What a cruel game cricket can be! And yet at the same time a fantastic one.
Yesterday’s win for Hampshire in the T20 final went right down to the wire. They looked as if they were going to coast it, and so I committed the cardinal sin of switching it off with two overs remaining. As Homer Simpson might say: ‘Doh!’
That’ll teach me to be complacent.
It appears the result was a tie, which had seemed impossible earlier considering the effortless manner of the Hants performance. Somerset had been throwing everything but the kitchen sink at their opponents but to no avail, and the fact Pollard was ‘missing presumed concussed’ served to weaken the Somerset attack. Alas for Somerset, in the case of a tie it goes down to who lost the least wickets, and that of course gifted the title to Hants!
You can’t really argue with it, however. Rules are rules, and Hants deserved to lift that trophy according to those regulations. It does seem a shame to decide a game in such a way, a bit like wheeling out a penalty shoot-out in a World cup final (not that I’m into football, overly), but Hants did look the more solid of the two teams on the day. Congrats to them, and commiserations to Somerset. Coming runner-up two years in a row must sting a bit! But it must have been fantastic to see Hants lift the trophy actually at the Rose Bowl, with so many of their fans to witness it.
I wasn’t unhappy with the result except I would have felt a little smugger in terms of bragging rights had Somerset sneaked it. My prediction for the final this year was in fact a Somerset win. Drat! So near and yet so far!
The big news of the day came when Caesar the Lion came last in the mascot race. Quite clearly he’d been nobbled! I can only assume Kenny Kennington, nose still out of joint at his usurpation, slipped Caesar a ‘Mickey Finn’ in the bar prior to the race. Either that or Chris Adams made poor Afzaal get in the costume...
On a non-cricket related matter, I have today notched up another year. It has a three in it; that’s all I am saying. So, happy third birthday to me!
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