I think you all know what happened by now, so this report won't be much of a surprise.

There's also the disadvantage of describing that what happened in those three hours last night.  What it felt like, the highs and lows and the ultimate, blissful euphoria - would tax the pen (keyboard?) of a far better writer than me. And that's not taking into account the fact that I'd been there baking in the sun all day, refreshing myself with overpriced cider and wishing for shade or at least that I'd remembered a hat.

But enough excuses. This is the story of a game that few, myself not one of them, ever expected us to get to, let alone to win. That we did is a tribute to Middlesex CCC, a team written off by those who should know better as being made up of kids and has-beens, who were written off at every stage, and who showed amazing courage and talent and team spirit to get there, from the first ball to (especially) the last. Middlesex CCC, I salute you. Chapeau.

The Place - The "Not Smelling of Roses" Bowl?

Let's get the moans out of the way first. I don't like the Rose Bowl. At all. I don't like the design, which looks unfinished and is cramped and awkward, although I thought the point of building a ground in the middle of nowhere was to avoid this.

On a day like yesterday, where it got to about 30 degrees, there was almost no shade, despite 90% of the seats being out in the open. Even in the concourse, most of the shady spaces had been filled by cheap portaloos which soon began to stink. There weren't enough ladies' toilets, despite a fair proportion of the crowd being female - wasn't this part of the point of T20, to attract a different audience to cricket? It wouldn't have convinced me, had this been my first exposure to the game.

To put it into perspective, the facilities were better at Uxbridge, let alone anywhere else.

In addition, while the stewarding was in general polite and unassuming, they were extremely strict about what you could and could not bring into the ground, confiscating cans, plastic bottles, and all sorts. This wouldn't have rankeld so much had it not been for the regular adverts advising the crowd to take care in the sun, cover up and drink lots of water. The only water available was on sale at £2 for a 500ml bottle.

Big Match Build Up

I confess I missed most of the build-up to the final itself, having gone in search of the non-existent shade and meeting up with a bunch of Middlesex fans I knew and some I didn't - the latter including Middlesex Till We Die's legendary Barmy Kev. My other half, sadly a Kent fan, bore the MTWD ribbing with amused patience.

We celebrated the unexpectedly comprehensive victory over Durham, particularly enjoying the treatment that the Blacksmith had doled out to Harmison, and the feeling that the last two weeks had perhaps been a bad dream, or possibly a really cunning plan to put our opponents off by pretending to be utter crap. Surely Joyce is not so Machiavellian?

While we were drinking in the sun, taunting (politely - ish) passing fans, and rescuing wasps, we heard that Joyce had won the toss and chosen to bat. This led to more discussion.

From a fan's point of view, I much prefer to watch us chase a total, but that's a selfish point of view. It's easier on my nerves knowing what we have to do. I did feel better about it knowing that the top order had played themselves into confidence, and was always aware of the statistic that five of the six winners of this trophy had won the second game of the day.

Our bowlers, too, were in form. But Kent were our bogey team this season - I didn't see the Eight8 farce, but I was at Uxbridge, and as I admitted in my match report then, I didn't think we were going to win then. We looked better today - far, far better - but I was at Finals Day last year and I saw what they can do.

The match started at 7.15 and it hadn't got any cooler. The teams walked out to a somewhat hyperbolic announcer and some half-hearted fireworks. The camera panned along the lines of players, and endearingly, half of ours weren't sure what to do. No Man U or Liverpool at the FA cup detachment from them. Some waved, some grinned, some looked embarrassed.

The Kent players went into a team huddle, EdJ and Billy the Kid went to the crease, and the rest of the squad hared back to the dressing room to fetch their bats and pads. Let the spectacle commence.

Middlesex Bat First

Arafat opened the bowling and both Ed and Billy were cautious - after the campaign we've had, a good sign, but the innings against Durham had settled their nerves and they got one each. That seemed to be all the playing-in the captain needed, as he hit sixteen of Mahmood in the next over, to the joy of the many Middlesex fans around me.

Not-so-fat Bob Key wasn't happy, though, and after lengthy discussions with the umpires, a new ball was taken. Joyce didn't look happy, unsurprisingly, and after Billy was bowled in the first ball of the next over, he looked even less happy. I don't blame him. I don't know what the condition of the ball was like, so I bow to the judgement of the umpires, but I wasn't happy either.

Still, it just meant we were going to see the Blacksmith earlier. Could he repeat his heroics? Not immediately, it would seem. He got a life early in his innings when Mahmood dropped what looked like a fairly straightforward catch at short midwicket, and many sighs of relief were heard, with the thought of 21-4 passing through a few heads.

As if to reassure us, he hit a storming six off the next ball. 38-1. Simon Cook was then brought into the Kent attack to good effect, as Joyce edged to second slip midway through his over. 47-2. Ace joined Henderson and the hitting began, the Blacksmith hitting the new bowler McLaren for six straight away, then a four off the next Cook over. Arafat came back and they combined to hit eleven off the ninth over. 75-2.

This signalled the arrival of Tredwell, who I know is highly regarded but who in the games I've seen has not impressed, certainly not in comparison to our own spinners. Six off his over did nothing to change my view.

This was the point at which Kent really needed to put the brakes on, as two of our bigger hitters were out there and striking freely. I think this is what justified Middlesex's decision to play two spinners, as arguably (pace Henderson) they won the game for us against Durham. Neither Durham nor Kent had two spinners to tie the game up in the middle overs, and it made life a lot easier for our batsmen in the semi-final.

McClaren bowled the eleventh over, and Henderson and Shah swapped the strike before the Blacksmith swept and skied it, only for Key to claim a catch at cover. Now, the one thing about actually being at the ground is that you don't get to see replays of contentious decisions, so all that I can say is that it looked like a bump ball, and Tyron clearly thought so too, but it was given. After what happened to Key in last year's final, I give him the credit of thinking he wouldn't have claimed it if it hadn't been. 84-3.

[Editor's note: it certainly looked like a bump ball in real time; indeed the umpires themselves said so, but referred it to the 3rd umpire to be sure and when you saw it in slow motion from the best angle you could see clearly that the ball was hit just on the upward trajectory after bouncing.  Correct decision.]

In the next over, Ace hit Tredwell for three successive sixes. It was magic. And this match report is already too long, so that's all that needs to be said (except that I hope the video of that sequence appears on Youtube soon.) 

Ace got another eight off Cook in the next over and The Captain tried his reverse sweep without success but without getting out either, which is the main thing. 117-3. Shah brings up a 50 off 27 balls.

Two more sixes for Shah, another attempted reverse sweep from the Captain "Dublin KP" Morgan, and it's 157-3 after 16 overs. Sadly Ace departed in the 17th, but if 75 off 35 balls don't impress the England selectors, nothing will.

Morgs departed in the next trying for another six, but we were already on 173 and it was scant consolation for Kent - as was getting Udal lbw for 1. Ben and Dawid got 8 off the last over to much rejoicing from the Middlesex fans. Kent needed 188 to win. Surely, surely, that was too much of an ask?

But this is Middlesex, and we don't do things the easy way.

Kent Attempt To Chase

Three off Tim's first over - fair enough. Then Nannes, who had looked a bit shaky in the Durham game. Eleven off his first over, then twelve off the third. Maybe we should ask for a new ball? It worked for Kent. They needed 9.8 runs an over. They were doing that and more.

Poor line from the Blacksmith and a misfield meant there were fifteen off the fourth. 41-0, and nerves were beginning to bite in the crowd. Nannes was brought back at the other end, but it wasn't much of an improvement. 51-0 and Key and Denly looked like they were enjoying themselves. 

The Portrait had gone into his thoughtful pose - chin on right hand, left hand on right elbow. It's never a good sign.

It wasn't. Denly got seventeen off Tyron's next over. Joyce was chewing his lip. It wasn't a disaster - we still had the spinners to come - but it wasn't great either. We needed a wicket, badly.

TSO came on and managed to slow them down - just three off the over - and we began to breathe again. Sadly Key hit three fours off Shaggy in the next over. He's a suberb captain in great form, and I don't know what he's done to offend the England selectors, but as we all know their decisions are beyond mortal ken. I don't know if I'd be feeling so generous if they'd beaten us, though!

[Editor's note: it is usually a better sign when Shaggy strikes Daria's much maligned "Portrait Pose"]

83-0 and the Kent run rate was over 10. The required rate was 8.75. The helpful scoreboards kept telling us this. It didn't help.

What helped was TSO getting Key for 52 in the 9th over. There were some verbals after he had him caught behind, but I could only see this on the screen, so no idea what it was about.

Someone near me commented it might be diet tips. No comment.

Shaggy got Denly in the next over, and we were a lot happier at 91-2 than we had been at 89-0. Three cheers for the spinners! Even better when Arafat was run out by Joyce off TSO, but - alas, as far too often happens with him - it was a no-ball. Not that that made a difference to the wicket, but it brought Kemp in and he proceeded to hit the next two balls for enormous sixes. Not so good.

One thing that constantly surprised me during this innings was how close it was. Even when it felt like Kent were miles ahead, the difference between the two teams was never more than about ten runs at the equivalent stages. After fifteen overs, the scores were dead level - 138-3.

It never felt like it. This match swung back and forth so often, I can't find the words to describe what it felt like. I know it's a cliché and a cop-out on the part of a match reporter, but you had to be there. That said, if I'd been watching on TV during the last three or four overs, I'd have left the room. [Editor's note:  That's exactly what Daisy did, not to return despite my occasional yelps of agony and ecstacy until I finally yelled "we've won"!!]

It was agonizing. Joyce moves to the boundary - "I thought I'd put myself in the firing line," he said afterwards -- and when Kemp chipped a Murtagh delivery towards him it looked like a straightforward catch, but he dropped it.

With four overs left, Kent needed 47. With three left, they needed 33. The spinners were bowled out, and no-one could have put Dawid under that sort of pressure. It was all down to Dial M, Dirty Dirk, and the Blacksmith. Pressure, much?

Tim was up first. Dot ball. One for Stevens. One for Kemp. My heart is racing. Another dot ball. Stevens connects with this one, but some acrobatic fielding from Ace just in front of the pavilion saves the four. They run two. Another dot ball. Wonderful over from Dial M, and they need 28 off two overs. 

The Diggler in next. Off the first ball, Joyce made up for the earlier painful drop by catching Stevens at mid-wicket with a much harder catch. 166-4. Optimism crept back into the crowd. Mahmood in, and he gets off the mark with a four, then some more acrobatic fielding saves two from another good swipe.

Kent need 16, and there's one over left, and Kemp is still in. It could go either way, but to be honest only the wildly optimistic would have bet against Kent under those circumstances. Heart now beating so hard I'm surprised the people around me couldn't hear it. Maybe their hearts were in overdrive too. 

Final over, and it's the man of the previous match from the pavilion end. Two off the first, good. Four off the second from Kemp, disaster. Ten off four balls and six wickets in hand. The third ball - well. Kemp hit it towards the pavilion, where Dawid was fielding. He saved the boundary, but his throw back to Ben was wild. It ended up way over Ben's head and to his left, and the ensuing sprint to retrieve it gave the Kent batsmen time to run four anyway.

Dawid looked heartbroken. I think he thought he'd lost us the match. Two balls left, and only four needed. [Editor's note: in fact Kent only needed 3 off those last two balls, as a tie would have left them with a victory based on fewer wickets lost].  Henderson bowled a lovely slower ball that Kemp missed, and the entire match - and the potential for some huges sums of money, Antigua and goodness knows what - rested on the final ball.

What happened next I didn't even realise at the time. Henderson, who looked completely unflappable, bowls. Kemp gets a bat on it and tries to chip it over the Blacksmith's head. At the time, I thought it was a dot ball. It wasn't till I saw the replay that I realised he'd been run out - he hit it straight into Tyron's hands and he knocked the bails off. At that point I was leaping up and down and screaming.  We'd done it.

What a match.

The Euphoria After The Match

 
What happened afterwards wasn't visible on TV, but was a rather shambolic end to a wonderful day. The presentation was held on a temporary stage set up for the Sky cameras and various other press. The majority of the Middlesex fans, as far as I could tell from the noise, were in blocks M to Q - that is, as you stand in front of the media centre, facing the pavilion dead on, we were in the quarter immediately to your left.

The stage was set up in front of the pavilion with its back facing left. In other words, for anyone sitting in those blocks, completely hidden from view. Could someone not have thought of that? As most of the other fans had left by then, we ran en masse around the ground to the left hand side of the pavilion, which gave a slightly better view of the team but still none at all of the stage.

It was disappointing, to say the least. I'm sure it was for the benefit of the TV viewers, but that wasn't much consolation.

Also, I watched the end of the match on Sky+ last night, and the sneaky b*ggers had turned down our raucous chants of "are you watching Ramprakash?"!

Once the presentation was over and the champagne showers were done, an exhausted but delighted Ed J led the team off the stage, and seemed to notice us for the first time, because straight away he led the team over to us. It was a lovely gesture, and they seemed to enjoy celebrating with the fans.

They deserved every song and every cheer. It was a fantastic team performance, and I'm sorry I ever doubted them. A lot of pundits will have a lot of humble pie to eat this morning. The underdogs came good. As for me - I'm just glad I was there.

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