Lyth Smashes T20 Record

The Nat West T20 Blast’s group stage ended in dramatic style this week. On Thursday, Northamptonshire’s reign as champions effectively ended as Yorkshire mercilessly destroyed them at Headingley. Azeem Rafiq claimed 5-19 to dismiss the Steelbacks for 136 with a quarter of their overs remaining. But the true damage had already been done. Opener Adam Lyth, not renowned for his white ball striking, achieved the highest ever score in English T20, plundering 161 in 73 balls. Only two men have ever beaten that including Chris Gayle. Lyth easily outscored the opponents on his own. I feel sorry for the Northants seamers Sanderson and Gleeson, whose decent seasons came to a sorry finale conceding a whopping 138 runs between them.

And yet, despite the boost to their runs rate, Yorkshire still failed to qualify for the quarter-finals. Nottinghamshire finished top of the North division despite losing to Leicestershire by two runs at Trent Bridge on the final day. That result, together with Birmingham’s similarly narrow win over Lancashire, ensured that Lyth’s mammoth innings would be his last in the 2017 competition.

Derbyshire also lost to Leicestershire but their last-week triumphs against the bottom two took them to second in the final table. Wayne Madsen’s consistent Powerplay bowling and a 4-17 from Imran Tahir proved decisive. Can they and Leicester make up for a dour, depressing Championship season by making Finals Day?

The South group qualification went down to the wire on Friday evening. Glamorgan were already assured of proceeding and would still have clinched a home quarter-final even if they hadn’t beaten Middlesex in the rain-shortened fixture. The winner of the Surrey-Kent encounter at Canterbury was assured of going through, and it was the Londoners wot won it thanks to Jason Roy’s 78 and Rikki Clarke’s 4-16. The previous day, Kent had set another domestic T20 record, with Denly (127) and Bell-Drummond (80) compiling a 201-run first-wicket partnership.

Hampshire were safely through but the fourth place was eventually decided by an extremely narrow net run rate margin. Both Somerset and Sussex crushed their last-night opposition, Hants and Essex, but it was the 98-run success at the Rose Bowl which handed Somerset qualification, thanks to key contributions by Trego, Myburgh, Waller, van der Merwe and the redoubtable Craig Overton.

And so to next week’s quarter-finals. Somerset’s reward is a trip to Trent Bridge where they must hope that Hales Wessels and Patel all have off days. Derbyshire host Hampshire and Surrey visit Edgbaston, while the second tier Championship counties Leicestershire and Glamorgan meet in Cardiff. The last three are impossible to call, but I reckon Notts Outlaws will definitely rob the sheriffs of Taunton of a place in the Finals.

Team of the Week: Lyth (Yor), Denly (Ken), Bell-Drummond (Ken), Cosgrove (Lei), Buttler (Lan +), Trego (Som), Clarke (Sur), S Curran (Sur), Azeem Rafiq (Yor), Imran Tahir (Der), Finn (Mid)