The 2010 Twenty20 Cup Final, known for sponsorship purposes as the 2010 Friends Provident t20 Final, was a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between Hampshire County Cricket Club and Somerset County Cricket Club played on 14 August 2010 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. It was the eighth final of the Twenty20 Cup.
Hampshire were making their first appearance in a Twenty20 final, while Somerset were playing in their third, and their second in successive years, having previously won the Twenty20 Cup in 2005. Having won the toss, Somerset chose to bat first and reached 173 for six; Craig Kieswetter was their highest scorer with 71 runs, but was criticised for his slow start. Kieron Pollard was hit in the eye by a bouncer while batting, and had to be taken to hospital, meaning he was not available to bowl for Somerset. In reply, Hampshire reached 62 from their six-over powerplay, but then lost a cluster of wickets. A steadying partnership between Neil McKenzie and Sean Ervine took them to the brink of victory, but another pair of wickets lost led to a tense finish. The scores were eventually tied, and Hampshire won the title having lost fewer wickets.
Background
The Twenty20 Cup was a 20 overs-per-side competition established in England and Wales in 2003, which replaced the 50 overs-per-side Benson & Hedges Cup. The 20-over format was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board because they believed that a shorter version of the game was needed in order to attract families to matches. In 2010, it was one of three tournaments played by first-class county cricket teams, in what the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack editor Scyld Berry described as the worst fixture list since 1919, due to the inconsistent scheduling which sometimes included Twenty20 games the day before or after a four-day County Championship match. Andy Flower, the head coach of the England men's cricket team, concurred, complaining that "You can't create consistently high standards with those schedules."
The tournament split the eighteen county teams into two groups. Within each group every team played each other twice, home and away; the sixteen group-stage fixtures per team were an increase from the ten played the previous season. The top four from each group progressed to the quarter-finals. The competition culminated on "Finals' Day", during which both semi-finals and the final were played, at the same ground, to determine the tournament champions. In 2010 the life insurance company Friends Provident took over as sponsors of the competition, which became known as the Friends Provident t20.
Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played under the moniker "Hampshire Royals" in one-day cricket, had never reached the final of the competition before, although they had won the 2009 Friends Provident Trophy, a 50-over tournament. Despite their historic lack of success in Twenty20 cricket, at the start of the tournament The Guardian described them as being one of the favourites, with odds of 15–2. Somerset, who discarded their one-day nickname in 2009, had previously won the Twenty20 Cup in 2005, and had been losing finalists in 2009. They were similarly rated as among the favourites at the outset of the tournament, given odds of 8–1 by The Guardian.
Route to Finals' Day
Both teams featured in the south group of the competition. Somerset won eleven of their sixteen matches to finish top of the group, including victories in both of their matches against Hampshire. In the quarter-final, Somerset hosted Northamptonshire. Somerset's spin bowlers, Murali Kartik and Arul Suppiah both bowled economically to help restrict Northamptonshire to 112 runs. Somerset reached their target with three overs to spare, and secured a place in the competition's showcase Finals' Day.
Hampshire, who had finished fourth in the group stage having won eight and lost eight of their matches, travelled to Warwickshire for their quarter-final. Warwickshire batted first and scored 153; Danny Briggs took three important wickets for Hampshire. In reply, James Vince remained not out, scoring 66 runs to help his side to victory with one ball remaining.
Build-up
Finals' Day was broadcast live on Sky Sports, was hosted at Hampshire's home ground, the Rose Bowl in Southampton. The ground had been chosen in 2008 as the venue for the finals, as part of a package of matches awarded to the ground by the England and Wales Cricket Board.