Overseas and over here ..

It is quite telling that none of the sides from the supposed very strong Northern group made it through to finals day this year.

Essex, Hampshire, Surrey and Somerset all came out on top in their games and will make for an interesting, but not necessarily involved, from my point of view, big day out at Edgbaston.

I will be rooting for Essex and Somerset, as clubs who do not have Test ground riches at their disposal. Surrey look strong, with all of their England men back, while Somerset have played brilliantly but are essentially a young side that might buckle. Hampshire looked a decent outfit, albeit against a dramatically sub-par Worcestershire, while Essex fielded well and have two good overseas players.

Which set me thinking. How much is qualification to the knockout stage dependent on overseas contributions?

Not all that much, really. In fact, a look at Derbyshire and the eight sides who progressed shows that our overseas players did as well as anyone.

Zaman Khan was a standout against most, even in comparison to Shaheen Afridi at Nottinghamshire. Sams and Harmer were a potent duo for Essex, while Hampshire and Nottinghamshire got good value from their recruits.

But Birmingham will have hoped for better returned from Glenn Maxwell and Lancashire, while doing well with Daryl Mitchell, got very little from Colin de Grandhomme.

Matt Henry did a good job for Somerset, who really only had him for most of the competition, but Worcestershire pulled out two gems in Santner and Mir. 

The surprise, for me, was Surrey. Abbott had one. unbelievable innings but did little else with bat or ball, while Narine did a decent, if not spectacular job. But the strength in depth of their squad, rather like Lancashire, managed to get around that.

I present the figures below for your interest, the figures in brackets being the runs per 100 balls and runs conceded per over.

But hopefully it illustrates that Derbyshire actually had two good overseas players. Had Haider Ali not opened at the start, maybe his figures would have been better still.

I wonder who we will get next year?

Birmingham

Maxwell 248 runs at 17.71 (151) and 10 wkts at 25.8 (7.81)

Derbyshire

Ali 335 at 25.76 (138)

Khan 25 wickets at 16.5 (8.28)

Essex

Sams 345 at 29 (174) and 23 wkts at 19 (8.25)

Harmer 107 at 12 (124) and 19 at 22 (9.3)

Lancashire

Mitchell 409 at 40 (162), 12 wkts at 19 (8)

De Grandhomme 61 at 12 (103), 7 wkts at 22 (8.8)

Surrey

Abbott 167 at 41 (190), 5 wkts at 61 (10.83)

Narine 201 at 22 (161) 19 wkts at 22 (7.7)

Somerset

Henry 25 at 12.5 (156) 23 wkts at 14 (8.31)

Nottinghamshire

Munro 323 at 29 (156)

Afridi 76 at 11 (152) and 22 wkts at 20 (8.4)

Hampshire

McDermott 378 at 31(142)

Ellis 29 at 14 (152) and 18 wkts at 19 (7.46)

Worcestershire 

Santner 391 at 35 (152) and 11 wkts at 29 (7.3)

Mir 93 at 46 (197) and 17 wkts at 17 (7.52)