T20 Blast Final, Edgbaston
Northamptonshire Steelbacks 169 (19.5 overs): Vasconcelos 88; Baker 5-21
Hampshire Hawks 155 (19.2 overs): Weatherley 75; Sales 3-25
Northants won by 14 runs
Northamptonshire Steelbacks claimed their third T20 Blast title after beating Hampshire Hawks in an enthralling Edgbaston final.
After being asked to bat first the Steelbacks survived a monumental collapse, losing their final eight wickets for 31 to post 169, opener Ricardo Vasconcelos providing the backbone with 88.
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But they mounted a fine comeback of their own with the ball to prevent Hampshire becoming the first team to win four T20 Blast titles in a nerve-shredding climax which went to the final over.
The Hawks needed 31 to win from the final 20 balls with five wickets in hand but that became 15 to win from the final six balls with just two wickets remaining.
Joe Weatherley was on strike on 75 – having hit an unbeaten 88 in their semi-final earlier in the day – however he skied Ben Sanderson to Northants skipper David Willey inside the rope at long-on and then Sanderson bowled Sonny Baker from the next ball to secure victory by 14 runs.
The England paceman had earlier become the first bowler to claim five wickets on Finals Day in Hampshire’s semi-final win over Notts Outlaws.
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After producing a fine display with both bat and ball to see-off Notts, James Vince opted to bowl first after winning the toss for the final, despite knowing the Steelbacks had beaten Somerset batting first in the opening semi-final.
Despite claiming the early scalp of dangerman and former Hawk Chris Lynn, the Australian veteran clipping a short Baker delivery to Chris Wood at short fine leg, the Steelbacks rallied with Vasconcelos and Nathan McSweeney (30) adding a swashbuckling 60 in six overs.
Another 69 followed between Vasconcelos and Lewis McManus from the next 7.2 overs with Northants 138-2 with 4.5 overs remaining before McManus holed-out off Scott Currie for 22.
It sparked an almighty collapse as left-handed opener Vasconcelos departed for a career-best 88 from 59 balls, featuring 11 fours and two sixes, falling to a slower-ball from Baker, the first of six wickets to fall in 12 deliveries.
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Three of them came in Baker’s final over, leaving him with career-best figures of 5-21 – just three days after his 5-24 in the quarter-final – to become the first player to register a Finals Day five-fer.
James Fuller ended with figures of 7-62 across eight overs on the day as the Steelbacks were dismissed in the final over.
The Steelbacks made the perfect start to the reply as Toby Albert edged the first ball from Willey to the keeper but Vince and Weatherley – who had combined for a stand of 126 in the semi-final – steadied the ship with 40 before Vince skied one off James Sales to Vasconcelos to depart for 17.
Weatherley remained to surpass Luke Wright’s 2018 record of 125 for the most runs on a single Finals Day but lost Ben Mayes (9) before dangerman Tristan Stubbs (2) was bowled by a peach from leg-spinner Calvin Harrison five balls later and, despite Hilton Cartwright hitting 11 from four balls, he was yorked by Sales to leave the Hawks up against it with eight overs remaining.
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Sales registered figures of 3-25 to make it 4-41 across eight overs on the day and 25 wickets in the competition.
Weatherley posted his second half-century of the day and had Liam Dawson in support but 74 were required from the final seven overs and 58 from the final five.
On the ground where he scored a career-best 68 for England against India on Tuesday, Dawson helped himself to 17 off Willey’s final over to move to 26 and leave the Hawks needing 41 from the final 24 balls.
Dawson spun to paddle a six over fine leg off Luke Procter to reach 35 from 18 balls but was calamitously run out at the non striker’s end two balls later after setting off for a leg-bye single which Weatherley turned down.
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Fuller came in with 32 needed from 20 balls but Weatherley took charge to become the tournament’s leading run-scorer and leave his side needing 22 from the final two overs.
It was down to 17 two balls later before Procter cleaned up Fuller’s off-stump as he tried to cart the ball over mid-wicket and Currie followed two balls later as he botched an attempted ramp.
Weatherley then holed-out after a 53-ball stay which yielded nine fours and two sixes and Baker followed him straight after to start the Steelbacks celebrations.
Steelbacks join T20 kings
As one of the counties working with a smaller budget, it can be easy for Northamptonshire to slip under the radar.
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But in the past two seasons under ex-Australia head coach Darren Lehmann, the Steelbacks have started to punch above their weight again.
They returned to Finals Day last year for the first time in nine years only to lose to Hampshire in the semi-final, with Lynn scoring an unbeaten 108 for the Hawks.
He switched to the Steelbacks this year and though he did not play a huge part with the bat on Finals Day, the 36-year-old was instrumental in helping them win the Central and West Group and their quarter-final victory over Gloucestershire, hitting two centuries along the way.
Sales ended with 25 wickets, just two off the most in the competition and on the biggest T20 stage posted figures of 4-41 from eight overs across the semi and final.
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At 23-years-old, another great Sales chapter is being written into Northamptonshire folklore and after impressive showings across the past two seasons, the Steelbacks already look like they will take some stopping in search of a record fourth crown next season.
Hawks left to wonder, what if?
Joe Weatherley followed his 88* with 75 in the final [Getty Images]
Nobody has made more Finals Day appearances than the Hawks, but across those 12 appearances they have lost nine of their 17 matches and this is now back-to-back defeats in the final.
It is hard to be critical of a bowler who became the first to claim a five-wicket haul on Finals Day, but in a game of fine margins three fielding errors from Baker which led to boundaries could have made a huge difference to the overall equation.
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The turning point was the run-out of Dawson, who was sent back by Weatherley at a point when the Hawks needed 32 runs and had 20 balls to find them, with Dawson continuing the scintillating form which saw him register an international best 68 on the same ground earlier this week.
A thought too for Weatherley, who finished as the leading scorer in the competition with 591, and also became the leading run-scorer on Finals Day with 163, smashing Luke Wright’s record of 125 from 2018.
If he had connected an inch further up the bat with the first ball of the final over he would have had a six and Hampshire would have needed nine more runs from five deliveries.
Another season of so near, but so far, for the Hawks and skipper Vince, who is now 35.
And he might feel that one title in 14 years, with this crop of talent, feels like a modest return.
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