Twenty20 Finals Day Success!
This is going to be a short post seeing as I managed to break my finger taking a caught and bowled on Saturday (yes, I kept hold of the ball!), and typing isn’t proving the easiest thing to do in the world at the moment, but I didnt want to let the finals day go past without saying anything.
Despite my prediction of two teams getting to the final being slightly incorrect, I was nearly correct with my choice of winner! It was a great final (aside of the pain I was in whilst watching it), really tense and never sure which way it was going. It was everything you want in Twenty20 cricket, great entertainment, big shots and commentators going over the top - you can see why it has such a high profile at the moment.
So, congrats to Middlesex who will be off to the West Indies later this year to take on Stanford’s winners - along with the “Champions League” (although this still waits to be confirmed). The players will reap the rewards and hopefully play some entertaining cricket along the way like Saturday!
P.S. If I disappear for a week or two its probably due to my lack of typing ability, but I’ll try to keep updated!
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….
