Twenty20 Finals Day 2008
Seeing as we’re all too depressed to talk about test cricket, we can instead look towards Twenty20 finals day! It takes place this Saturday at the Rose Bowl, and it should be a great day of cricket at a great ground.
With the final quarter final delayed, it was eventually played yesterday and Durham beat Glamorgan to seal their semi final against Middlesex in the second semi which will be played on the day. Durham have a powerful team with some well known players in Collingwood, Plunkett, Harmison let alone Chanderpaul and Pollock who are also in there as overseas/kolpak players. Middlesex aren’t quite as big in terms of names, but players such as youngster David Malan have shown that this competition can make names rather than be bossed by them, and he has been backed up by a proper “team” ethic. Tim Murtagh has been taking a lot of wickets, and they’ll also have Shaun Udal in there who will know how to bowl at the Rose Bowl having played there for the past few years with Hampshire.
In the first semi final we have probably the two most fancied teams on the day in Kent and Essex. Essex have been a revelation this year, and one player in particular who has made the game his own is all rounder Graham Napier. There will be a lot of expectation on his shoulders on finals day, and it will be a good test of him, but there are others in the team such as Ten Doeschate also playing well, and in James Foster they probably have the in-form keeper. Kent have been strongly fancied from the start, with Key and Denly at the top of the order backed up by run machine Van Jaasveld, allrounders Mclaren and Mahmood and Arafat taking wickets for fun at the moment they are a very powerful looking side.
So who am I backing for the win…. I think that the two what I’ve called “powerful” sides will get through to the final - Kent have a lot of good experienced players who, as long as they can keep Napier down, should have the beating of Essex. In the second semi, Durham have too good a side to back against them, although this isn’t really Chanderpaul’s type of game and wiley Middlesex might just have a chance, but its a slim one.
So a Kent vs Durham final then…. I could have a very good case for backing either of these teams such is their ability and I fully expect people to disagree, but I’m going to stick my neck on the block and go for Kent. The way that Twenty20 cricket goes though, it could well be that neither of them makes the final! Let me know who you think will do well this Saturday! Now, which way was it to the bookies….
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I really fancy Essex this year, they look a great Twenty20 outfit. If the finals were played at Chelmsford they would almost certainly win it - that place is a fortress! I just think that with the likes of Napier, Kaneria, Foster, and Bopara they will have enough to win it this year.