Wisden’s T20 Blast team of the tournament

With Notts Outlaws claiming the T20 Blast 2020 crown, Ben Gardner picks Wisden’s team of the tournament.

Wisden already picked a T20 Blast team of the group stages, but a slew of star performances meant three changes needed to be made to that XI. Those are explained below.

The openers

Daniel Bell-Drummond (423 runs @ 42.30; SR: 154.94)
Ben Duckett (340 runs @ 42.50; SR: 137.65)

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Kent supplied both openers to Wisden’s T20 Blast team of the group stage, but with the Spitfires knocked out in the quarters, it seemed, for a time, only right that their destroyer in chief should take one of the opening spots. Jason Roy began his T20 Blast campaign at a low ebb, with a high score of 24 in the international summer, but returned to form in style with three fifties in five innings as Surrey surged before falling at the last. But Ben Duckett, with his ice-cool fifty to seal the title, usurped even Roy, redeeming Notts after their 2019 choke.

The middle order

Will Jacks (309 runs @ 34.33; SR: 149.27; 13 wickets @ 16.07, ER: 6.46)
Joe Clarke (371 runs @ 37.10; SR: 175.00)
Laurie Evans (363 runs @ 45.37; SR: 153.16)
Ian Cockbain (399 runs @ 44.33; SR: 169.78)

We’ve stuck with the same quartet as in the group stages. Will Jacks might well have earned a place as a bowler alone after spinning his web around Kent, Gloucestershire and Notts Outlaws, while Joe Clarke played the shot of Finals Day, off the back foot over long-off from his first ball in the semi. Laurie Evans played a knock of note in the final, even if he couldn’t give Surrey the flourish they were after, and while Ian Cockbain’s Gloucestershire crashed out in the semis, he was so good in the group stages that he keeps his spot.

The all-rounders

Luke Hollman (139 runs @ 34.75; SR: 139; 9 wickets @ 18.11; ER: 6.79)
Dan Christian (173 runs @ 28.83; SR: 144.16; 9 wickets @ 30.88; ER: 7.94)

While Dan Christian’s overall numbers might not be much to shout about, some players – often those who have seen it all, with international and big tournament experience – bestride the business end of a competition to such an extent that they demand inclusion. Christian picked 2-24 against Leicestershire, but saved his best for Finals Day, claiming the Player of the Match award in both the semi-final and the final.

He smashed 30 – including four consecutive sixes – to revive a floundering chase against Lancashire, and then claimed 4-23 in the final to put the skids on Surrey’s hopes of a late assault, before finishing off the chase with a rapid 21*. If this team of the tournament were itself to get to the late stages of a tournament, you’d want Christian on hand in the crunch moments. He captains this side.

The shootout is then between Luke Hollman and George Garton, and though the latter did take three wickets in Sussex Sharks’ knockout defeat to Lancs, Hollman’s consistent lower-order runs get him the nod. It’s a batsman’s game.

The spinners

Matt Parkinson (15 wickets @ 20.66; ER: 7.68)
Tom Smith (14 wickets @ 17.35; ER: 5.92)

Another to excel in the play-offs was Matt Parkinson, who claimed 3-9 to make a small total look gargantuan in the quarters, and did as much as anyone to keep Lancashire in the hunt in the semi. When he finished his second he had 2-12, and Notts needed 29 from 24. When he started his third, Christian’s stand-pummelling had brought the equation down to four needed from 18.

It’s Graeme White who slips out, having been plundered for 43 from 3.5 overs in Northants Steelbacks defeat by Gloucestershire.

The seamer

Jake Ball (19 wickets @ 13.63; ER: 7.58)

Jake Ball keeps his place. Three wickets more than the next best in the competition. Shoo-in.