Ben Duckett learns from 2019 semi-final disappointment to lead Nottinghamshire to Blast title

NICK FRIEND AT EDGBASTON: With memories of a harrowing defeat against Worcestershire in 2019, Duckett’s starring role 12 months later demonstrated an increasing maturity and the learnings from a chastening loss

The haunting experience of last year’s Finals Day played its part in Ben Duckett’s tournament-winning half century against Surrey, he admitted after Nottinghamshire’s clinical victory on Sunday evening.

Going into the last over of their semi-final against Worcestershire at Edgbaston in 2019 needing just six runs to win, Duckett and Samit Patel could only manage five, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in a collapse of seismic proportions.

They had been ahead of the game throughout and were 137 for 2 after 18 overs, needing just 11 runs to secure a place in the final.

However, Duckett was beaten outside off-stump by a delivery from Wayne Parnell and, with wicketkeeper Ben Cox up to the stumps, Patel was unable to scramble through for a bye. It marked a second semi-final defeat of the year, having lost in the Royal London Cup against Somerset.

With those memories for baggage, Duckett’s starring role a year on demonstrated an increasing maturity and the learnings from a chastening loss, culminating in successive boundaries in the 14th over to take him to fifty and his county to glory.

“It was all a bit of a blur at the end,” he reflected. “For me personally, it was getting us over the line after last year. Sat here right now and feeling very different to how I felt this time last year after Finals Day – not getting the lads over the line, I think I’ve come on a long way since then.

“I’d be lying if it wasn’t in the back of my mind. Taking a game that deep on a big day is always risky with the pressure and everything. Anything can happen if you go into the last over of a T20, so Dan Christian killing the game in the semi-final like he did, we didn’t speak about it but in a final you don’t want to need four or five off the last over, so it was very important to try to kill the game early.

“That was definitely a learning for me. Last year, taking it so deep and not getting over the line, I think this year when we’ve been chasing, we’ve been so good and we’ve taken risks slightly earlier than needs be. Three or four times now, we’ve actually chased some difficult targets a couple of overs early.”

^{Ben Duckett was Nottinghamshire's final hero} 

Duckett ends this season’s Blast as the eleventh-highest run-scorer, having accumulated 340 at an average of 42.5. He hit the fewest sixes of the 27 players to pass 240 runs for the campaign – the consequence, he added, of being able to play his “natural game” in a team that includes Alex Hales, Dan Christian and Joe Clarke, who hit most in the competition with 22.

In the Bob Willis Trophy, he churned out 394 runs at an average of 56.28 – only five players scored more, while he was also one of five players to record two centuries.

“It’s definitely been a good year,” he said. “I’m very proud of what I’ve done this summer in the red-ball stuff at the beginning and in the Blast stuff now.

“I think I’ve probably learned since last year that for me to play my natural game, I’ll let those guys hit the sixes and I’ll try to hit the spinners for fours and stuff and try to be there at the end and try to be a bit calmer than I was last year.

“I’ve certainly worked very hard over the past 12 months to mainly improve my fitness. I’m moving a lot better, I feel a lot better. I hit thousands of balls this winter in the nets with Mooresy and Ant Botha.

“We’re in an era at the moment where the England white-ball team is that good that there are plenty of players around the circuit who deserve to be playing for their country, but it’s such a hard squad to get into. For me personally, I’m not even thinking about playing for England. I’ll try to win games for Notts and put performances in. If I was to get a call-up again one day, then I’ll be over the moon.”

Dan Christian, the Australian allrounder and Nottinghamshire captain, added that his side’s fortuitous quarter-final victory over Leicestershire on Thursday had given his charges “a little bit of a rocket”, having dominated the group stage before almost throwing away their initial good work at Trent Bridge.

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

Only Surrey could match their haul of 16 points across the 10-game round-robin phase, but they were then forced to rely on a greater powerplay score than Leicestershire to progress to Finals Day after their quarter-final ended in a tie, with the same number of wickets also lost on each side.

He pointed, too, to their batting depth; despite losing Hales, Clarke and Patel in the batting powerplay against Surrey in the final, Imad Wasim – who has batted in Pakistan’s top six – was due to come in at No.9.

Christian, for whom this was an eighth T20 tournament title, was also able to call upon Peter Trego, the nineteenth-highest run-scorer in Blast history, as an injury replacement for Chris Nash, who hurt himself while diving in the semi-final.

“To have that kind of depth in your order is just massive for us,” he explained. “It gives the top order so much freedom just to be able to go out and play shots and try to knock games on the head, particularly when we chase.

“We’ve been a really good chasing team all year. That showed again tonight.”

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