Patel Stars As Nottinghamshire Crowned Champions

Nottinghamshire 244-8 (Read 53) beat
Glamorgan 157 (Patel 3-21) by 87 runs
Yorkshire Bank 40 Final, Lord’s

Nottinghamshire were crowned Yorkshire Bank 40 champions at Lord’s by beating underdogs Glamorgan by 87 runs in the final. The game wasn’t as one-sided as the margin suggests, but whenever the Welsh side looked like taking the advantage, a Notts player would step up to keep their side ahead.

It was David Hussey, Chris Read and Graeme Swann with the bat who rescued the Outlaws from 90 for four, with Samit Patel the star with the ball, ripping the heart out of the Glamorgan middle-order by delivering a spell of left-arm spin bowling that was as good as any you will see.

Glamorgan won the toss at the start of the day and opted to field, with the Outlaws getting off to a solid start courtesy of openers Michael Lumb and Alex Hales. However, Simon Jones (8-36-2), in his final List A match, and Andrew Salter (7-41-2) each struck twice as four wickets fell for 48 runs.

Hussey and Read then combined to add 99 for the fifth-wicket to lay the foundation for the late onslaught that yielded 55 runs from the 34 balls following Hussey’s departure for 42. Read hit two sixes during his run-a-ball 53, while Swann made the most of his promotion to number seven to chip in with a typically joyous 29 off only 19 balls. Steven Mullaney also played his part, hitting 21 off just 12 balls before being bowled by Graham Wagg as Notts finished on a promising 244 for eight.

The Glamorgan run chase then appeared to have recovered nicely from the early loss of skipper Mark Wallace as Chris Cooke and Jim Allenby took their side to 108 for two in the 20th over. Unfortunately for them, Patel was about to deal them the blow from which they wouldn’t recover.

He pitched a ball on Cooke’s middle-stump and spun it past his outside edge to knock over off. The ball that dismissed Allenby in his next over was even better; slightly fuller, drifting in ever so slightly before dipping and spinning from leg and likewise uprooting off-stump. He then made it three Glamorgan batsmen sent back when Murray Goodwin attempted a sweep shot and was struck on the pad in front of leg-stump.

Suddenly 108 for two had become 118 for five and the game was as good as over with the required run rate standing at around seven an over. Ben Wright’s wicket off the first ball of the batting powerplay was the final nail in the coffin. Trying to clear the inner-ring on the on-side, he only succeeded in finding Michael Lumb at mid-wicketto give Ajmal Shahzad (6-33-3) his 100th List A wicket.

Stuart Broad then mopped up the tail to end with three for 29 and make his brief return to county cricket a happy one. How dearly Nottinghamshire would love to have him and Swann available when they take on Somerset next week in their battle to avoid relegation from Division One of the LV= County Championship.

The day, though, belonged to Nottinghamshire stalwarts Read and Patel. The former has led the county for what seems an eternity and has finally earnt a piece of one-day silverware, while the latter answered his critics in the best manner possible.

***

The draw for the next season’s competition, which will revert to 50 overs, was made during the interval between innings. The 18 counties were randomly drawn into two groups of nine as follows, with the Unicorns, Scotland and the Netherlands no longer part of the competition.

Group A: Derbyshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire.

Group B: Durham, Glamorgan, Kent, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire.

Each team will play the other county in their group once, with four home and four away games in all. The top four from each group will then progress to the quarter-finals, which are a welcome introduction to the competition.

***

Corey Collymore will not be offered a new contract by Middlesex when his current one expires at the end of the season. The 35 year-old former West Indies fast-bowler has spent three season playing at Lord’s, taking 86 wickets in 33 first-class games. Angus Fraser said that the club took the decision as they aim to give more opportunities to their crop of young quick bowlers such as recent debutant Tom Helm and Gurjit Sandhu, who recently signed a new contract.

***

Derbyshire captain Wayne Madsen has been awarded the inaugural Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket Award. He walked when given not out during a Championship match against Yorkshire despite just one Yorkshire fielder appealing. He then scored 141 in the second innings of the match but couldn’t prevent his team from a heavy defeat.

The junior award was won by Alton CC Girls Under-13 team. They lent several players to an opposition side during a league match this summer and spent the day watching today’s Yorkshire Bank 40 final at Lord’s. Finally, the City Academy in Bristol was awarded a grant of £2,000 to support their cricket programme.

All decisions were reached by a joint MCC and BBC judging panel.

***

Retiring Leicestershire players Claude Henderson and Matthew Haggard were both honoured during the final day of the county’s match at Grace Road yesterday. Henderson received a silver salver for his decade-long service, while former captain Hoggard was presented with a sliver fox.

© Cricket World 2013