导出博客文章T20 Finals Day: a long days journey into a floodlit evening of fireworks and
fanfare.T20 Finals Day: three hefty dollops of disappointment, one massive
plateful of joy. The first three are staggered through the day; the joy is
celebrated until light seeps under the door of night on a Sunday morning in
BirminghamT20 Finals Day 2016: short form, short showers and the beguiling
transience of fame. Twelve months ago Gavin Griffiths and George Edwards were in
the Lancashire side that won the Blast. Late last month both players were told
they were being released. As Northants and Notts warmed up in early morning, it
really was not cheesy to hope that a similar fate does not befall any of the
players from the four teams competing this year.Losing the first semi-final of
the T20 is a bit like arriving at a party, putting your bottle on the table and
then being told that its already time to leave. And well before three oclock it
was the Outlaws who had been handed their coats. Some of Dan Christians players
may have got home by the time the final was due to start.Mick Newell was sitting
in that early press conference all four coaches wanted to avoid and bemoaning
the failure of his batsmen to chase down 162. One of the many good things about
Newell is that he does not wrap truth in euphemism: he had no problem about
selecting Dré Russell because the bloke had been playing in ICC competitions;
Notts were in a relegation battle at the bottom of Division One because they had
not been playing well enough. Already Newell was thinking about Scarborough on
Tuesday when Nottinghamshire will play Yorkshire.Most people have long since
ceased being surprised by Northants short-form cricket. Alex Wakelys men have
always punched above their weight, a particularly fine achievement in their
case. All the same, their victory against the Outlaws was a considerable coup,
not least because they had lost both Richard Gleeson and Seekkuge Prasanna from
their full-strength T20 side. So while it was difficult to work out who Outlaws
would leave out, it was also a little tricky to decide who the Steelbacks would
call on.Northants had played Notts in seven previous T20 matches and had won
none of them. They ended that miserable run partly, as Newell said, because
Notts top order performed poorly, but also because Ben Duckett played an innings
littered with invention. It would be interesting to work out how many of
Ducketts 11 fours and two sixes had a place in any of the coaching manuals
written five years ago.Certainly not the inside-edged fours, of course, and it
would be a modern cricket book that would include details of the reverse pull,
the scoop or the ramp. Yet Duckett played all of these as easefully if they were
off-drives, his bat describing exotic curves even as the ball came towards him.
DArtagnan.The Northants scorecard looked a little like that you find when a club
side imports a couple of county professionals: one bloke made 84, another 53 and
no one else more than 8. This was ironic really, since the Northants coach,
David Ripley, rightly makes much of the fact that all his players contribute to
their successesFor all that it was blessed by good fortune in its early stages,
Ducketts innings was touched by genius yet it was not the most spectacular
cricket seen in the semi-finals. That honour belonged to Mark Wood, whose
four-over spell transcended any context and reminded one that a truly quick
bowler in full cry is one of the greatest sights in the game. For many Durham
supporters Ballance ct Collingwood b Wood 0 will always be one of the great
dismissals, a reminder of a great catch at leg gully and a fast bowler in his
pomp.Mediocre? I think not.Still, of course, we were nothing like done.
Edgbaston is rarely shown to better advantage than when it hosts the T20 final,
even when the occasion is punctuated with showers. But no one seemed to mind
about the rain. Keaton Jennings played an innings as orthodox as Ducketts had
been unconventional. His booming straight sixes were toasted by one line of
dancing men wearing tennis gear from the 1950s and another group who felt an
overpowering need to watch the cricket dressed as soldiers from the days of the
Raj. Look, stranger on this island, now.Northants needed 154. The crowd waited
for Wood. When Collingwood called on him to bowl the second over there was a
rippling hush which, in its way, was comparable to that before the first ball of
a Test match. Perhaps it is fearful pace which causes such a reaction, maybe its
the animal danger as well. For a few balls Wood did not disappoint his new fans.
Scott Borthwick clung on to about as sharp a slip catch as he can have taken and
then he ran out Richard Levi. Next over Rushworth had Duckett leg before. Again
one was reminded of the current Durham Yearbook with its photograph of Paul
Collingwood clutching the badge on his shirt and brandishing it in the lens of
the camera. A hard man for hard times.Then Josh Cobb won the game for Northants.
Usman Arshad bowled a dreadful over, the type that makes opponents believe they
are not yet defeated. Rain hammered down and Cobb blasted the ball into the
blackness. A six off Borthwick cleared the Hollies Stand and sailed towards the
Colts Ground.Cobbs nickname at Wantage Road is Tuckshop; he tucked in and Durham
could not bowl to him. Wood was recalled but was pulled to the boundary and his
moment had gone. The night was filled with cracking noises as this big man in a
team of big men clubbed fours and sixes. Late wickets added a frisson of doubt
but no more. Some people left early, others danced.Soon it was done with and the
presentation platform which had lain unoccupied behind the Wyatt Stand since
early morning was being wheeled across the outfield. More rain. It billowed
vengefully across the ground as if making up for its restraint during most of
the day. But the Durham players were deep in the moment of defeat and the
Steelbacks may not have noticed a blizzard.There will never be a franchise at
Wantage Road but they had earned the right to savour their joy. At the press
conference Alex Wakely clutched the trophy, Cobb a bottle of champagne from
which he swigged. They joked and took selfies. Nobody minded. Then, like 23,700
others this boisterous day, they disappeared into the Birmingham night.
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Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset,
but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the
World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in
Brazil next year.
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MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic
dress rehearsal.
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. Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions
retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of
their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese
Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three
points behind its title rivals.
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Yeezy Outlet . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery
Friday. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the
first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. BUDAPEST,
Hungary -- Nico Rosberg of Mercedes posted by far the fastest lap during the
second practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.Teammate Lewis
Hamilton was unhurt after crashing sideways into a barrier of rubber tires,
Mercedes said. Hamilton was able to drive the car back to the pit lane and later
returned to the team garage after a medical checkup.Mercedes said Hamiltons car
would be fully stripped to be checked out, but jokingly noted it appears to
bounce rather well.Hamilton, who set the pace in the morning practice, also had
the fastest time before crashing at turn 11, about 13 minutes into the afternoon
session. Rosberg quickly bettered Hamiltons mark with a time of 1 minute, 20.435
seconds, the only driver below 1:21.It was an impressive day for us,
performance-wise, Rosberg said. That doesnt necessarily mean well be in such a
strong position tomorrow but its very positive. The car is very quick, so a good
start to the weekend.Rosbergs time was already 1.585 seconds faster than last
years top qualifying time, achieved by Hamilton.Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo was
second, 0.595 behind the championship leader, with Ferraris Sebastian Vettel,
the 2015 Hungaroring winner, finishing third.We are more or less where we
expected to be, Ricciardo said. We knew it would be close with Ferrari, so if we
can keep our nose in front that would be nice.Max Verstappen of Red Bull was
fourth and Hamilton, despite completing only four laps before his accident, was
fifth.Lewis was caught out by one of the new, unpainted kerbs ... resulting in
quite a heavy impact with the barriers, said Paddy Lowe, the technical executive
director for Mercedes. The most important thing is that Lewis was unharmed
despite the impact. There has been some damage to suspension and a few bodywork
elements -- but this will be easily fixed overnight.The Hungaroring is sporting
a repaved track and pit lane while several kerbs have been added or upgraded,
with track length remaining at 4.38 kilometers (2.72 miles).Veteran drivers like
Hamilton and Vettel did not appear keen on the changes beffore the practice
sessions.dddddddddddd By late Friday, however, most concerns seemed to have
dissipated, Hamiltons mishap notwithstanding.The new track surface isnt
massively different, said Ricciardo, who won here in 2014. I was a little bit
worried it would lose some of its character, but I think its still much the
same.Team officials were also taking the changes in stride and even attributed
the faster times to the new setup.We were pleasantly surprised. The track is
quite smooth, the kerbs are quite good, said Pat Symonds, chief technical
officer with Williams. Were pretty happy with the work thats been done.Symonds
added that while there had been talk of blistering in the tires during a
European F3 race on the Hungaroring in April on the changed track, even the
super-soft tires held up very well today.Ferrari senior engineer Jock Clear said
his team had enjoyed reasonably comfortable practice sessions with the tires.We
had some fears and theyve not really been founded today, Clear said. The kerbs
are smoother ... certainly the kerbs are making a difference on lap time.At the
same time, teams did complain about the longest-ever season of 21 races,
including a globe-hopping stretch of six races in eight weeks at the
end.Williams Symonds said 20 races had been considered the tipping point just a
few years back and that employees were starting to prefer staying at team
headquarters because of the race schedules toll on family life.I think were way
past the tipping point, Symonds said. We cannot ask our personnel to maintain
the level of activity. Therefore, were going to look at rotation.Clear agreed
with Symonds, saying that people are just very tired and the sport did not have
the luxury of using substitutes.Rosberg has 168 points halfway through the
season, one point ahead of two-time defending world champion Hamilton. Mercedes
has won nine of the first 10 races this season and 41 of the last 48.---Karel
Janicek contributed to this report. ' ' '
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