The
Vitality Blast served up two exciting encounters on Finals Day. Firstly, Moeen
Ali’s miserly bowling helped Worcestershire to the final, where Essex left it
to the final ball of the match to take their maiden T20 title. Simon Harmer claimed
4-19 then 3-16 to cap an immaculate Finals Day performance.
He
was also the leading wicket-taker in the Championship’s top division as his
county travelled to Taunton for the decider against long-time leaders Somerset
who had to win to fly the pennant for the first time in their history. It was bound
to be a ‘result wicket’, destined to finish early. That was assuming friendly
weather, which the season’s climax thoroughly merited. It wasn’t to be. Only 72
overs were possible in the first three days, which made Tom Abell’s team with a
near-impossible challenge. On Day four, we had to take twenty wickets for a
pittance. Well, the spinners Leach and Van der Merwe did half the job before,
in desperation, Abell forfeited their second innings. They had to bowl Essex
out in just an hour, while Essex required only 63 to win. The openers made the
game safe but, while they could easily have whacked the runs to seal the
Championship with a tenth victory, they settled on a draw just seventeen short.
It
was devastating to me and the county faithful to miss out by such a tight
margin, runners-up for the third time in four seasons, but how must Marcus
Trescothick feel? At least he received the ovation he deserved when making a
contrived shuffle to the middle as a sub fielder, his final contribution to the
county in a staggering 26-year career. It was a nice touch by the Essex players
to join in the applause.
As
for the supporting cast, they also fell victims to the rain. Hampshire finished
in third place, Keith Barker taking five Kent wickets. At The Oval, centuries
by Scott Borthwick and Ollie Pope frustrated Nottinghamshire’s flimsy hopes of
a first triumph of the four-day season. Edgbaston saw play only on day one, time
for Tom Kohler-Cadmore to amass an unbeaten 165.
It
was all draws in Division Two, too, which meant that Northamptonshire and
Gloucestershire will join Lancashire in the top tier next year. The two sides
met at Bristol but could only play seventy-three overs in total. I reckon the home
side can’t honestly have expected promotion but good on them. At the end of
August, anyone but Leicestershire could have made the top three. Middlesex and
Derbyshire slipped back, and Sussex’s season also ended in a dam squib at home
to Worcestershire. At a rain-swept Chester-le-Street, BJ Watling struck an
unbeaten ton from the Glamorgan attack, and at Leicester, Richard Gleeson took
nine wickets for Lancashire.
So
the County Championship may have suffered a soggy conclusion but I will
grudgingly congratulate Essex for their second pennant in three seasons and second
title in a week. At least Somerset proved worthy winners of the One-Day Cup but
they’d have traded that for that blasted Championship. While Surrey’s all-star
squad slumped in 2019, we have been remarkably consistent. Lewis Gregory’s
absence hit us in mid-summer, but those defeats to Yorkshire and Hampshire last
week proved decisive. Maybe next year….
Final team of the Week: Borthwick (Sur), Kohler-Cadmore (Yor), Moeen Ali (Wor), Watling (Dur), Pope (Sur), Hosein (Der), Van Buuren (Glo), Harmer (Ess), Van der Merwe (Som), Barker (Ham), Gleeson (Lan)
