What a difference a year makes. In 2012, the group stages of the T20 Cup were plagued by persistent rain so that some teams lost half their matches to the weather. Come 2013 and mercifully there has been just the one 'no result', between Hampshire and Essex back in June. That means the eight qualifiers have made it through their cricket. Champions Hampshire look ominously good, losing just the one game, at home to Kent. With Michael Carberry back amongst the runs, supported by Vince, Adams, McKenzie, Ervine, Mascarenhas et al, they are rightly heavily fancied to reach the final, and ought to see off Lancashire in the quarter-finals.
North division winners Nottinghamshire are many people's favourites despite losing three on the trot in mid-competition. T20 specialists Alex Hales and Michael Lumb have each contributed more than 300 runs to the cause, and Samit Patel has been the leading bowler. They have been drawn at home to Essex, who scraped through yesterday despite being humbled by Surrey. Without Napier, Topley and Ten Doeschate they would be in a right pickle.
Northants were the leading county of the Midlands/Wales/West bunch. Richard Levi struck one of only two centuries in the competition to date but the bowling as been their major strength. Pakistani-turned-league cricket star Azharullah is the competition's leading wicket-taker with 23, 8 of which came against Glamorgan! David Willey is another who has combined stike rate, economy and a few runs to boot. Meanwhile, Graeme White has the unusual distinction of helping two sides through to the knockouts, with wickets for both Northants and Notts!
Durham are Northants' next opponents and I wouldn't bet against Mustard, Onions, Stokes and co upsetting the T20 form book. The fourth quarter-final will involve Surrey and Somerset. The latter have had a topsy-turvy season but their narrow defeat of Warwickshire this week proved decisive as they finished second in their group ahead of the Bears and Dragons. Normally, the absence of Marcus Trescothick would be considered a disaster but the great man has been in shocking form this summer and an injury enabled Craig Kieswetter and Chris Jones to step up to the mark. The former England one-day 'keeper has aggregated 447 runs in his ten innings, while last-minute import Yasir Arafat has bee the pick of their bowlers. Five consecutive knockout stages is an amazing achievement for Somerset but this their weakest squad of them all. Having blown so many finals in recent years perhaps it's inevitable they'll go one better in 2013 and actually win the blooming thing!
One interesting observation: the top teams in the County Championships all performed badly. Sussex had a disastrous T20 campaign, winning just one fixture. Yorkshire also finished bottom of their division while Middlesex just missed out on a last-eight place. Notts are chock full of great one-day players and when they all click, few can match them. Hampshire also have some pedigree and I watched them claim the title in grand style in Cardiff last year. But this is T20 and surprises are inevitable. Don't expect all the home sides to progress, but I predict Surrey to go all the way to the final.
