Atherton and Hussain hail Northants' Friends Life t20 Final victory over Surrey

Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain tipped all-rounder David Willey for an England future after inspiring Northamptonshire to a 102-run victory over Surrey in the Friends Life t20 Final.

Near-perfect cricket

Atherton admitted that he had not expected a Northants victory in the culmination of the Friends Life t20 competition. But after a seven-wicket victory over Essex in the opening semi-final earlier in the day and a landslide victory in the final, Northants more than deserved their win after playing near-perfect cricket, according to Atherton. "Those who have watched Northants through this tournament will not be surprised by them running out winners tonight," Atherton said. "But I have not seen a lot of them in T20 this year, so you arrive at the ground and look at the names that Essex have got, and you look at Surrey's pedigree and Hampshire the defending champions, and you think that Northants might be fourth favourites. "But there is absolutely no doubt that they are deserved winners here. They played the best cricket. What holes can you pick in their performance - there were those three (dropped) catches in the first semi-final, two from Cameron White and one from the captain, but apart from that they played near-perfect Twenty20 cricket."