The Cricketer looks back at the standout performers following the second week of the T20 Blast
The England batsman’s fine summer has continued even in the absence of international cricket. Returning to Kent on the back of his maiden Test double hundred, he has made five scores in the T20 Blast – all between 22 and 67, helping his side to sit atop the South Group and still unbeaten.
His crowning innings in a good week for both the 22-year-old and his county came in a one-run win over pre-tournament favourites Sussex. Crawley struck a rapid 67 against a bowling attack featuring George Garton, Tymal Mills, Ollie Robinson and Danny Briggs.
Only eight players made more runs in last year’s T20 Blast than Tom Kohler-Cadmore – all the more impressive in a Yorkshire side that failed to make it out of the group phase. And after a slow start to the competition, the 26-year-old has lit the blue touch paper once more.
He struck an unbeaten 85 in a win over Durham, batting through the innings, having handed the T20 captaincy back to the returning David Willey. With a career strike rate of 141.54 in the shortest format, Yorkshire will be in a strong position if he gets going.
Stevie Eskinazi has done everything that could possibly have been asked of him. Coming into this year’s T20 Blast campaign without Eoin Morgan, while having also lost Dawid Malan, Paul Stirling and AB de Villiers from last year’s top order, the pressure was on those remaining to share the run-scoring burden.
And while Max Holden begun the competition with a century against Essex, Eskinazi has been Middlesex’s star man. In the second week of the competition, he added scores of 51 and 79 to the 84 he made against Kent in the second round of games. No one else has passed fifty on three occasions.
Daniel Bell-Drummond is enjoying a fine tournament
Like Crawley, Daniel Bell-Drummond has been in terrific touch for Kent. Missing both Joe Denly and Sam Billings to England duty, there was some pre-Blast talk of how the remainder of Kent’s engine room might step up.
Well, only Eskinazi has outscored Bell-Drummond across the competition; his 228 runs have come at an average of 57 and a remarkable strike rate of 180.95, while he has struck more boundaries than anyone else in the tournament. Last week, as Kent cemented their place at the top of the South Group, he smashed 81 against reigning champions Essex.
When Ian Cockbain spoke to The Cricketer ahead of this year’s T20 Blast, he admitted that it was occasionally a source of irritation that he so often flew under the radar. “It’s a bit of a tough pill to swallow, to be honest,” he said.
“I look at the guys above me and even some of the guys who haven’t scored as many runs as me. They get higher honours or in the franchises. It does feel frustrating sometimes.”
Therefore, he could scarcely have chosen a better time to unleash than live on Sky Sports in a primetime evening slot at Edgbaston. In a game shortened to a 12-over affair by rain, he hammered an unbeaten 84 off just 35 balls. For a brief moment, a century was on the cards. A phenomenal, eye-opening knock.
How Surrey have missed Ben Foakes. And, indeed, how fortunate England are to be able to dispense with a player of his talents quite so readily. With Surrey searching for only their second win of 2020 in all competitions, the wicketkeeper strode to the crease at 23 for 4 on Saturday evening; Will Jacks, Laurie Evans, Hashim Amla and Rory Burns were already out.
Middlesex, albeit with a low score to defend, were going about their work commendably. Nathan Sowter and teenage leg-spinner Luke Hollman were terrific for the visitors. With Jamie Smith for company and in the knowledge of a long tail, Foakes guided his side home imperiously. He took 50 balls over his unbeaten 60 – a tremendous effort in difficult conditions.
Ian Cockbain went ballistic against Birmingham Bears
That Cockbain was only narrowly the man of the match in Gloucstershire’s T12 victory over Warwickshire says a lot for the contribution of Tom Smith in the second half of proceedings.
What ultimately won it for the Liverpool-born batsman was the fact that his earlier assault on the bowling had made Smith’s job more manageable. Nevertheless, figures in three overs of 5 for 16, while the opposition side required upwards of 12 runs per over, represent a remarkable effort.
Gareth Batty doesn’t stop; 42 years young, the veteran off-spinner continues to wheel away for Surrey. His last six overs in the T20 Blast have cost just 30 runs, with four wickets coming his way.
Against Middlesex, but for Foakes’ heroics, he might have been named man of the match. But talking to Sky Sports afterwards as captain, he expressed his delight at the success of a new delivery he has been working on. The same enthusiasm was audible in his celebration after James Harris was trapped in front. What is it they say about old dogs and new tricks? Not in Batty's case.
Northamptonshire have emerged as the team to beat in this year’s Blast, and thus far no one has managed it. Five games, one washout, four wins. There have been plenty of standout performers; Paul Stirling and Richard Levi have both scored their runs at a rapid, hard-hitting rate, while Brandon Glover, Graeme White, Ben Sanderson and Nathan Buck have all taken at least five wickets.
In the field, Saif Zaib’s boundary catch against Glamorgan last Thursday was tremendous – a moment to sum up the confidence of a team. And in the same game, Buck took four wickets, ensuring that a score that at one staged looked set for 180 became something more chaseable.
Two days earlier, he had played a key role in a 38-run win over Birmingham, with his three overs costing just 15 – with a maiden squeezed in for good measure.
Gareth Batty and Steven Finn have both had good weeks
Mason Crane’s success has been a heartening tale of this season, given the injury troubles that preceded it and have dominated his recent past. Even before the T20 Blast got underway, he had taken 12 Bob Willis Trophy wickets at 11.91 apiece. And now, he is back in his apparent stronger suit.
Last week, he took 4 for 31 from his six overs, including a match-winning spell of 3 for 18 against Essex – an occasion that saw him dismiss Cam Delport, Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence. Of the 48 top wicket-takers, only Birmingham left-arm wrist-spinner Jake Lintott and Sussex’s Danny Briggs have recorded a better economy rate.
Middlesex’s T20 captain has been in fine fettle in the last week. The former England bowler is the second highest wicket-taker in the competition, just a solitary victim behind Tom Bailey.
The 31-year-old has conceded his runs at just 6.75 runs per over as well – a fine effort, given some of the periods in which he has opted to bowl himself. He took seven wickets last week, including three in a fine win over Essex and two each in narrow defeats against Sussex and Surrey. He enjoyed a similarly good 2019 campaign; only four men picked up more wickets.
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