THE FINAL!

Middlesex Panthers vs Nottinghamshire Outlaws

Pitch: Following the two games earlier in the day the pitch will spin throughout although once the dew comes down the ball might be harder to grip for the spinners. The high heat all day has made the outfield lightening fast so this match is perfectly balanced between the bowlers and the batsmen. It could take one stunning performance to win it today!

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Good luck to both sides and well done on reaching the final! Please can we have tactics by Friday midnight so that voting can be undertaken over the weekend with the winner announced on Monday 3rd September!

Great work thanks Gregers, will get my tactics up a bit later tonight.

Middlesex XI for the Final
A couple of changes after the semi final with Jack Brooks and Yuvraj Singh returning in place of James Foster and Irfan Pathan

No	Player	Ave	SR	Bowling Ave	Econ
1	Martin Guptil (o,u25)	36.78	132.02	-	9.50
2	Shane Watson (o)	31.29	144.84	24.75	7.28
3	Brendon McCullum (o,wk)	32.55	137.24	-	-
4	Dawid Malan (u25)	32.15	118.00	23.00	6.90
5	Eoin Morgan (u25)	26.33	130.64	-	-
6	Yuvraj Singh (o)	26.98	133.93	23.07	7.21
7	Darren Maddy	30.18	132.97	23.84	7.95
8	Daniel Vettori (o,c)	19.40	122.87	21.16	6.25
9	Jack Brooks	14.75	134.09	30.15	6.93
10	Steven Finn (u25)	9.00	90.00	25.76	7.54
11	Boyd Rankin	8.00	84.19	16.25	5.41

Toss: bowl first and try to restrict, then take advantage of the dew later and make hay.

Batting
With one of the strongest batting lineups in the competition we're aiming to chase down whatever's needed. So Guptil, Watson and McCullum are tasked with getting the ball through/over the infield in the powerplay, with one or more of them to manage the chase. Malan's job is to support and rotate the strike, while Morgan and Yuvraj are strong against spin, and able to score quickly. Backup comes from Maddy, Vettori and Brooks.

If we bat first the plan is to make hay off seamers in the powerplay and in general, while taking a slightly more calculated approach to the spinners, looking to pick the gaps and use the fast outfield.

Bowling: if we bowl first:
Finn and Rankin open up first, Finn attacking to try and take wickets with his pace, and Rankin looking to cramp the batsmen with his bounce. Brooks then replaces Finn with his accuracy outside off stump. At the other end Watson bowls the last powerplay over before giving way to Vettori who will try to impose pressure on a spin-friendly deck. Yuvraj offers up a couple of overs of spin later on before Rankin and Watson handle the death overs.

Steven Finn (4 overs 1,3,11,13)
Boyd Rankin (4 overs 2,4,17,19)
Jack Brooks (3 overs 5,7,9)
Shane Watson (3 overs 6,18,20)
Daniel Vettori (4 overs 8,10,14,16)
Yuvraj Singh (2 overs 12,15)

If we bowl second:
Same plan in the powerplay vs batting first. However with dew threatening to impede the spinners Yuvraj's overs are bowled by Brooks and Watson, while Vettori will start his spell, and be replaced by Maddy if the dew proves too hard to deal with.
Steven Finn (4 overs 1,3,11,13)
Boyd Rankin (4 overs 2,4,17,19)
Jack Brooks (4 overs 5,7,9,15)
Shane Watson (4 overs 6,12,18,20)
Daniel Vettori/Darren Maddy (4 overs 8,10,14,16)

Nottinghamshire Outlaws Vs Middlesex Panthers

Alex Hales - U25
David Warner - Overseas
Michael Lumb
AB de Villiers - Overseas, Cap
James Taylor - U25
Morne Van Wyk - Overseas, WK
Samit Patel
Stuart Broad - U25
Graeme Swann
Pat Cummins - Overseas, U25
Lasith Malinga - Overseas

Toss: Bowl first. Squeeze with my bowling attack and then I have the firepower to chase any score.

Bowling: I will start with an over of Samit as openers generally prefer pace on the ball and if we are bowling second then it gets and over or two of spin, depending on how Samit's first over goes, out of the way before the dew becomes a factor. Then I will bowl Malinga and Cummins in the PP looking to get a wicket with my strike bowlers, along with Broad, and pull back the scoring rate. My spinners will operate in the middle overs and they will enjoy the spin of the pitch and even if we are bowling second Samit's darts shouldn't be too effected by the dew and Swanny will cope because he will be desperate to bowl on the worn, turning pitch after 100 overs have already been bowled on it today! Malinga and Broad return at the death and they are a deadly death combination and will not let Middlesex get away in the final overs.

Patel - 1, 8, 10, 12
Malinga - 2, 14, 18, 20
Cummins - 3, 5, 15, 17
Broad - 4, 6, 16, 19
Swann - 7, 9, 11, 13

Patel can bowl a second over in the PP if batting second to negate the dew, or if he bowls his first well.

Batting: All of my batsman have had a taste of international cricket and have all performed at the top level so they shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with the pressure of chasing a total, or setting one for that matter. Warner and Hales will play their natural games and look to get us off to a flyer and get us ahead of the rate. Lumb will come in a do the same, before ABDV and Taylor can come and re-build if necessary or push on the rate as well. ABDV is my ace in the hole and he can almost win me the game from any position on his own. Morne Van Wyk has an exceptional T20 record and he can be my finisher, as well as Patel who has proven his batting capabilities for England also. Broad and Swann can also whack it if given the chance.

The pitch description says that one stunning performance can win the day and I feel my side is stacked with enough match winners to take it. Warner, Hales, ABDV, Van Wyk, Swann, Cummins and Malinga can all win a game on their own and hopefully at least one of them can come off!



Thanks for running this Gregers by the way!

VOTING OPEN!

Please vote today if possible, if not then ASAP!

Gregers wrote:VOTING OPEN!

Please vote today if possible, if not then ASAP!

Who won the toss?

Alternately, I can generate a dice roll - I call "Evens".

The member 'Pete C (Kiwireddevil)' has done the following action : Dices roll

'D10' : 3

ADMIN wrote:The member 'Pete C (Kiwireddevil)' has done the following action : Dices roll

'D10' : 3

I know I forgot something!

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The toss has been won by...

Middlesex Panthers and they will bowl first

My vote on the Final...

Notts Outlaws v Middx Panthers

Finn starts well by knocking over David Warner, bringing England openers Lumb and Hales together. The pair take advantage of the wayward Rankin and by the end of the powerplay its an impressive 53-1. Hales knicks off to Brooks before, in a crucial moment, AB is stumped off the bowling of Dan Vettori. Lumb continues to play a blinder, and Taylor gets going after a slow start. Lumb falls for 68 in the 17th over, bringing van Wyk to the crease. Taylor leads in the way in taking 22 from the last over. A final score of 173-5 is probably just above par.

Patel gets Notts off to a sensational start, cleaning bowling both Middx's top order Kiwis! A Malinga yorker takes out Dawid Malan, but this only puts the partnership of Shane Watson and Eoin Morgan together. After a short rebuilding period they both play imperiously. Watson smashes Broad around the park whilst Morgan hits some stunning sixes off Swann, who doesn't quite have his finest match. With 3 overs to go Middx need another 33. At this point Watson holes out, and Yuvraj faces a couple of dots before releasing the pressure with a huge six. 25 off 12 is still a big ask but Broad bowls a no-ball at the wrong moment. Morgan hits the free hit into orbit, and there is 6 more taken from the over. Only 9 needed from the last over. Malinga to Yuvraj. First two balls are perfect yorkers, and then Yuvraj is foxed by the slower ball and is out caught and bowled. Mr T20 Darren Maddy comes in needing 3 a ball and takes a single from the first. Morgan needs 8 off 2, but the first is a wide, leaving 7 off 2. The next ball sees Morgan play a wonderful helicopter shot to dig out the yorker but it bounces just inside the rope. 3 needed from the last ball, which Morgan edges through the slips and just over the rope out of the reach of Samit Patel who has been despatched to fine leg. Morgan also brings up a tournament-winning ton off the last ball!

Middlesex Panthers win by 5 wickets
Man of the Match: Eoin Morgan

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At this point I'd like to thank Gregers (and Sainty) for running the tournament and also thank kiwi for helping out with injuries etc.

Its been great fun, and it was good to see the two best sides reach the final.

My vote:

Middlesex Panthers win by 1 wicket off of the final ball. Morgan hits the winning 4 to just reach the target.

So difficult to seperate the two best sides in the tournament

So hard to call.

I'm plumping for Middlesex by 3 wickets, Dawid Malan being the unsung hero of the chase, hitting a match winning 49*.

I am going to say Notts by 10 runs after a brilliant 95 from David Warner gives them just enough runs to see off Middlesex

I'm going with Notts by 15 runs, all about the quality of their bowlers.

Thanks to Gregers and Sainty for running it.

I'm going Middlesex by 4 wickets off the 2nd to last ball, late hitting from Yuvraj getting them over the line.

I'm going Notts by 9 runs, very close final.

And a thanks to Gregers and Sainty for their efforts.