After the threat of revolution Middlesex's glory makes them Lord's of the manor

Just champion: Middlesex Crusaders celebrate their victory over Kent Spitfires
13 April 2012

by Paul Newman

They started the season in disarray, with the members revolting and three of their best players so unsettled that they seemed certain to leave as soon as their contracts were up in September.

Now Middlesex can look forward to trips to Antigua and Abu Dhabi to play for unprecedented riches.

The transformation of this famous old county from the ruins of 15 years without a trophy and fans demanding the heads of the committee, to Twenty20 Cup winners with the world at their feet was as spectacular as the success of the sixth and best finals day.

Just champion: Middlesex Crusaders celebrate their victory over Kent Spitfires

Just champion: Middlesex Crusaders celebrate their victory over Kent Spitfires

Middlesex may have won the trophy in dramatic style with a last ball victory over Kent but their satisfaction was shared by the whole game after a stunning day at the Rose Bowl which showcased English cricket at its very best.

After 11 hours of supreme skill and pure entertainment the outcome of what has become the most important and lucrative day of the domestic calendar came down to a final over which contained every possible twist and turn.

Kent, the valiant holders, batted heroically in chasing down what should have been an impossible target of 188 under floodlights on a pitch used for both semi-finals and the final, but they looked out of it with 16 needed from the final six balls.

Justin Kemp and Azhar Mahmood, two of the biggest hitters in the tournament, brought that down to four (three would have been enough on wickets lost) from the final two balls after an amazing start to Tyron Henderson’s over.

It seemingly saw Middlesex capitulate when a wild throw from Dawid Malan turned an easy two into a four. Only a despairing dive from Dirk Nannes saved the ball going to the boundary for four overthrows which would have effectively won the game for Kent.

It still seemed over but Henderson, the experienced South African who was superlative with bat and ball throughout finals day, bowled two perfect deliveries which, aided by the outstanding wicketkeeping of Ben Scott, proved impossible for Kemp to get away. Game over — cue pandemonium.

So it is Middlesex, outsiders on the day and with no Twenty20 pedigree before this season, who will fly to Antigua to play in the Stanford Super Series in October for the chance to win an extra £150,000. They will also compete, along with Kent, in a Champions League which looks increasingly likely to be run by the ECB and bankrolled by the Abu Dhabi royal family.

Not this year: Kent Spitfires' captain Robert Key walks past the Twenty20 cup

Indian administrators are still spluttering about banning English counties who include ICL players, but their bluff seems likely to be called by the ECB who have picked up the Champions League ball and run off with it in a different direction.

All power to them, especially after the success of Saturday. That is quite a contrast for the faded aristocrats from Lord’s, who have a history of producing England players but have fallen on hard times to such an extent that, before Saturday, they faced losing Ed Joyce, Owais Shah and Malan to other counties next season. Those moves may now just be on hold.

‘I hope this helps pull the club together,’ said Joyce, the Irishman whose elevation to the Middlesex captaincy after injury to Ed Smith provided the catalyst for the improvement in their fortunes.

‘The fans deserve something from us and we had a great turn-out. There was unrest at the start of the season, probably rightly so, because we started so poorly again. Funnily enough, we started playing well straight after the members demanded a special meeting.’

That call for a revolt has been forgotten but the natives would still become restless again should Middlesex begin losing more players.

Joyce has been at the forefront of the speculation.

‘I don’t think anyone would want to leave now,’ he said.

‘I’ve been a Middlesex player since I came over from Ireland. There must be a seriously good reason to leave a county you feel part of. I can’t really see it. I can’t see any reason why Owais wouldn’t stay either. He’s a Londoner.’

Reassuring words, but the truth is that Middlesex may still face the most difficult of decisions if they are not to see this triumph represent a false dawn. Joyce is a popular leader, while much of the internal problems at Lord’s are said to have been generated by the captaincy style of Smith.

Long wait over: Owais Shah with Middlesex's first trophy for 15 years

Jamie Dalrymple left for Glamorgan last year and it could be that any new exodus may have been avoided not only by this win but also by the ankle injury Smith suffered against Essex early in this season’s Twenty20 contest.

We will have to see how the Middlesex story unravels but now is the time to pay tribute to the architects of their success. It may be churlish to find any negatives from such a wonderful day but it was a bit of a shame that the last ball drama was acted out virtually exclusively by overseas players, Henderson on the Middlesex side and Kemp and Mahmood for Kent.

Even the two players involved in the overthrow saga, Malan and Nannes, have overseas backgrounds.

Better to concentrate on the English success stories. Rob Key and Joe Denly proved themselves as good as any limited overs openers in the country while James Foster, for beaten semi-finalists Essex, produced a display of wicketkeeping surely unmatched by an Englishman since the days of Jack Russell.

Yet one man deserves all that is coming to him more than most. Shaun Udal retired when released by Hampshire last season, but he was given another chance by Middlesex even though the move was condemned as short-sighted by critics, not least your correspondent.

He proved himself the best spinner in the tournament.

‘I didn’t think I’d be earning two-and-a-half pence last year let alone the chance to earn two-and-a-half million from a Champions League,’ he said.

I was wrong to doubt Udal’s right to play on in county cricket. He deserves every penny coming to him.

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