NICK FRIEND looks back at some of the top performers from the T20 Blast group stage, focusing on those who have enjoyed a breakthrough year - whether coming in as teenage debutants, returning from injury or continuing to fly beneath the radar
It would be going too far to suggest that George Garton has reinvented himself in recent times, just as it would be unjust to suggest that the last month has acted as a breakthrough for the 13-year-old left-armer.
Garton’s story has been well told: thrown into an England training squad ahead of an Ashes series, with those in charge captivated by his ability to bowl at genuine pace with a buccaneering action. It has not quite worked out in red-ball cricket yet, but he is forging a reputation for himself as a terrific, increasingly rounded cricketer – a gun fielder and improving batsman to boot.
He was the leading wicket-taker in last winter’s Abu Dhabi T10 League and was rewarded with a trial week with Rajasthan Royals ahead of the auction.
He has only played six T20 Blast matches for Sussex this season, but he might just be the reason his county are in the quarter-finals.
With two wins needed from two games to confirm their place in the knockout phase, he produced terrific all-round displays, taking four-wicket hauls against Middlesex and Essex, before hitting match-winning cameos of 24 and 34 not out. His knock against Middlesex saw him take 20 from the penultimate over of dicey chase, while he saw his side home against Essex from the position of 59 for 5.
Not a breakthrough as such, but in a star-studded line-up, a coming of age campaign that is not done yet. And that is down to him.
When 18-year-old Sam Wisniewski came into the attack for Yorkshire on his professional debut against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford, he became the second left-arm wrist-spinner to turn out in the T20 Blast this year. Another – Freddie Heldreich – has trained with Northamptonshire this season.
The first, however, was Jake Lintott, a 27-year-old who – until Birmingham Bears came calling – thought his chance might have gone. He previously played briefly for Hampshire and Gloucestershire, before taking up a role as director of cricket at Queen’s College Taunton.
In nine games for Birmingham, he took ten wickets at 18.9 apiece, with an economy rate of just 6.30 – a fine effort for a man performing the rarest of arts.
Speaking to The Cricketer two games into the campaign, he stressed the importance of his point of difference. “I rely on people not being able to pick me,” he explained. “I’m quite lucky – I tend to bowl with a very fast arm. Even in the nets at Warwickshire, I’m constantly asking people if they picked it.”
In his first five matches, he bowled 15 overs at a cost of just 65 runs, claiming seven scalps in the progress as batsmen struggled against his whippy wrist action and a googly that slid across right-handers from over the wicket.
George Garton has emerged as an increasingly rounded multi-dimensional cricketer
One innings apart, Will Smeed has begun his Somerset career quietly – as one might expect from an 18-year-old thrown in at the deep end only a month after signing his first professional contract.
But in that knock – his second for the county, he announced himself as a talent to be reckoned with – one of several to emerge from Somerset’s ranks this year.
He smashed 82 off just 49 balls, outdoing more celebrated senior partners in Babar Azam, Steven Davies, Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory
That he struggled thereafter should scarcely concern his county, having shown what he is capable of at so young an age – not least against Gloucestershire, who went on to win the Central Group as Somerset fell short.
Fellow youngsters Tom Lammonby and Lewis Goldsworthy have also impressed, while Ollie Sale is still just 24 years of age.
He came into this campaign having only ever represented Somerset’s first team once before – all the way back in 2016.
Injuries have held him back but he featured in nine matches this year, bowling quickly and ending the season as the county’s top wicket-taker, even if an expensive final over against Gloucestershire sealed his side’s early exit from the competition.
Paul Coughlin has already broken through once, so much so that he found himself on an England Lions tour, before joining Nottinghamshire from Durham. However, it was there that injury struck, leading to a run of rotten luck that ultimately saw the allrounder return to his home county in search of a change of fortunes.
For context, he was only fit for three T20 Blast fixtures between August 2017 and this year. Given that fragility, coming through this shortened season unscathed would have represented a successful summer for Coughlin.
“That idea of trying to return home – I just felt that I needed a change of luck,” he told The Cricketer in a candid interview after confirming his move back to Durham.
Yet, more than simply surviving the season, Coughlin took 13 wickets as Durham – after losing their first five games – almost snuck into the quarter-finals. Only six players took more scalps in the group stage, while no one in the top 15 wicket-takers had as potent a strike-rate.
Teammate Matty Potts – Durham’s leading wicket-taker in last season’s competition – also took 13.
Paul Coughlin endured a torrid time with injuries at Nottinghamshire, but has impressed on his return to Durham
The 21-year-old could hardly have wished for a better start to his professional career, having followed up a haul of 17 wickets in two Bob Willis Trophy matches with 14 more in the T20 Blast.
The left-arm spinner is joint as the leading wicket-taker in the competition, alongside Jake Ball, Tom Smith, Timm van der Gugten, Steven Finn and Olly Stone, only two of whom will have an opportunity to add to their group stage efforts.
Born in Surrey before being raised in South Africa, he returned to England as a teenager, representing MCC Young Cricketers as he continued to learn his trade.
An ever-present in an oft-changing Surrey line-up, he went about his work with an economy rate of just 6.75, taking a wicket every 15.4 balls.
Lining up among a group of talented youngsters – with Will Jacks and Jamie Smith for company, Moriarty is one to watch.
One of 34 T20 Blast debutants this year, Luke Hollman ends his first season as a professional cricketer with a T20 batting average of 34.75 and a bowling average of 18.11.
The 19-year-old leg-spinning allrounder made a tremendous impact once being drafted in by Stuart Law to make his debut against Sussex at Lord’s. Delray Rawlins, Ravi Bopara, Dan Lawrence and Adam Wheater represent a decent quartet of dismissals in his first two games.
He followed up with seven more, including a fine spell in the return fixture against Sussex of 3 for 18 that turned the match on its head until George Garton’s late assault snatched victory from Middlesex. In his final game of the competition against Hampshire, he took two more wickets, before reverse-sweeping Mason Crane for six with the bat.
Luke Hollman and Joe Cracknell have grown up playing together in club cricket and are now impressing for Middlesex
Hollman is part of a production line at amateur club North Middlesex that has in the last two years seen Ethan Bamber and Joe Cracknell also sign professional contracts with Middlesex.
As well as his wickets, he topped the run-scoring charts in 2019’s Middlesex Premier League with 816 runs at an average of 54.4. In this year’s shortened season, he struck 356 at an average of 118.67 before his involvement at county level ended his club campaign.
Cracknell also impressed after making his Blast debut; the 20-year-old smashed a hole above the scorer’s box at Lord’s on debut, pulling an almighty six off Jamie Overton almost onto Father Time, before following up with a 21-ball half century against Kent in just his second match as a professional cricketer.
A young batsman with heaps of talent, he also struck an unbeaten century against Ireland last year during a warmup match ahead of the one-off Test against England at Lord’s.
The Gloucestershire batsman has been too successful for too long for this year to be viewed as a breakthrough summer. However, his unbeaten 84 off just 35 balls against Birmingham Bears might just open doors for the 33-year-old, who spoke ahead of the tournament of his frustrations at flying under the radar. Only 19 men in T20 Blast history have scored more runs than the Liverpool-born batsman.
“It’s a bit of a tough pill to swallow, to be honest,” he told The Cricketer. “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.”
And so, with Sky Sports in town and a game reduced to 12 overs per side, he chose a terrific time to make hay. He struck seven sixes and six fours in a quite remarkable knock, targeting a short leg-side boundary at Edgbaston, but also hitting enormous sixes over the longer off-side.
He repeated the trick in the final game of the group stage, with Gloucestershire already safely through but Somerset needing to win to confirm their own spot. His knock of 89 off 57 balls knocked out Somerset, while ensuring that Gloucestershire topped their group.
Only Stevie Eskinazi, Luke Wright and Daniel Bell-Drummond scored more runs in the group phase. Only Joe Clarke of the top 50 run-scorers have a better tournament strike rate than Cockbain’s somewhat ludicrous figure of 174.05. Likewise, his 22 sixes put him three clear of anyone else.
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