The 2008 Twenty20 Cup was the sixth edition of the T20 Blast formerly known as the Twenty20 Cup tournament, and saw Middlesex Crusaders winning the tournament after a thrilling climax to the final against the reigning champions, the Kent Spitfires. The tournament began on 11 June 2008 before culminating in Finals Day, held at The Rose Bowl, Southampton on 26 July. As always, the eighteen county sides were split into three groups of six, depending on the location of the counties in the United Kingdom.

2008 Twenty20 Cup
Administrator(s)England and Wales Cricket Board
Cricket formatTwenty20
Tournament format(s)Group stage and knockout
ChampionsMiddlesex (1st title)
Participants18
Matches97
Attendance583,642 (6,017 per match)
Most runsJoe Denly
(451 for Kent)
Most wicketsYasir Arafat
(23 for Kent)
2007
2009

Group stage

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Tables

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Midlands/West/Wales Division

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Pos Team Pld W L T NR Pts NRR
1 Warwickshire Bears 10 6 1 1 2 15 0.694
2 Northamptonshire Steelbacks 10 6 3 0 1 13 0.431
3 Glamorgan Dragons 10 3 3 0 4 10 −0.176
4 Somerset Sabres 10 3 4 0 3 9 0.313
5 Worcestershire Royals 10 3 6 0 1 7 −0.488
6 Gloucestershire Gladiators 10 1 5 1 3 6 −0.931
Source: [citation needed]

North Division

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Pos Team Pld W L T NR Pts NRR
1 Durham Dynamos 10 6 1 1 2 15 0.984
2 Lancashire Lightning 10 6 3 0 1 13 0.921
3 Yorkshire Carnegie1 10 5 3 1 1 10 −0.312
4 Nottinghamshire Outlaws 10 4 5 0 1 9 0.027
5 Derbyshire Phantoms 10 3 7 0 0 6 −0.421
6 Leicestershire Foxes 10 2 7 0 1 5 −0.893
Source: [citation needed]

1 The match on 27 June between Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire had no points awarded after it was found that Yorkshire had fielded an ineligible player for the match; Yorkshire were also ejected from the competition.

South Division

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Pos Team Pld W L T NR Pts NRR
1 Middlesex Crusaders 10 8 2 0 0 16 0.732
2 Essex Eagles 10 6 3 1 0 13 0.937
3 Kent Spitfires 10 6 4 0 0 12 0.640
4 Hampshire Hawks 10 5 4 1 0 11 −0.505
5 Sussex Sharks 10 2 8 0 0 4 −0.876
6 Surrey Brown Caps 10 2 8 0 0 4 −0.905
Source: [citation needed]

Knockout stage

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Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
         
M1 Warwickshire Bears 133/8
S3 Kent Spitfires 175/6
S3 Kent Spitfires 173/7
S2 Essex Eagles 159/8
S2 Essex Eagles 192/9
M2 Northants Steelbacks 115/7
S3 Kent Spitfires 184/5
S1 Middlesex Crusaders 187/6
S1 Middlesex Crusaders 176/7
N2 Lancashire Lightning 164/8
S1 Middlesex Crusaders 141/2
N1 Durham Dynamos 138/6
N1 Durham Dynamos 163/8
M3 Glamorgan Dragons 119

Note: The draw for the semi-finals occurred after the quarter-finals.

Quarter-finals

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7 July 2008
Scorecard
v
Match cancelled without a ball bowled
Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street
Umpires: Neil Mallender and Tim Robinson

The match at the Riverside was postponed in bizarre circumstances. The ECB received allegations about Yorkshire fielding an ineligible player in their final group game, against the Nottinghamshire Outlaws.[1]

In an original meeting on 10 July, Yorkshire were summoned to Old Trafford and were told that they were to be ejected from the tournament, with Nottinghamshire to be reinstated in the draw.[2] However, Yorkshire appealed and at a second meeting held on 14 July, their appeal was heard and rejected, but this time Glamorgan were placed into the draw on a superior run rate, because Nottinghamshire were not awarded the points for the 27 June game.


7 July 2008
Scorecard
Essex Eagles
192/9 (20 overs)
v
RS Bopara 47 (26)
N Boje 2-29 [4]
N Boje 58* (43)
GR Napier 4-10 [4]
Essex won by 59 runs (D/L)
County Ground, Chelmsford
Umpires: RK Illingworth (Eng) and NJ Llong (Eng)
Player of the match: GR Napier

8 July 2008
Scorecard
Middlesex Crusaders
176/7 (20 overs)
v
Lancashire Lightning
164/8 (20 overs)
DJ Malan 103 (54)
A Flintoff 3-17 [4]
A Flintoff 53 (41)
TJ Murtagh 3-35 [4]
Middlesex won by 12 runs
The Oval, London
Umpires: RK Illingworth (Eng) and B Dudleston (Eng)
Player of the match: DJ Malan

9,10 July 2008
Scorecard
Kent Spitfires
175/6 (20 overs)
v
Warwickshire Bears
133/8 (20 overs)
DI Stevens 69 (32)
DL Maddy 1-7 [0.3]
AG Botha 35 (19)
Y Arafat 3-29 [4]
Kent won by 42 runs
Edgbaston, Birmingham
Umpires: RJ Bailey (Eng) and JW Lloyds (Eng)
Player of the match: DI Stevens
  • Reserve day used.

22 July 2008
Scorecard
Durham Dynamos
163/8 (20 overs)
v
Glamorgan Dragons
119 (17.4 overs)
WR Smith 51 (38)
JAR Harris 3-41 [4]
JWM Dalrymple 32 (36)
LE Plunkett 3-16 [3]
Durham won by 44 runs
Riverside, Chester-le-Street
Umpires: JW Holder (Eng) and RT Robinson (Eng)

Having waited fifteen days to play their quarter-final, Durham progressed to Finals Day after a 44-run win at the Riverside. Having been put into bat, the visitors took three early wickets, removing dangermen Phil Mustard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Paul Collingwood, with the score only on 26. After Michael Di Venuto fell, Durham looked to be in some trouble. However, a fifth wicket partnership of 53 between Will Smith and captain Dale Benkenstein pushed the score up. Smith made 51 as Durham set a target of 164, for Glamorgan to chase. It could have been somewhat lower had it not been for virtuoso innings by Gareth Breese, smashing 20 off just 9 balls, and Liam Plunkett who hit 12* off 3. James Harris took 3 wickets, but accounted for around a quarter of the runs conceded.

The Glamorgan reply could not have gotten off to a worse start, losing opener Richard Grant very first ball. David Hemp soon followed, becoming Plunkett's second victim, with only seven runs on the board. Glamorgan were always struggling with the run-rate, with most of the top-order recording strike rates of below 100. Only four players made it to double figures, with Jamie Dalrymple top scoring with 32, and had stern support from wicket-keeper Mark Wallace, who fired 26 off sixteen deliveries. However, Glamorgan fell a long way short with Plunkett, the pick of the Durham attack, taking 3-16 off three overs.

Finals Day

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Semi-finals
26 July 2008
Scorecard
Kent Spitfires
173/7 (20 overs)
v
Essex Eagles
159/8 (20 overs)
Joe Denly 36 (27)
Ravinder Bopara 3/36 (4)
Mark Pettini 54 (47)
Yasir Arafat 2/22 (4)
Kent won by 14 runs
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Umpires: Rob Bailey and Jeremy Lloyds
Player of the match: Azhar Mahmood

26 July 2008
Scorecard
Durham Dynamos
138/6 (20 overs)
v
Middlesex Crusaders
141/2 (15.4 overs)
Middlesex won by 8 wickets
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Umpires: Richard Illingworth and Neil Mallender
Player of the match: Tyron Henderson
Final
26 July 2008
Scorecard
Middlesex Crusaders
187/6 (20 overs)
v
Kent Spitfires
184/5 (20 overs)
Owais Shah 75 (35)
Yasir Arafat 2/20 (4)
Rob Key 52 (30)
Shaun Udal 1/21 (4)
Middlesex won by 3 runs
The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Umpires: Neil Mallender and Jeremy Lloyds
Player of the match: Owais Shah

Statistics

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Runs

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Player Team Matches Inns NO Runs Balls HS S/Rate 100s 50s Average
Joe Denly Kent Spitfires 13 13 0 451 379 91 118.99 0 5 34.69
Anthony McGrath Yorkshire Carnegie 9 9 2 392 296 72* 132.43 0 4 56.00
Murray Goodwin Sussex Sharks 10 10 2 345 273 79* 126.37 0 3 43.13
Rob Key Kent Spitfires 13 13 0 345 258 52 133.72 0 1 26.53
Michael Carberry Hampshire Hawks 10 10 1 334 268 58 124.62 0 4 37.11
Graham Napier Essex Eagles 12 11 1 326 167 152* 195.20 1 0 32.60
Michael Lumb Hampshire Hawks 10 10 0 315 209 63 150.71 0 2 31.50
Marcus Trescothick Somerset Sabres 8 8 0 306 185 107 165.40 1 1 38.25
Dawid Malan Middlesex Crusaders 12 10 5 306 220 103 139.09 1 1 61.20
Phil Mustard Durham Dynamos 11 11 0 303 224 61 135.26 0 1 27.54

Wickets

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Player Team Matches Overs Runs Wickets Best Econ S/Rate 4/inns 5+/inns Average
Yasir Arafat Kent Spitfires 13 44 341 23 4/17 7.75 11.48 2 0 14.82
Tyron Henderson Middlesex Crusaders 12 47 349 21 4/29 7.42 13.43 1 0 16.61
Andrew Hall Northamptonshire Steelbacks 9 34.1 271 20 6/21 7.93 10.25 0 2 13.55
Danish Kaneria Essex Eagles 12 45.1 276 20 4/22 6.11 13.55 1 0 13.80
Tim Murtagh Middlesex Crusaders 13 50 400 20 3/15 8.00 15.00 0 0 20.00
Johann Louw Northamptonshire Steelbacks 11 39 325 17 3/18 8.33 13.76 0 0 19.12
James Tredwell Kent Spitfires 13 41 264 16 3/9 6.43 15.38 0 0 16.50
Graham Napier Essex Eagles 12 40.1 282 16 4/10 7.02 15.06 1 0 17.62
Ian Salisbury Warwickshire Bears 10 32 175 15 3/14 5.47 12.80 0 0 11.67
Abdul Razzaq Surrey Brown Caps 9 32 232 15 4/17 7.25 12.80 1 0 15.47

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Twenty20 quarter-final postponed". Archived from the original on 11 July 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  2. ^ Yorkshire thrown out of Twenty20
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