Start the Falcon!

Cricket from out of this world was the tagline for the new-look inter-planetary t20 competition and some of the cricket played was well worth its place in a galaxy far, far away. The tournament has been re-jigged over the years with the first three editions not going down very well with several purists.

This time, things were different and in the end it was the Endor Rebels who won the title after chasing down 185 to beat Galactic Empire in a thrilling final. The Rebels seemed to have an answer to everything thrown at them. Han Solo rarely failed but when he did, someone would always step up to the plate. This was perhaps most notable in the semi final where Chewbacca bludgeoned his way to 79 off just 27 balls. It was a brutal onslaught that saw him hit 32 off one over!

The Rebels were largely thankful to Han Solo, who’s 718 runs came at a swashbuckling strike rate of 174.37 and included a breathtaking 133 off 61 balls against the Tatooine Bounty Hunters. He missed out by inches on becoming the first player to hit a ball into the Mighty Sarlaac. Not bad for an ex-smuggler! The Rebels were also well led by Admiral Ackbar who set several clever traps to dismiss key opposition batsmen throughout the tournament. The brother/sister opening bowlers of Luke and Leia Skywalker bowled to these traps on their way to an impressive 47 wickets between them.

Solo’s old foe Boba Fett had a solid year behind the stumps for the Bounty Hunters, however, team owner Jabba the Hutt was not impressed with his soft dismissal in the semi final and threw him into the Great Pit of Carkoon. Rumours have been going around that he may still play in next year’s competition.

Galactic Empire should be rather satisfied with getting to the final. Before Alderaan, set to be led by Bail Organa, pulled out for unknown reasons (the Emperor is rumoured to have had something to do with it) they didn’t have a berth in the tournament. Darth Vader did little to repress the notion he’s too “old school” for the short format. His innings’ were usually characterised by a solid back foot punch through the covers. His runs did come at a strike rate over 140, although only 27 of his 495 runs came through the leg side.

The Jedi Knights were a major disappointment. Crushed by the Empire in their first home game, things didn’t improve and they went on to lose all of their remaining games. “Improve on this next season we must” was the verdict of coach Yoda. The Knights particularly suffered when Obi Wan Kenobi was banned from bowling his doosra amidst claims he was using a Jedi mind trick in his delivery stride. He was never seen again after the away game against the Galactic Empire.

Franchise t20 in England. The Question.

The debate about whether England should or shouldn't adopt a franchise t20 system has raised its head again in the wake of the recently concluded Australian Big Bash competition.

Personally I’m open to the idea of franchises in England but have some major concerns about it.

In the Big Bash games drew in big crowds largely due to reasonably priced tickets and the competition being held in the Christmas holidays.

In Australia, the grounds where games were played are much bigger than grounds we have here. How can you get 44,000 fans into a ground for a London Derby when the capacity of Lord’s is 28000?

The way Australia is as a country geographically means 8 teams from 6 cities works. Have 8 teams in the UK and that’s a lot of people who will lose out. One of the best bits of our competition is that you can get down to a local ground after work just in time for the start. Let’s put that into context. You finish work at 5pm in Peterborough. The match at Northampton starts at 6:30. Simple (even with being stuck behind a lorry down most of the A605).

Now let’s try that again for a franchise competition. You finish work at 5pm in Peterborough. The match at Nottingham (the nearest franchise) starts at 6:30. More difficult.

If the Warwickshire/Worcestershire franchise played the Notts/Northants/Leicestershire franchise, is there a guarantee that more fans would turn up for it than they would for a Notts vs Worcestershire game?

The Northants turnaround

It was a cloudy evening in central Northampton. The back of Somerset's run chase of a modest 116 has been well and truly broken by Richard Levi and Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler and James Hildreth simply take the sting out of the attack to see Somerset home. It was one of 7 defeats for Northants in the 2012 Friends Life t20 group stage. In fact, the Steelbacks won 4 games in all forms of cricket in 2012. This year, things seemed different. It started in the County Championship and YB40 as they more than doubled their wins tally from 2012 by the end of June. So when I made my first visit of the year to Wantage Road to see Northants take on Warwickshire in their second home game of their t20 campaign, in the sun I might add, there was a sense of positivity around the ground.

Northants chose to bat first and all four required batsman scored at over a run a ball. Kyle Coetzer carried his bat. Richard Levi, who as mentioned earlier played for Somerset against Northants last year, also played a useful knock as the Steelbacks racked up 161 off their 20 overs. Over to the bowlers. Mohammad Azharullah was excpetional taking 4-25 and rightly being named man of the match. It was a fantastic all round performance and in complete contrast to 2012.

The Warwickshire game

I returned to Wantage Road a few weeks later for the Somerset game. A brilliant innings from Steven Crook saw Northants to 150-8. It turned out to be enough as Mohammad Azharullah was again in the wickets taking 3-16 from his 4 overs.

Somerset under lights

After several impressive performances in the group stage, Northants are in the Friends Life t20 quarter finals. I'll be there for the Durham game on Tuesday. Northants are the surprise package in the England domestic game this year. I hope people write us off. I hope we continue to surprise teams. What a turnaround in just over twelve months if we get to Finals day...