Lancashire vs Northants, Final at Birmingham, Aug 29 2015, NatWest t20 Blast

RESULT
Final (D/N), Birmingham, August 29, 2015, NatWest t20 Blast
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(20 ov, T:167) 153/6

Lancashire won by 13 runs

Player Of The Match
47 (26)
alex-davies
Match centre 
Scorecard summary
Lancashire 166/7(20 overs)
47 (26)
3/14 (4)
Northamptonshire 153/6(20 overs)
44* (37)
end of over 207 runs • 1 wicket
NHNTS: 153/6CRR: 7.65 
Alex Wakely4 (2b 1x4)
Josh Cobb44 (37b 2x4 1x6)
Gavin Griffiths 3-0-23-2
James Faulkner 4-0-25-2

10.10pm: Croft and his men lift the Blast trophy, then comes the champagne, bubbles all over the place... We'll leave them to it, thanks for all your comments today, George's report from the ground will be up on the site soon. All our Lanky readers, remember to enjoy yourselves responsibly. G'night!

10pm: Man of the Match is Alex Davies "I think it's six times now and the first time we've managed to get over the line, so happy for the lads. Me and Ashwell wanted to get us off to a good start. It was actually quite a nice surface to bat on, we thought it might be a bit worse, but we got a score and back our spinners. We knew we could defend a score like that. Without being too cheesy, it's probably the best day of my life."

Northamptonshire captain Alex Wakely: "We've played well this year, as a team, someone has always put their hand up. I'm really proud of the guys. We've got a lot of good young players coming through, it's quite tough playing teams with bigger financial backing but we'll keep trying to punch above our weight."

Lancashire captain Steven Croft, who has just made his 116th consecutive T20 appearance: "I've been playing for 10 seasons now, glad we got over the line, we've been playing good T20 cricket for a long time. We've had good one-day sides, not won a trophy, hopefully we can get something started. We built the momentum up as the tournament went along. The slow bowlers played brilliantly. [For the fans] Definitely, it's been a long time coming and a pleasure to celebrate in front of them."

9.40pm: Lancashire, beaten finalists last year, finally get their hands on the trophy. It was a super team effort that got them there, from a group of players that found form at the right time having sneaked through the group stage. The longest day in cricket has ended one of the longest waits - Lancashire have won more T20 games than any other side since the format's inception but never triumphed in five previous Finals Day attempts. Their last piece of limited-overs silverware came in 1999, at the end of a decade when they were one-day kings; they've been paupers ever since. They can savour this one now, though credit to Northants for scrapping the whole way. After two damp squib semis, we had a tense tussle to crown the champions. What a moment for Gavin Griffiths, too, a 21-year-old who only made his T20 debut this afternoon; he held his nerve brilliantly at the end and getting rid of Afridi was the moment Northants knew the jig was up.

19.6
4
Griffiths to Wakely, FOUR runs

full, Wakely aims down town, gets a thick edge to third man - it's not enough, Lancashire win by 13 runs and claim that long-awaited first T20 title!

One hand on the trophy now...

19.5
Griffiths to Wakely, no run

pitched up outside off, Wakely swings... and misses

19.4
1
Griffiths to Cobb, 1 run

full length outside off and driven into the covers

Miracles and snookers required now, as Alex Wakely comes out

19.3
W
Griffiths to Kleinveldt, OUT

wide, length delivery... and plopped into the hands of long-off! Kleinveldt falls, reaching for the ball, searching for the big hit, safely caught

Rory Kleinveldt c Croft b Griffiths 11 (8b 2x4 0x6 9m) SR: 137.5
19.2
1
Griffiths to Cobb, 1 run

low full toss on the stumps, can't get it away, through the leg side but along the turf

19.1
1
Griffiths to Kleinveldt, 1 run

shuffles across outside off, slower ball, wide and edged down to third man, just a single

Griffiths to bowl, a huge order for Kleinveldt and Cobb

end of over 198 runs
NHNTS: 146/5CRR: 7.68 RRR: 21.00
Rory Kleinveldt10 (6b 2x4)
Josh Cobb42 (35b 2x4 1x6)
James Faulkner 4-0-25-2
Gavin Griffiths 2-0-16-1
18.6
1
Faulkner to Kleinveldt, 1 run

low full toss from Faulkner, he can only squeeze a single out through the covers - so Northants are left needing 21 from the last over

18.5
1
Faulkner to Cobb, 1 run

pitched up on the stumps and Cobb drills it back down the pitch... into the stumps at the non-striker's end! That might well have been four (or an injury for the umpire)

18.4
1
Faulkner to Kleinveldt, 1 run

full outside off and thick-edged through gully

18.3
4
Faulkner to Kleinveldt, FOUR runs

slower ball, sits up outside off and Kleinveldt slices it away through backward point, that'll be four

18.2
Faulkner to Kleinveldt, no run

pitched up, Kleinveldt digs it out firmly but straight back to Faulkner in his follow through

18.1
1
Faulkner to Cobb, 1 run

up in the blockhole, Cobb heaves to leg, will only get one through midwicket

James Faulkner is back on and will bowl, 29 needed off 12 balls

end of over 187 runs • 1 wicket
NHNTS: 138/5CRR: 7.66 RRR: 14.50
Rory Kleinveldt4 (2b 1x4)
Josh Cobb40 (33b 2x4 1x6)
Gavin Griffiths 2-0-16-1
Arron Lilley 3-0-20-0
17.6
Griffiths to Kleinveldt, no run

goes wide and fires the ball full, just inside the tramlines, Kleinveldt throws the bat and misses

17.5
4
Griffiths to Kleinveldt, FOUR runs

full outside off, swings and gets an edge, that will run fine of third man... They'll take them anyway they can

17.4
1
Griffiths to Cobb, 1 run

full and straight, swatted into the leg side

Rory Kleinveldt is in, they need a barrage to get home from here

17.3
W
Griffiths to Afridi, OUT

slower ball, slogged into the deep - gone, picks out the man! Afridi falls, by the sword, naturally, flat-batting the ball to the fielder at deep cover. Lancs closing in

Shahid Afridi c Livingstone b Griffiths 26 (18b 2x4 1x6 24m) SR: 144.44
17.2
1
Griffiths to Cobb, 1 run

full length outside off, Cobb skies it... but Davies puts down a dolly at extra cover! Straight through the hands and he falls to the ground and covers his head

17.1
1
Griffiths to Afridi, 1 run

pitched up on the stumps and driven down the ground for one

Faulkner still off the field, so Gavin Griffiths will bowl only his fifth over in T20 cricket

end of over 176 runs
NHNTS: 131/4CRR: 7.70 RRR: 12.00
Josh Cobb38 (31b 2x4 1x6)
Shahid Afridi25 (16b 2x4 1x6)
Arron Lilley 3-0-20-0
James Faulkner 3-0-17-2

Excellent over for Lancs, the required rate up to 12 now

16.6
Lilley to Cobb, no run

very full again, smacked hard along the ground but Lilley shows cat-like reflexes to grab it and even threatens to run out Afridi backing up, too

Here's Mmuj: "Will be interesting to see how Croft uses last over of Faulkner. LALA likes to take game till last ball #Asiacuphitting..."

16.5
Lilley to Cobb, no run

speared on off stump, 66mph and dug out straight back to the bowler

Match details
Edgbaston, Birmingham
TossNorthamptonshire, elected to field first
Series
Season2015
Player Of The Match
Series resultLancashire won the 2015 NatWest t20 Blast
Hours of play (local time)18.45 start, First Session 18.45-20.00, Interval 20.00-20.15, Second Session 20.15-21.30
Match days29 August 2015 - daynight (20-over match)
Umpires
TV Umpire
Reserve Umpire
AskESPNcricinfo Logo
Instant answers to T20 questions
Northants Innings
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NatWest t20 Blast

North Group
TEAMMWLPTNRR
WARKS14104200.200
WORCS1494190.682
NHNTS1475160.115
LANCS1476150.469
NOTTS1476150.018
DURH145811-0.149
LEICS144711-0.304
YORKS145811-0.324
DERBS144108-0.662
South Group
TEAMMWLPTNRR
KENT1494190.166
SUSS1475160.206
HANTS148616-0.120
ESSEX1476150.208
GLOUC1477140.354
GLAM147714-0.522
SURR145613-0.145
SOM144810-0.184
MIDDX144990.030