My 2019 Vitality Blast Experience

Following on from a successful summer as an England fan I was going into the T20 Finals supporting my county team Essex, feeling positive and somewhat certain that the trophy would come back to Chelmsford. My initial feeling turned out to be true...

T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston is notorious for its great atmosphere, feel good factor, edge of your seat cricket and beer fuelled chants of Sweet Caroline echoing around the stadium. This was my first time experiencing Edgbaston and Finals Day and it did not disappoint!

I wasn't the only one who hadn't gone through the Finals Day drama before. It was also Essex's semi-final opponents Derbyshire's first time in Birmingham for the event. Going into the semi-final, Essex were slight favourites just because they'd been there before a couple of times, however never going the full way and clinching the trophy itself.

The result went Essex's way quite convincingly as they chose to bat first and set a respectable score of 160-5. The Eagles' openers Tom Westley and Cameron Delport both left the field with honourable scores of 39 runs off 34 balls (Westley) and 55 runs off 31 balls (Delport). Ravi Bopara and Adam Wheater also added to the score with 27 and 20.

You could say in this game Essex were more influential with the ball in hand, as they struck Derbyshire all out for 126, 34 runs off the target score. Notable wicket-takers were captain Simon Harmer who claimed 4 wickets and Aaron Nijar who took 3. Other wickets were shared singly between Daniel Lawrence, Aaron Beard and Cameron Delport.

Having quite simply dispatched Derbyshire with no real problems, Essex moved into the final to face holding champions of last years Blast Worcestershire.

Captained by Moeen Ali, Worcestershire were clear favourites having won the competition last year whilst having an experienced side with the names of Brett D'Oliveira and Riki Wessels along side England spinner Moeen Ali on the team sheet. However it's not always about experience and whether or not you won the trophy the previous year, as we found out on the night with the young, enthusiastic Essex squad churning out an emphatic victory over Worcestershire on the final ball.

Having won the toss, Essex decided to bowl first and therefore chase a target score. Ali and Wessels were the main run scorers in the Worcestershire side having scored 31 and 32. Parnell and Mitchell chipped in with 19 each, with 10 or under coming from the remaining batsman, which left Worcester on a tight score of 145-9. Simon Harmer proved to be emphatic with the ball again, claiming 3 wickets. Dan Lawrence helped knock down the Worcester numbers by getting 2 wickets along with Ravi Bopara and Delport getting 1.

Batting second allowed Essex to gauge the direction of the match and take the game one over at a time. Westley set another good score of 36 but the fall of wickets after Delport's dismissal for 1 slowly turned the game into Worcester's favour... or so it seemed. Wheater and Lawrence knocked a good score of 15 and 23 allowed Essex to take shape into the game, but when trusty Ryan Ten Doeschate entered the field and survived only 4 balls to put the Eagles at 75-4, the balance of the Blast Final heavily favoured the Sharks. This was reinforced when Essex lost Dan Lawrence and were 82-5. What happened from this point on was a true testament to the great sport that cricket is and the amazing summer we've had witnessing cricket.

Ravi Bopara entered the field with it all to do and the Essex were dependant on him to pull off something special in order to claim the trophy. It was written in the stars, the man to take Essex to victory after spending over 18 years at the club, playing nearly 500 games and debuting at the age of 17. Bopara hit a well-needed 36 and took Essex to victory alongside Man of the Match Simon Harmer who hit the remaining runs needed and scored a total 18 runs.

The Eagles were looking down and out during the middle overs of the final but the boys never gave up and showed great fight and will to bring home Essex's first ever T20 trophy. The win was tremendous as not only was it a personal achievement for the Eagles (it being the first T20 trophy) but a county record as a couple weeks later they beat Somerset to claim the Division One County Championship. This meant that Essex were the first ever county team to do the double, winning the Div 1 League and the T20 Trophy.

I had access to the changing rooms and pitch-side as I was part of the family and friends of the Essex team, and the atmosphere in the changing room was amazing. The pure pride and happiness of being the underdogs taking home the trophy was something special. Here's to more domestic success for the Eagles.

Time to make even more history and win the trophies back-to-back in 2020!