Redknapp faces Freddie, while Willey fires with 34 in an over...
Saturday 29 August 2015 10:40, UK
What can we expect from the Finals Day of the NatWest T20 Blast on Saturday?
If the rest of this season's competition is anything to go by, there will plenty of entertainment on offer at Edgbaston, and you can watch it all from 10.30am on Sky Sports Ashes HD.
But what have been the best moments of the tournament so far? Click on the video above and read on below to find out...
Rip-roaring Roses clash
This Roses clash had it all. Not that the local derby at a sell-out Headingley wasn’t enough, but it was further aided by a reverse-sweep six of the first ball by Glenn Maxwell, and fine performances from some of the England Test team – Gary Ballance, Joe Root and Jos Buttler – who were made available for the clash.
Ballance smashed 31 from 18 with three sixes, Root hit a half-century, and had some fun with the Sky Sports commentary team. But the standout was Buttler who showed just how devastating he can be in the shortest format with a blistering 71 from 35 balls with five fours and sixes (two fours and one six of which came in the final over) as Lancashire chased down 186 to win, Maxwell missing a run-out chance from the final ball!
Redknapp faces Freddie
It wasn’t the only entertainment provided at the Roses match that night. Jamie Redknapp faced the fearsome bowling of Freddie Flintoff, and the slightly less intimidating – but ex-England international all the same – Matthew Hoggard at Headingley too.
Filmed for the new series of A League of their Own, it is fair to say Redknapp’s results were mixed, but at least the former Liverpool midfielder made it through the ordeal in one piece.
Cobb's crazy catch
They say catches win matches. And although this might not exactly be true of this T20 Blast quarter-final between Northamptonshire and Sussex, as a certain knock from David Willey will later prove, this stunning effort from Josh Cobb certainly played its part in the Steelbacks' success.
Sussex were coasting along on a belter of a pitch, with boundaries fir for toddlers, at Hove, with Mahela Jayawardene hitting fifty off 30 balls and the Sharks 87-1 after nine overs. But then Cobb's stunning, sliding catch in the deep to dismiss the Sri Lankan star turned the game in their favour. Sussex managed only 65 runs from their final 10 overs and Willey did the rest… but more on that in a bit.
Hales’ six succesive sixes
This blistering knock from Alex Hales set the tone and got the party started on the opening night of the 2015 T20 Blast, as he smashed six successive sixes against the holders, the Birmingham Bears. His explosive exploits came in the 11th and 12th overs – with Boyd Rankin and Ateeq Javid the unfortunate bowlers – as the Nottinghamshire Outlaws made light of their 142-run target, winning with 33 balls to spare.
Hales struck 86 from 43 balls with five fours and eight sixes before then sadly denying us his talent for the next few weeks as he flew out to the IPL to sit on the bench for the Mumbai Indians. The Outlaws struggled without him and so sadly we won't be seeing him light it up in similar fashion on Finals Day.
Willey wows with hundred
Hopefully this man provides the entertainment with the bat at Edgbaston though. Willey scored a sensational hundred from just 41 balls in Northamptonshire's quarter-final win over Sussex, with seven fours and a staggering 10 sixes. Chasing 166 to win and nicely placed at 78-1 after eight overs, it was Willey's aerial assault on Michael Yardy in the next over that all but booked a Finals Day spot with the six balls in the scorecard reading 6-4-6-6-6-6.
Willey leaves his home county for Yorkshire next summer and so will want to bow out by firing the Steelbacks to the T20 title like he did two years ago, when he hit 60 from 27 balls, and took 4-9 with the ball – including a hat-trick – in the final against Surrey.
Watch the T20 Blast quarter-finals live on Sky Sports Ashes, starting with Sussex versus Northamptonshire from 6.15pm on Wednesday.
