We've got stats on most sixes, number of hundreds and more....
Friday 14 August 2015 18:41, UK
If the group phase is anything to go by, there will be fireworks aplenty in this week’s NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals.
Sixes and fours were smashed at will – by a famous Jamaican, in particular – and wickets tumbled as Sussex, Northamptonshire, Birmingham, Essex, Worcestershire, Hampshire, Kent and Lancashire booked last-eight berths.
So, before you watch the knockout stage live on Sky Sports, check out the best facts and figures from the tournament so far…
654 – The number of runs biffed by Gloucestershire’s Michael Klinger, the highest in the competition so far. The Australian plundered three hundreds and four fifties – including a best of 126 not out from 68 balls against Essex – but his team still missed out on a quarter-final place by one point.
328 – The astronomical average held by Chris Gayle after he whacked scores of 92, 151no and 85no in his three matches for Somerset. The West Indian clubbed 29 sixes and 22 fours at a strike rate of 192.94 before flying home to play in the Caribbean Premier League for the Jamaica Tallawahs.
182 – The number of runs put on by Middlesex’s Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling for the opening wicket at Sussex, just five shy of the record Blast partnership of 192 shared between Kevin O’Brien and Hamish Marshall for Gloucestershire against Middlesex at Uxbridge in 2011.
158 – The score walloped by Brendon McCullum for Birmingham against Derbyshire at Edgbaston, the highest in the history of the Blast. The New Zealand skipper creamed 13 fours and 11 sixes to surpass Luke Wright’s total of 153 for Sussex in a game with Essex a year earlier.
62 – The number of runs shipped by Essex’s Graham Napier from his four overs against Gloucestershire in Bristol. Napier was hit for six sixes by a rampant Klinger, including four in the final over of the home team’s innings, as Gloucester recorded a 34-run victory.
29 – The record number of sixes bludgeoned by Gayle and Wright in the tournament so far. Gayle smoked six against Essex, 15 against Kent and eight against Hampshire, while Wright’s best maximum haul came against Gloucestershire, the Sussex skipper blasting eight in a score of 111 not out.
23 – The amount of wickets picked up by Gloucestershire spinner Tom Smith. Essex’s Shaun Tait and Durham’s Usman Arshad are the next highest with 22, while Worcestershire twirler Saeed Ajmal (21) and Birmingham seamer Recordo Gordon (21) have also passed to the 20-scalp mark.
13 – The total catches for Lancashire’s Steven Croft and Leicestershire’s Tom Wells. Croft has also taken the most catches in the history of T20 cricket in England, with his 71 takes placing him ahead of Rikki Clarke (57), Ryan ten Doeschate (55), James Hildreth (52) and Daryl Mitchell (50).
11 – The total number of hundreds scored in the 2015 Blast so far, with Klinger (three), McCullum, Gayle, Wright, Malan, Jesse Ryder, Jason Roy, Sam Northeast and Jacques Rudolph the men to get them. Only eight centuries were hit in the entirety of the 2014 competition.
5-14 – Kyle Abbott’s figures as he ripped through Sussex at Hove, the Middlesex man dismissing Chris Nash, Chris Jordan, Luke Wright, Steffan Piolet and Tymal Mills. James Franklin, Matthew Fisher, David Payne and the aforementioned Tom Smith have also snaffled five-fors this term.
5.19 – The frugal economy rate of Birmingham’s Clarke from his 42 overs of seam. The all-rounder has been a key man for the Bears, chipping in with 11 wickets, 204 runs, 24 boundaries and nine catches to help last term’s champions reach the quarter-final stages as North Group winners.
Watch the T20 Blast quarter-finals live on Sky Sports Ashes, starting with Sussex versus Northamptonshire from 6.15pm on Wednesday.
