As English domestic cricket leaves 2020 behind, Nottinghamshire end it on top

NICK FRIEND AT EDGBASTON: When it came to a belated conclusion, it was Nottinghamshire who emerged as worthy, dominant winners – hardly a tale of underdogs, but a victory coated in storylines

In the Edgbaston dusk, the curtain came down on the English domestic season – a campaign that was due to begin on April 12 and finish on September 25, but then might never have happened at all.

In a year that was meant to see the introduction of a fourth format, even squeezing in two tournaments represented an exceptional, unlikely success.

Across 64 days, 143 matches took place in the Bob Willis Trophy and T20 Blast, with a further 25 in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.

By this morning, it should already have come to an end, only for Birmingham’s October weather to activate the reserve day for the first time in the history of England’s domestic T20 competition.

But then, perhaps it was wholly appropriate that a season forced to wait until the very end for its opportunity to begin should find itself prolonged 24 hours further into autumn.

And when it came to a belated conclusion, it was Nottinghamshire who emerged as worthy, dominant winners – hardly a tale of underdogs, but a victory coated in storylines, nonetheless. Ben Duckett, at the centre of a semi-final defeat in 2019, but a tremendous hero a year later; Jake Ball, stuck in a personal struggle 12 months ago, but coming out of this competition as the leading wicket-taker; Peter Trego, who lost three successive Blast finals with Somerset but, aged 39, finally has a winner’s medal.

All this without Harry Gurney, among the T20 circuit's premier death bowlers, and a misfiring Alex Hales, who went through the campaign without a half century. And even more so, all this after a series of roadblocks that have afflicted the summer in its entirety.

It was on March 20 that the first delay was announced – an indefinite suspension to summer as we know it.

May 28 was set out as the earliest possible starting date, but the realities of the situation were stark; all bar Surrey and Lancashire made use of the government’s furlough scheme; deals for overseas players fell by the wayside; it quickly became apparent that stadia would be empty, with members left without one of the social staples of their lives.

The game has been forced to adapt accordingly. May 28 became July 1, which finally became August 1. By the end of May, 10 rounds of County Championship action had been lost, while the extension of cricketing lockdown to the beginning of August meant the T20 Blast group stage, as originally scheduled, disappeared as well. The Hundred, primed for lift-off in mid-July, was postponed for 12 months.

Discussion between counties followed over what cricket – if any – made financial, practical sense. And eventually, this was it: a new red-ball tournament, followed by a shortened Blast that would see professional cricket played on these shores in the year’s tenth month for the first time in 156 years.

^{Jake Ball ended as the competition's leading wicket-taker}

Edgbaston had recruited accordingly; the ground has never had more covers on it than it did on Saturday as some wretched conditions almost gave 2020 the kind of warped, bizarre ending that would have typified the year.

Instead, it produced a hard-hitting final between the two teams who picked up the most points in the group stage, with the two most destructive batting line-ups. A sodden outfield and relentless stream of showers led to a 16-over contest – for fans of irony, a one-off format just two deliveries short of the 100-ball competition that will come into play in 2021.

For Nottinghamshire, the redemption tale belonged to Ball, who finishes the competition as the leading wicket-taker. Coming into this year’s Blast, he had picked up just nine T20 wickets across 2018 and 2019 combined. He might not even have featured this season had Gurney not picked up a season-ending shoulder injury ahead of the tournament.

Twelve months ago, the former England seamer failed even to pick up a contract for The Hundred, despite forming part of Eoin Morgan’s white-ball unit in the two years before last summer’s World Cup win.

“I’m probably bowling the best I’ve ever bowled,” he told The Cricketer in a September interview, during which he opened up on the mental battle he faced in the aftermath of his dropping by England. His return to form has been timely, not least ahead of a partial Hundred redraft in the coming months, but also for his own good.

He added: “I was at a definite crossroads, where if I had another season like I had the year before, I’d have one year left on my Notts contract and you’re thinking: ‘If I perform like that, then they’re not going to want to keep me.”

He took the key wickets of Jason Roy and Will Jacks, who was pushed down to No.3 to accommodate Hashim Amla, with the South African returning for the final after being left out for the 11-over semi-final. He used up 10 balls for just three, before slicing Samit Patel to cover.

And once Jacks fell similarly in the subsequent over, Roy and Laurie Evans came together. The pair were in fine touch; Evans, notably, looked in the form of his life. But after they both fell in the space of an over – for 66 and 43 respectively, Surrey subsided: the last nine balls of the innings delivered just nine runs.

^{Ben Duckett struck an unbeaten 53 to lead Nottinghamshire to their second T20 Blast title}

Roy had led the way, ending on a high after months of frustration with injury and poor form. A side strain had limited his international involvement, while he passed fifty just once for England in 2020 – and not since February. Fitness problems played a part in his decision to forego an Indian Premier League deal with Delhi Capitals, instead returning to Blast action following three ODIs against Australia, during which he averaged eight.

Hales, his opposite number, has enjoyed an altogether less successful Blast, averaging just 18. He fell to the first ball of Nottinghamshire’s riposte, with Patel and Joe Clarke close behind during a fraught powerplay – the fifth of six on the day to do far more damage than good to the batting side.

But Trego, only playing because of a semi-final injury to Chris Nash and making his first T20 appearance since July 28, 2019, joined Duckett to turn the game on its head.

Duckett, in particular, has enjoyed a terrific season. This evening, he was imperious – the best innings of the day by a considerable distance: chanceless, devastatingly precise and decisively composed. Even with his side 19 for 3 in the fourth over, his outward demeanour never changed, nor did his tempo.

He also looked utterly determined to make up for his Finals Day experience last year, when he missed the final delivery of the semi-final from Wayne Parnell, consigning Nottinghamshire to a scarcely believable defeat against Worcestershire.

That result was the catalyst for a long winter of self-reflection. It was the second of two semi-final defeats, accompanying a dismal, winless County Championship relegation. “The fact that we got to two semis did get overshadowed a little bit by how poor our red-ball season was,” Tom Moores told The Cricketer in July. “But everyone has worked really hard on that.”

The changes have been subtle, but improvements have been clear. They went a second year without a red-ball victory in their Bob Willis Trophy group, but drew three times and looked a far more cohesive unit.

And here, in the last throes of a unique season, they put to bed any lingering Finals Day demons with a clinical, mature run-chase that ended with 16 balls to spare.

For unrivalled coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive 3 issues for £5