Royals Ready to Defend the Crown

Aug 16 2013

The Royals celebrate at Edgbaston last year

Friends Life t20 Finals Day
Saturday 17 August
Edgbaston

The Hampshire Royals are out to defend the Friends Life t20 crown as they head to Edgbaston for a fourth Finals Day in a row on Saturday.

The Royals will take on Surrey in the second Semi-Final (2:30pm start) and then potentially Northamptonshire or Essex in the Final (6:45pm start) as all three matches take place on a single day in Birmingham.

Background:
Hampshire have enjoyed their most successful group campaign ever, losing only once across the 10 matches. The Royals secured a spot in the knock-out rounds with two group games to spare with a last-over win over Essex at The Ageas Bowl. The holders then booked their place at Finals Day after a thrilling one-run victory over the Lancashire Lightning. Hampshire have won the domestic twenty20 competition twice in their history; last year and in 2010. With this year their fourth consecutive season at Finals Day, the Royals have earned the tag of the consistent twenty20 side in the country.

Surrey:
Semi-Final opponents, Surrey are a team whom the Royals beat twice in the group stages; by five wickets with four balls remaining at The Ageas Bowl, then by seven wickets with 10 balls remaining at the Kia Oval. The Londoners finished as Runners-Up in the notoriously difficult South Group to Hampshire and then beat the Royals' traditional Finals Day opponents Somerset in the last eight. They have been to Finals Day on four occasions (winning the inaugral tournament in 2003) but not since 2006. Skipper Gareth Batty will not feature for Surrey at Finals Day after he was given a two-match ban for an incident in the Quarter-Finals, neither will Kevin Pietersen, who is under England doctor's orders to rest. Both teams' final matches before Finals Day was against each other in a Yorkshire Bank 40 match at the Ageas Bowl - a three wicket win for the hosts with eight balls remaining.

Essex:
The Eagles qualified for Finals Day in style after a Shaun Tait hat-trick helped see off the Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Trent Bridge. The Royals beat the Eagles at home by five wickets with four balls remaining in the group stage (pictured left), after the reverse fixture was rained off (the Eagles later qualified for the knock-out stages after finishing in third place in the South Group). Hampshire will remember beating the same team at Finals Day 2010 on their way to an historic competition win on home turf. That match was the third and final time James Foster's team made it to the final four; they have never got past that stage. Experienced all-rounder Graham Napier will be key to Essex’s chances on Saturday alongside Owais Shah and Quarter-Final hat-trick hero Tait.

Northamptonshire:
The Steelbacks are a team the Royals have only played once in this form of the game - a Quarter Final they lost by 13 runs at Wantage Road in 2009. They topped the Midlands, Wales and West Division this season and then demolished the Durham Dynamos at home on Tuesday thanks largely to a 32-ball 58* (including four fours and four sixes) from Aussie batsman Cameron White. Northants have appeared in the final four just once - that 2009 season - where they lost to eventual winners, Sussex in the Semi-Final. Explosive batsman Richard Levi is expected to play for Norhants alongside relatively unknown seamer Mohammad Azharullah who is the leading wicket-taker in the competition so far with 24 wickets at an average of 11. 

Hampshire Squad:
Hampshire have named a 15-man squad for the day which includes all 13 players who have played for them thus far in the competition, plus Hamza Riazuddin and Michael Roberts.

All eyes are likely to be on two men in particular, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Michael Carberry.

For Club Twenty20 captain, Mascarenhas it will be the last chance to get his hands on the silverware his team have practically made their own - winning the tournament in two of the last three seasons - as he retires from County Cricket at the end of the Summer.

Amongst his armoury is the tournament’s second-highest run-scorer, Carberry, who became only the third Hampshire player ever to make a Twenty20 century during his side’s Quarter-Final clash with Lancashire at The Ageas Bowl last week.

Mascarenhas will also be looking to the likes of young left-arm seamer Chris Wood, who held his nerve brilliantly to bowl the final over and win the match for the Royals during last season’s Final in Cardiff.

What the team say:

Full Squad:

Coverage:
Live text commentary will be available via the Hampshire Cricket Twitter and Facebook pages. A feed to these will also be available on this website.

There will be ball-by-ball commentary available on BBC Radio Solent online and via the Tune-In radio app (search for BBC Live Event number 16).

Finals Day will be shown live on Sky Sports Ashes from 10.30am.

Interact with us!
Before the season started the Royals sent out a warning to the other counties by showing exactly why they're Champions with some incredible "Royals Style" Twenty20 Skills. Click on the video below to see the footage...

In honour of this, on Finals Day, we'll be urging you to show your support for the Royals by tweeting using the #RoyalsStyle hashtag. A feed of your tweets will be included on this website.

Weather Forecast:
Showers (if all three matches cannot be played on Saturday, there will be a reserve day on the Sunday.) For full information on weather interruptions and all other rules and regulations on Finals Day, please click here.

Additional Information:
For more information about timings and travel options for the day please click our Friends Life t20 Finals Day Information article. Can't get to Finals Day? Why not watch it from The Ageas Bowl? Click here to find out more.