The Cricketer looks ahead to this week's T20 Blast quarter-finals
The runaway early leaders, who were always primed to qualify, take on the county whose qualification came through the backdoor as direct beneficiaries of Leicestershire's two-point penalty for disciplinary breaches.
Remarkably, the two giants of the domestic game have never faced one another in T20 cricket – an indictment on the geographical setup of the round-robin phase, which has the benefits of local derbies and a reasonable travel plan but means that fixtures like this are all too rare.
Yorkshire will arrive at the Kia Oval without the country's form batter, Jonny Bairstow who, according to a Daily Mail report, has been placed on a rest period by the ECB. Bairstow has not featured at all in this campaign for Ottis Gibson's men. Adil Rashid will also be absent for Yorkshire, with the leg-spinner granted leave to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Joe Root's availability is less certain, and the former England captain could play, as could Ollie Pope for the home side.
Both teams are set to be further depleted, without their Blast captains: Chris Jordan and David Willey are both in England's squad for the T20I series with India, while key batters Jason Roy, Harry Brook and Dawid Malan will also be with the national side.
Surrey will miss the left-arm seam duo of Sam Curran and Reece Topley. They offered up a flavour of their likely resources in Sunday's defeat by Somerset, with overseas allrounder Aaron Hardie in the middle order alongside Jamie Overton and leg-spinning allrounder Cam Steel. Tom Curran, being eased back in after his back injury, batted at No.3 but didn't bowl.
Lancashire will be much-changed for their quarter-final (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Birmingham Bears are one win from Finals Day on their home turf, with a home quarter-final to come against a Hampshire side whose last T20 visit to Edgbaston culminated in a devastating semi-final loss against Somerset, having looked for large parts like they would make it through to the final.
A year on, Birmingham will provide stiff opposition: in the group stage alone, they produced the highest score in Blast history (261 for 2, with Nottinghamshire the victims) and handed down the tournament's steepest-ever victory margin (demolishing Worcestershire by 144 runs). For good measure, they also accounted for three of the top-ten totals and the second-biggest win.
Three different Bears players – Paul Stirling, Adam Hose and Sam Hain – hit centuries, and in Olly Stone they possess the rarity of a match-fit English fast bowler, whose absence from Matthew Mott's T20I squad has come as a bonus to Mark Robinson.
Hampshire might say the same of James Vince, in the form of his life with two hundreds during the group stage but seemingly stuck in the logjam that is England's white-ball batting reserves. As a team, they have been less spectacular than Birmingham but quietly steered themselves into the knockout rounds. James Fuller has flown under the radar but has picked up 16 wickets, while smashing 265 runs from the lower-middle order.
Although Hampshire are not at home, it is interesting that the Ageas Bowl is hosting the T20I between England and India on the same night as their Edgbaston quarter-final.
Michael Pepper has enjoyed a fine campaign for Essex (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
No team has been depleted more severely by England's T20I exploits than Lancashire, who are without five members of their star-studded line-up for the visit of Essex. That feels particularly unfortunate, having been unable to field their Buttler-Salt-Livingstone-David in tandem at all during the group stage. Tim David is the sole member of that quartet set to be available.
Equally, it seems both a tremendous story and a shame that Richard Gleeson – on a T20 contract with Lancashire – will be missing for England duty, having forced himself into contention on the back of his Blast form after almost retiring over the winter. It doesn't say much for the planning of the quarter-finals, taking place in the midst of so much international cricket.
Matt Parkinson will also be absent; he is the frontline specialist spinner in the T20I squad without Adil Rashid.
Essex, on the other hand, are free of international call-ups and have several players in terrific form. Paul Walter has smoked 370 runs at an average of 41.1, while Michael Pepper's breakthrough campaign has brought him 403 in 13 games. Adam Rossington has been less consistent at the top of the order but equally cavalier for the 2019 champions.
Essex have won both previous meetings between the sides, most recently en route to winning the title in the quarter-final three years ago.
Shan Masood will be absent for Derbyshire at Taunton (Tony Marshall/Getty Images)
Two more teams who've never faced one another in the Blast: last year's runners-up were always destined to reach the knockout stage, but Derbyshire have been transformed under Mickey Arthur.
They were the 18th county to reach Finals Day for the first time when they made it to Edgbaston in 2019, before struggling for the next two years. The arrival of Arthur, however, has changed things, along with the acquisition of Shan Masood as an overseas gun. The Pakistani opener is the leading run-scorer for Multan Sultans in PSL history and has been an inspirational leader.
His absence, then, will be acutely felt in the club's biggest game of the summer. Masood has been called up by Pakistan for their Test tour of Sri Lanka, with Australian allrounder Hilton Cartwright recruited as a replacement.
Even without Masood, Derbyshire have plenty of men in form: Wayne Madsen hit his maiden T20 hundred last week, while George Scrimshaw has been a revelation with the ball. Ben Aitchison made his first Blast appearance of the season in Sunday's record-breaking win over Durham, having recovered from a long-term back injury.
Curiously, had Derbyshire earned a home quarter-final, they might not have been able to host it, with a Michael Buble concert scheduled for Saturday at the Incora County Ground.
They are up against a Somerset side awash with hitters: Will Smeed, Tom Abell and Tom Banton have all been named in the England Lions squad to face South Africa for next week, though that won't affect their availability.
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