1) Somerset secure home advantage
Four into three doesn’t go, so Group A’s qualification boiled down to which of the quartet of counties disputing the top of the table could finish the stage best. Lurking in the shadows, ever ready to insert itself where it is never welcome, was the opaque Net Run Rate calculation, Duckworth-Lewis-Stern’s ugly older brother.
Somerset were having none of it. They first cruised home at Taunton against another of the hitherto fab four, Worcestershire, seven bowlers taking a wicket, with a parsimonious Jack Leach bowling his 10 overs for 37 runs.
They locked out the Group’s guaranteed home semi-final slot with another fine bowling display at Lord’s, Riley Meredith’s pace bringing him four for 27 as Middlesex found no way back from 48 for five. It’ll be rocking in the West Country on Sunday.
2) Hants not pants as they go through
Worcestershire’s narrow defeat to Lancashire in their last match of the group stage protected a healthy advantage in NRR, enough to confirm them early for a quarter-final eliminator tie. Things were much tighter between Hampshire, Durham and Derbyshire, all playing on the last day in a long-distance Mexican standoff for a chance to progress. The southerners were at Northwood to face Middlesex, the northerners more than 250 miles away, in a do or die match at Chester-le-Street.
Hampshire won, Toby Albert’s 75 off 53 balls powering his team to 276 for seven, which was defended by Hampshire’s quartet of international bowlers. In the north-east, Durham needed a win and were right in it after Scott Borthwick’s maiden List A century had got them up to 253 all out. But solid contributions right down the card got the visitors over the line in the penultimate over.
The players could commiserate each other in the dressing rooms, Durham short of the win they required and Derbyshire short of the boost to net run rate they needed. Any tentative plans for golf on the south coast come Friday were being re-arranged.
3) Glamorgan set to repeat 2021 delight?
Glamorgan, off the back of a no-result and a loss to hard-charging Leicestershire, needed a victory to top Group B and secure a home semi-final slot. Their captain, Kiran Carlson, made a handy 31, but was indebted to Billy Root’s 66 and 34 from Timm van den Gugten hiding at No 10 to go into the break even stevens.
The target of 231 was certainly a gettable one for Yorkshire, but Andy Gorvin dismissed Matthew Revis and Jonny Tattersall in three balls just as they threatened to pull the visitors back into the match. There was no way back from there.
Glamorgan won this competition to spark joyous scenes in 2021, Michael Hogan sharing a beer with fans in his swansong to the county. Carlson is two wins away from a repeat party.
4) Home not sweet home for Worcestershire
Leicestershire and Warwickshire go through to the eliminators from Group B in contrasting form. Leicestershire completed a hat-trick of wins in the last week of the group stage, seeing off Gloucestershire, Glamorgan and Yorkshire (two on DLS) to carry good form into their playoff with Hampshire.
In contrast, Warwickshire’s last win was on 4 August and two defeats to round off the group stage is hardly represents the momentum coaches and players love to talk about. It’s not all bad news for the Bears though. Worcestershire earned the right to a home semi-final against their local rivals, butthey will have to make the short trip to Edgbaston because New Road is being used for the England Lions match against Sri Lanka.
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And some say that the ECB don’t take this competition seriously.
5) Batter of the group stage
As the golden boy of Somerset left his teenage years behind, the game asserted itself on his hitherto inexorable rise. James Rew had six red-ball centuries under his belt and must have eyed this season as the chance to underline his credentials as the next in line for the England wicketkeeping position. One ton in nine Championship matches and a season average of 30 speaks to a tricky time, the kind of spell most young players go through in all sports.
Having not appeared in the T20 Blast, he has played in all eight One-Day Cup matches, scoring five fifties for average of 75 and a strike rate of 96, the type of return that leads to knockout qualification. The lad has the talent and it looks like he has the mentality, too.
6) Bowler of the group stage
I’m going to cheat a bit here and name Warwickshire’s Ed Barnard whose highly commendable 14 wickets at 16 and an economy rate less than 4.5 is eclipsed by one or two other bowlers. That said, none of them do it while captaining the side and opening the batting (390 runs, average 78, strike rate 105).
Barnard is the type of player this competition suits – a match-winner with bat or ball who is always in the game and always gives his team a chance. He is probably not quite good enough in either discipline to be called to international colours and maybe not to be drafted by a franchise, but he, like Ryan Higgins at Middlesex, is much more than that dismissive descriptor, ‘a bits and pieces player’.
