The 2023 Vitality Blast Finals Day sees Essex face Hampshire Hawks in the first semi-final before Surrey take on Somerset for places in Saturday evening's final; watch every ball from all three matches live on Sky Sports Cricket, with coverage starting at 10:30am
Friday 14 July 2023 06:11, UK
It's Finals Day time as the 2023 Vitality Blast concludes with the traditional triple-header of cricketing mayhem at Edgbaston on Saturday to determine the top T20 outfit in the country.
With three T20 games in one day - two semi-final clashes taking place before the showpiece final - Finals Day has become a huge fan favourite of the domestic calendar.
And you can watch every ball as Sky Sports Cricket brings you live coverage throughout the day, with build-up starting from 10:30am, ahead of the first match at 11am.
2022 Vitality Blast Finals Day schedule:
11am - Essex vs Hampshire Hawks
2:30pm - Surrey vs Somerset
6:45pm - Final
It's an all-southern affair this year on Finals Day, with Essex, Hampshire Hawks, Surrey and Somerset the final four left battling it out for the trophy.
Essex and Hampshire face off in the first semi-final, before Surrey and Somerset then go head-to-head in the second.
They've all tasted success previously on Finals Day, though Surrey have still to add to their 2003 win in the competition's inaugural season - unthinkable really for a club of such stature. They've made Finals Day six times since, finishing as runners-up on three occasions, including most recently in 2020.
Somerset know all about being runners-up. Winners in 2005, they have been edged out in the final four times since, including in three successive seasons from 2009 to 2011.
The most famous of those instances was their defeat in 2010 to Hampshire, when Somerset could have run out an injured Dan Christian off the final ball to win but were instead distracted by their own appeal for lbw against him. The game ended in a tie and Hampshire won by virtue of having lost one fewer wicket.
Hampshire are no strangers to thrilling wins on Finals Day. The defending champions have been successful a joint-record three times (level with Leicestershire), with their latest triumph last year also going right down to the wire.
With Lancashire Lightning needing four to win off the last ball, Nathan Ellis bowled a no-ball, gifting them two runs and an extra delivery, only to then concede just one from the subsequent free hit to clinch the most remarkable of victories.
Essex have, meanwhile, made Finals Day on five occasions but have only reached the final itself once, in 2019, the very year they lifted the trophy.
Surrey's side is simply stacked with star power, including England internationals Jason Roy, Sam Curran and Will Jacks, the latter of whom has smashed the most sixes in this year's competition with 31.
Not only that, but there's perennial Finals Day performer Laurie Evans - who won the tournament in 2014 with Birmingham Bears and has been back since with both Sussex and Surrey - as well as overseas stars, veteran West Indies spinner Sunil Narine and Australian Sean Abbott, who smashed a record-equalling 34-ball century against Kent earlier in the tournament.
Hampshire boast the leading run-scorer for 2023 in captain James Vince and his 657 runs at an average of 65.70. Meanwhile, Australian fast bowler Nathan Ellis is still with the team and has had another terrific season, including career-best figures of 4-6 to see them beat Worcestershire Rapids in their quarter-final.
While Hampshire have the top run-getter, Somerset hold 2023's leading wicket-taker in Ben Green and his 27 scalps at an average of 17.22. New Zealand seamer Matt Henry is not far behind either, contributing a fourth-best 24 wickets over the tournament.
Plus, on the batting side of things, there are few as destructive at the top of the order than 21-year-old supreme talent Will Smeed. He is second only to Jacks this season for six-hitting, with 29, while team-mate Tom Kohler-Cadmore is only one behind on 28.
For Essex, veteran off-spinner Simon Harmer was the star of the show when steering them to victory in 2019 and much will be expected of him yet again, while Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams has had quite the season, smashing 24 sixes while scoring at a whopping 173.36 strike-rate over the campaign, as well as also chipping in with 23 wickets.
Plus, there's England batter Dan Lawrence, who struck a match-winning 62 for Essex in their quarter-final win over Birmingham. He will have a bit of a dilemma on his hands though should Essex be pitted against Surrey in the final, having just last month agreed a three-year deal to join the Oval-based outfit.
Somerset look to be the ones to beat based of the form guide this season, having won 12 of their 14 group games before then edging out Notts Outlaws in their quarter-final.
Two of those defeats came against fellow finalists Surrey and Hampshire, however. Somerset hammered the Hawks in their opening group game, bowling them out for 74, but Hampshire would gain revenge winning a five-run thriller in their second meeting. Surrey, meanwhile, beat Somerset in Taunton off the back of a fine 60 from Jacks and five-for for Curran.
Surrey themselves qualified comfortably for the quarter-finals courtesy of winning eight of their first 11 games, though they slumped to three successive defeats to close the group stage, including a stunning loss to Middlesex who ended a 14-game losing streak by chasing a Vitality Blast-record 254 at The Oval.
Surrey, though, crucially got back to winning ways in their quarter-final, ending Lancashire's own 21-game unbeaten record at home in the Blast, with Roy and Evans both firing fifties in their victory at Old Trafford.
Hampshire too made light work of qualifying, despite starting their campaign with two defeats in three. They ultimately finished second in the South Group with nine wins from 14 and cruised past Worcestershire in their quarter-final, bowling the Rapids out for just 100 on their way to a five-wicket win.
As for Essex, their passage to Finals Day wasn't quite so serene, with qualification not secured until a final win over Surrey and help from Somerset in defeating their rivals for fourth spot, Kent. Then, tasked with facing North Group winners Birmingham on a seven-game win streak, Essex snuck over the line to a tense two-wicket victory in their quarter-final at Edgbaston.
Watch every ball from Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday, with all three matches live on Sky Sports Cricket. Coverage starts from 10.30am, with play under way in the first semi-final from 11am.
