The story of the greatest end to a T20 final ever

Result:

14 August 2010: Hampshire 173/5 beat Somerset 173/6 having lost the fewest number of wickets

Road to the Final

Hampshire lost eight of the 16 South Group matches and snuck into the quarter-finals by beating south coast rivals Sussex in their final group match. 

A five-wicket victory from the penultimate ball followed in the quarter-final at Warwickshire. Finals Day was hosted at The Rose Bowl, Hampshire's home ground, and they secured a six-wicket win over Essex in the semi-final. 

Somerset had finished as runners-up the previous year. They topped the South Group and thrashed Northamptonshire in the quarter-final, winning by seven wickets with three overs to spare.

Their semi-final was fraught with drama. Somerset scored 182, but rain delayed the second innings, reducing Nottinghamshire’s chase to 152 from 16 overs. The rain persisted throughout the innings but, by the end of the 10th over, they were ahead of the DLS score.

After 12 overs, they were still ahead. Then it all changed when Kieron Pollard, at long on, plucked Samit Patel's certain six out of the sky. 111/3 became 111/4 and suddenly Nottinghamshire were behind. They ended that over three runs behind, when the heavens opened and ended the match. Somerset were through to the final.

What happened in the final?

Somerset won the toss and chose to bat first. Marcus Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter got them off to a strong start, racing to 41 in the fifth over. Trescothick fell but Kieswetter continued, making 71. His wicket brought Kieron Pollard to the crease, and Pollard teed off - 22 from his first six deliveries.

With three balls remaining of the innings, Dominic Cork's vicious bouncer went through Pollard's grille and hit the Trinidadian. Examinations later showed Pollard suffered no serious injury but he was taken to hospital and played no further part in the final - a huge blow to Somerset, with Pollard having been the competition's third-leading wicket-taker (29), not to mention his athleticism in the field. Somerset did not score a run from their final two deliveries, and lost a wicket. That would prove crucial.

Jimmy Adams and Abdul Razzaq came flying out of the blocks for Hampshire. They had 60 when Razzaq was caught in the sixth over. It was the start they needed, before a partnership between Neil McKenzie and Sean Ervine looked like it was sealing the match - they added 79 for the fourth wicket, and needed just 11 to win from the final two overs. 

Then more drama. Trescothick's final throw of the dice was Ben Phillips, who'd conceded 41 from his first three overs without taking a wicket. First ball of the 19th, he got McKenzie caught at cover by the captain. Three balls later, Michael Carberry skied it, and he was gone. Only three runs were scored and now the result was in the balance.

Zander de Bruyn would bowl the last over. Dan Christian, nought from nought, missed the first ball - and Kieswetter missed the run out as Sean Ervine scampered a bye. Kieswetter missed a chance to redeem himself from the next ball when Ervine left his ground considering a run: again the throw went wide.

A top edge for two followed, and then another swing, another miss, another failed throw by Kieswetter, another bye. Four from two.

Except, it wasn't. In a tied match, the team losing the fewest wickets wins the trophy. Somerset lost six wickets, Hampshire were five down. So, as long as they didn't lose a wicket, Hampshire needed three runs from two balls.

Dan Christian nailed his pull shot. Absolutely nailed it. Somehow, Nick Compton - on the field as a substitute for Pollard - got around to it and saved the boundary. Christian came back for the second run but, in doing so, pulled his hamstring. With one ball remaining, Hampshire needed one run.

Christian couldn't run. He could walk, and he could bat, but he couldn't run. Jimmy Adams was sent on as the runner but, with Christian on strike, the umpires realised there was nowhere on an adjacent pitch for Adams to be. 

With the rain earlier in the day, it was getting towards 11pm. But a further delay ensued as the umpires ushered on Nigel Gray, the groundsman, to paint a crease line at each end of an adjacent pitch. 

The whole process took five minutes but, finally, they could bowl the last ball. Every fielder bar one was in the ring.

De Bruyn to Christian... Christian goes down to sweep, he's hit on the pad, there's a huge appeal! Umpire Rob Bailey says no, the ball squirts away to backward point, and Christian scampers the single. 

Wait, what? Didn't Christian have a runner?

Yes. Yes, he did. 

Under the Laws of Cricket at the time, we look at two Laws. Law 29.2(e) states that "When a batsman who has a runner is striker, his ground is always at the wicket-keeper’s end."

Law 2.8(c) says that when the striking batter has a runner, if that batter "is out of his ground when the wicket at the wicket-keeper’s end is fairly put down by the action of a fielder...  irrespective of the position of the non-striker and the runner... he is Run out." This entire provision is now covered under Law 25.6.

In short: Dan Christian's ground was at the keeper's end, no matter what he did. If the ball had been thrown to Craig Kieswetter and he removed the bails, Christian would have been out. Hampshire would have been 172/6. Somerset would have won by a run.

But they didn't. Everything seemed to move in slow motion after Christian reached the bowler's end. Hampshire's players half-sprinted onto the field and stopped. Trescothick was beckoning something - no one seemed sure what to do. Rob Bailey called over, the PA confirmed Hampshire were champions, and the celebrations ensued.

What was the reaction?

Marcus Trescothick, asked whether he and Somerset knew of the potential run out:

"Only after the event really. It’ll probably haunt me for a few years, I’ll close my eyes in bed tonight and see us probably running him out. Under pressure, I think you’ve got to try and keep a cool mind, and then we just got wrapped up in what was going on. You don’t think about it. It all happened so quick and then suddenly, ‘oh no, we’ve missed it.’"

Neil McKenzie:

"There was a lot of chaos out there, I think I caused it towards the end. It’s really nerve-wracking sitting in the seat, I should’ve finished it off, but there’s always a twist. Got more of the guys involved in the game."

Hampshire captain Dominic Cork, when it was put to him that he could've looked silly running onto the pitch had Christian been run out:

"Who cares how we looked? This was for them lot [the home fans]. We’ve been put down a lot of times, we said we weren’t good enough and things weren’t going our way in the competition. But we just worked hard, we were the underdogs all the way through, and I think in the end we just squeezed past, just."