Over the years, the English domestic Twenty20 cricket tournament has provided some thrilling finishes, and 2018 was no exception as Worcestershire Rapids won the competition for the first time on a dramatic Finals day at Edgbaston in mid-September.
The Rapids were regarded as rank outsiders before the competition started. According to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site, only Leicestershire had longer odds of success, but the Rapids were boosted by the return of England international Moeen Ali.
The Worcestershire stalwart had often been unavailable for county duty, but in 2018, he was appointed captain for the Twenty20 tournament and brought a level of commitment and calm, but decisive leadership to the role, bringing together a team made up largely of unheralded talents and steering them to Finals Day. Along the way, they’d topped the North Division, winning nine of their thirteen games, and secured a comfortable five-wicket win over Gloucestershire in the last eight.
Up against a strong Lancashire Lightning team in the semi-finals, the Rapids put on a dominant performance, restricting Lancashire to 149 to set up the final against Sussex Sharks. The high-scoring Sharks had been impressive in their semi-final, registering a huge total of 202, which Somerset were unable to match. Worcestershire, bowling first, restricted them to a modest score of 157, but chasing any target in a final is traditionally seen as a difficult task.
With 14 balls to go, Worcestershire still needed 25 runs to win, but fortunately they had the star of Finals Day, Ben Cox, at the crease. Up against one of the finest death bowlers in Twenty20 cricket, Chris Jordan, Cox swiped an audacious six back over the bowler’s head to cut the required target to 19 from 13, and bring up a huge roar from the Worcestershire supporters.
The Rapids needed 17 to win from 12, but off the second ball of the 18th over, Joffra Archer completely miscalculated, bowling a beamer that went for six wides. Cox then capitalised from the free hit next ball, smashing a six over the leg side boundary, and with four runs needed for victory, he obliged off the very next ball, guiding it through square leg to bring up a famous win.
Cox finished with 46 not out and the Man of the Match award, to go with his 55 in the semi-final, to cap a remarkable Finals Day for the wicket-keeper, who earlier in the week had been left out of Worcestershire’s County Championship squad for their game against Surrey. And along with the all-round contributions of Moeen Ali, who powered the Rapids with bat and ball, Worcestershire were also boosted by the guile of the tournament’s top bowler Pat Brown, a young medium pacer whose subtle variations kept a lid on the Sussex innings, and who ended the T20 Blast with 31 wickets.
Worcestershire are the 13th team to win the Blast in its 16 seasons, and no team has been able to retain their title in the tournament’s history, so the Rapids will face a tough challenge next year in what promises to be another exciting and wide-open Twenty20 festival.
