Twenty20 Cup

[darksideofthemoon]

Originally Posted by Chris B England

So r Lancashire out of twenty20?

Yes we deserve to be with such a weak batting line up. Other teams bat right down the order but we had only Law, the others are hit and miss and Loye was badly missed as was Hodge. Those three in the past had enough talent between them to get all the runs needed for the team.

[Ernest]

Originally Posted by darksideofthemoon

was badly missed as was Hodge. Those three in the past had enough talent between them to get all the runs needed for the team.

That's the problem with using players from overseas, when called back to their countries, a great hole is left.

Lanc's had the best line up on paper, but Hodge going has left a hole in that, a lot now depends on Loye and Law.

[Vrock]

It's quarter finals day today.

Leicestershire started very well in the field with Kent winning the toss and batting first. Stuart Broad picked up three wickets as he bowler his spell right through and went for only 13 runs. Having being 31-4 at one stage Kent are being saved by Matt Walker and Martin van Jaarsveld with a partnership of 100 so far.

Surrey have really rocketed since the over restrictions were stopped. Ramps and Clarke added 139 together before Ramps (85 off 50) was out to Ian Harvey (3-38). Rikki Clarke finished 79* and has helped the Brown Caps to 224. Big target for Gloucestershire.

It's the day of having one big stand as, once again today, Notts had a century stand between Samit Patel (65) and Dave Hussey (71) to help Notts to 213-6 off their 20 overs. Ganguly and Sales will be the guys needed to make runs for Northants to have a chance of winning that game.

Essex v Yorkshire later on this evening, need something like 10x, performance wise, better than yesterday and we Yorkies have a chance.

[adamberry]

Leicestershire have probably got the easiest task of anyone, only chasing 154 to reach their fourth successive Twenty20 finals day. I really don't understand what possessed Rob Key to open for Kent though. He's played well this year as a middle-order pinch-hitter, but has just wasted any chance he had by opening. Thank god for Matt Walker and Martin van Jaarsveld's century stand though.

Kent aren't helped by having a slightly depleted bowling attack either.

Gloucestershire's reply has just begun, although I can't see them winning against an in-form Surrey side. Interesting to see Hamish Marshall is apparently due in at number 10!

Yorkshire obviously going for a bit of youth... who is Ajmal Shahzad anyone? Apart from being the first Asian to play for Yorkshire?

[Andy Mellon]

Originally Posted by adamberry

Gloucestershire's reply has just begun, although I can't see them winning against an in-form Surrey side. Interesting to see Hamish Marshall is apparently due in at number 10!

Maybe Gloucestershire have realised that Hamish is an overrated show-pony whose only innate ability is to have very curly hair.

Good to see that Essex won in the end. Disappointing performance from the top order for Essex, but a great innings from Jamie Foster to secure the win. We'll have to play a lot better in the Semi to progress any further though.

[Vrock]

Originally Posted by Andy Mellon

We'll have to play a lot better in the Semi to progress any further though.

To beat Yorkshire at one-day cricket! Essex needed to be playing at their best.

I'll have a stab at the draw:

Essex v Leicestershire
Surrey v Notts

Originally Posted by adamberry

Yorkshire obviously going for a bit of youth... who is Ajmal Shahzad anyone? Apart from being the first Asian to play for Yorkshire?

Here's his cricinfo profile, possibly of Asian heritage but he's English. Apart from reading his profile, for the first time, I've never heard of him.

(Sorry about this Adam but) Kent were properly thrased by Leicestershire today, just as Yorkshire were yesterday. Leicestershire bowled well, fielded well and batted even better. Kent struggled early on with the batting and, if not for van Jaarsveld's quick-fire runs, would have been really struggling. In reply Ackerman and Maddy were keeping up the run rate and kept on finding the gaps (when Key's playing I don't know how there are any. Seriously though, Maddy, in particular, was using the reverse sweep effectively and found consecutive boundaries with it. Key, I think, looked clueless as to how he could prevent the Leicestershire win and got two overs less of ball chasing in the end.

Roll on finals day.

[adamberry]

Originally Posted by Vrock

Key, I think, looked clueless as to how he could prevent the Leicestershire win and got two overs less of ball chasing in the end.

From what I could tell listening to the game on radio, it wasn't so much Key's fault, it was the fact that no bowler could stop the flow of runs.

Amjad Khan's last over (and the last of the match) was a prime example: a couple of long hops and a short ball that begged to be smacked over the fence. And duly was.

At least I can see a positive for Kent - this is their best ever performance in the competition, just shows what putting your mind to something can do!

[Vrock]

Leicestershire v Essex

Surrey v Notts

I think the closest game, of the two, will be Leicestershire/Essex as both sides are really on good form in one-day cricket and both have the players who can produce.

Originally Posted by adamberry

it wasn't so much Key's fault, it was the fact that no bowler could stop the flow of runs.

I might have sounded a little harsh of Key's captaincy in my post but it was all praise of Leicestershire, Key is regarded as a very good captain and has improved the side I think. With a lack of runs on the board I think it was always going to be difficult to defend that kind of target, especially with Maddy on fire!

[Vrock]

It's finals day at Trent Bridge today.

In the first semi-final, Leicestershire won the toss and chose to bat first.

After a reasonable start with mainly safe batting the Foxs have reached 117-2 off 15 overs.

James Middlebrook just bowled an atrocious over that went for 16 runs. Some proper dross bowled in there for the batsmen to latch onto.

Essex are going to have an average (score-wise) target to chase. The pitch looks like a one-day pitch, we can all guess what that is then.

[DaveGillespie]

First I've seen Broad here and he looks excellent. Found his line & length immediately and had Irani plumb LBW (halfway up middle) but given not out in the first over, just had him caught behind in the second. About 85 mph and only just 20. Apparentley set to grow another 2-3" this winter and should add another yard of pace as he looks like he'll grow into his body a bit more. Certainly looks the business.