The past ten days or so have seen the Vitality T20 Blast take centre stage in the domestic season. With international travel restricted and cricket’s schedules so fluid and last-minute, there are few overseas stars on show this year so it’s been a chance for more home-grown players, excluding those on England duty, to strut their stuff.
With all counties having played five games, we’re at the halfway stage of the group stage and already the holders Essex are struggling. In 2019 they were nigh-on unbeatable but in 2020 they have yet to record a single victory. In the South division, it’s Kent who lead the way, but the margins have been narrow. They tied at Lord’s and sneaked a one-run win at Hove but consistent opening partnerships between Test hero Zak Crawley and the big-hitting skipper Daniel Bell-Drummond have helped set strong targets.
Stevie Eskinazi is the competition’s top-scorer, the Middlesex man thumping three half-centuries, while his opening partner Max Holden registered his maiden T20 ton against Essex, even though rain prevented a result. One-time England star Steve Finn has been bowling well, too.
In the Central group, Northamptonshire won four and lost none, the most impressive record of any county so far. Paul Stirling got them off to a cracking start, and Ben Sanderson has been the pick of the attack. Somerset promised to finished second (as usual) only to slip up against the Bears on D/L. Poor Ian Bell was out for a duck, perhaps hastening his decision to retire next month. Instead, it’s Gloucestershire pushing hard Ian Cockbain’s explosive 35-ball 84 and Ben Smith’s 5-16 against the Bears at Edgbaston being the highlights. Their only defeat came at home to Glamorgan, for whom Chris Cooke continued to keep the county’s weak batting afloat.
In the North section, Nottinghamshire and Lancashire have dominated proceedings. Unfortunately their meeting at Liverpool was abandoned, a common refrain in this group. Indeed, three of Leicestershire’s five fixtures were No Results. For Notts, Jake Ball was in good form with the ball while Joe Clarke finished with a four and six to reach a century and beat Durham . Lancashire opening pair Keaton Jennings and Alex Davies were both on song, the former’s 108 proving decisive against Durham in the first match, and Tom Bailey’s 5-17 against Leicestershire counting for nothing thanks to the weather. Yorkshire’s batsmen deserved more success, with Lyth, Kohler-Cadmore and England’s T20 squad reject Joe Root all contributing, but their attack was less successful.
Back to proper cricket next week…
Team of the Week: Bell-Drummond (Ken),
Jennings (Lan), Eskinazi (Mid), Root (Yor), Cooke (Gla +), Wiese (Sus), Higgins
(Glo), Bailey (Lan), B Smith (Glo), Finn (Mid), Sanderson (Nor)
