well to reach finals day having over achieved during the tournament. They found a formula at home playing on worn slow pitches winning six on the bounce. They found it harder on their travels but were indebted to the hot summer which meant only at Derby and Manchester were they made to bat “on roads” where their lack of batting was shown up. The team always seemed a batsmen light but excellent team spirit and togetherness saw them to tight victories. Mohammad Ali the stand out bowler. 

Despite Edgbaston missing the demolished Raglan stand, Finals Day is no longer a sell-out. It remains a beery day out for the Hollies Stand who are more interested in showing off to themselves rather than watching the cricket. The other two games in what turned out to be a very long day were more competitive. Northants deserved their victory.  Calvin Harrison, in my opinion a better bowler than Linde, to the fore. Notts need to get an overseas batsman in for 2027. MAG

Notts left it until the day of the semi-final to break the news that Binura Fernando, is unable to play owing to the injury sustained in his first over against Surrey on Wednesday.

The whole squad for the day:

Joe Clarke
George Munsey

Jack Haynes

Freddie McCann

Tom Moores

Joe Pocklington

George Linde

Benny Howell

Liam Patterson-White

Olly Stone

Mohammad Amir

Dillon Pennington

Ben Martindale

Farhan Ahmed

James Hayes

17/07

All you can ask for is a level playing field. England have announced today that they have released two of their ODI squad to take part in Finals Day:  Tom Banton (Somerset) and Liam Dawson (Hampshire).

If Fernando's hand injury rules him out for Saturday, it would have been nice to be able to call upon the services of an England International (not that he has even debutted for Notts Outlaws yet or would get selected ahead of Dillon in that instance as the squad are now tightly bonded). Would the Notts bowler even be eligible for the squad, as he has not played a single group match? The ECB are not new to making exceptions or the bending of regulations when it comes to selections.

In the great scheme of things, Notts have used so few players in the 13 matches so far, 17 players by my estimation (including Duckett, James and Farhan - none of whom have featured since about game 2). 

Notts have 1 win in 4 matches against opponents Hampshire at T20, that win being in the semi-final of 2017.