NatWest T20 Blast: Four to watch out for on Finals Day

Finals Day of the NatWest T20 Blast is upon us.

Coverage from Edgbaston on Saturday begins from 10.30am on Sky Sports Ashes HD, with defending champions Birmingham Bears taking on Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the first semi-final, before Hampshire and Lancashire Lightning clash in the second.

The final which follows should be at approximately 6.45pm, but who can we expect to feature, and which four players could be the key to firing their sides to victory?

Click on the video above and read on below to find out our Finals Day Four...

Chris Woakes

A knee injury has not only hampered Chris Woakes' international aspirations for England this summer, but it has also restricted him to just two T20 Blast appearances for the Birmingham Bears. One of which was an impressive display in the quarter-final win over Essex - scoring and unbeaten 48 from 23 balls and taking 1-22 from his four overs - but it was his efforts at Finals Day last year which will strike the most fear into the opposition.

A useful 22-run cameo with the bat preceded some remarkable control with the ball at the death. With Lancashire requiring an easily gettable 14 from the final six balls - as Andrew Flintoff rolled back the years with two huge sixes to end the previous over - the pressure was on Woakes. But an over of perfectly executed yorkers saw the Birmingham Bears to the T20 Blast title and makes them the team to beat on Saturday.

David Willey

The first team to get their chance is Northamptonshire, as they take on Birmingham in the first semi-final, with one man in-particular looking to make an impact like he did in the quarter-finals.

David Willey scored a sensational hundred - his first in T20s - from just 41 balls in the Steelbacks' 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 Northants 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.

James Vince

Willey wasn't the only one to post a big score in the quarter-finals as Hampshire's James Vince also hit his maiden T20 hundred in their rain-affected win over Worcestershire.

The Hampshire captain hit an unbeaten 107 off just 65 balls to help fire his side to a sixth straight Finals Day, continuing his sensational form in this season's competition, He sits joint-second in the top run-scoring charts with 641 runs at an average of 49.30, just 13 runs short of Gloucestershire's Michael Klinger's mark in top spot. 

Vince played in both of Hampshire's 2010 and 2012 successes, but will be hoping for better than the one run he managed in their semi-final defeat to Lancashire last year when he faces the Red Rose county once more in the second semi-final on Saturday.

Jos Buttler

It has been a tough summer for Jos Buttler. He has struggled for form and fluency in the Ashes, scoring just 122 runs in the series at an average of 15.25, placing him higher than Adam Lyth, Jimmy Anderson and Steven Finn only. But back in the comfort of his favoured format, firing Lancashire to Finals Day success may be just what's needed to break him out of his funk.

Buttler's T20 Blast best this year was a blistering 71 from 35 balls in the Roses clash against Yorkshire at Headingley. He hit five fours and sixes (two fours and one six of which came in the final over) as Lancashire chased down 186 to win… and four days later he hit his ODI best of 129 to help England pass 400 for the first time in their Edgbaston win over New Zealand. With England's T20I against Australia in Cardiff on Monday preceding five ODIs, more of the same please.

Watch the NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day live on Sky Sports Ashes from 10.30am on Saturday.