Vitality Blast Finals Day on Sky Sports: James Anderson and Ravi Bopara firing in their 40s, the mascot race and Hampshire hunting history | Cricket News

It’s the highlight of the domestic cricket calendar – and that’s just the mascot race!

Around people in fluffy animal costumes sprinting (to a degree) across Edgbaston, there is the Vitality Blast title to be won with Lancashire, Hampshire, Northamptonshire and Somerset the four sides left standing after the group stage and quarter-finals.

Saturday’s action in Birmingham starts with the first semi-final between Lancashire and Somerset (11am), followed by the thrills and spills of the Mascot Derby.

Live Vitality T20 Blast Cricket

Saturday 13th September 10:30am

Live Vitality T20 Blast Cricket

Saturday 13th September 2:15pm

Live Vitality T20 Blast Cricket

Saturday 13th September 6:15pm

Hampshire and Northamptonshire then square off in the second semi-final (2.30pm) before the final takes place in the evening (approximately 6.45pm).

You can watch the entire day live on Sky Sports – build-up begins at 10.30am – and here is why it is a must-not-miss event…

The Mascot Derby

Carnage always ensues as the likes of Sussex’s Sid the Shark and Alfred the Gorilla, of Gloucestershire, battle for the most prestigious of titles, which was won last year by Glamorgan’s Dewi the Dragon after Lancashire’s Lanky the Giraffe ran out of puff at the end.

Lanky tiring in the home straight denied him a back-to-back Mascot Derby crowns but considering his pedigree, and the length of his neck, he is sure to be among the favourites again. Derbyshire’s Freddie the Falcon should also not be written off.

While the helter-skelter Mascot Derby is terrific TV, spare a thought for whichever Sky Sports commentator is asked to keep up with the creatures as they run for glory and make their way through a number of challenging obstacles in the name of entertainment.

A first four-time winner of the Blast?

Hampshire and Leicestershire are the only sides to have won the Blast three times since its inception in 2003. The Hawks triumphed in 2010 and 2012 and then a decade later in 2022, while the Foxes were victorious in 2004, 2006 and 2011.

Leicestershire’s hopes of another title are over for this year after they failed to get out of the North Group (at least they have promotion to the top flight of the County Championship to nurse that blow) but Hampshire could become Blast four-timers.

James Vince’s team were hit and miss in the South Group this term – seven wins and six defeats – but very much hit in the quarter-final win over Durham as they crunched a total of 221-8, including 89-0 in the powerplay, to reach Finals Day for an 11th time.

In their 40s and still going strong

Across some thrilling quarter-finals last week, the headline act was Ravi Bopara’s 105 not out from 46 balls for Northamptonshire against a power-packed Surrey in a rain-reduced game at The Kia Oval – the 40-year-old smoking 12 fours and five sixes.

So what did the former England star put his match-winning knock down to? Being pumped up? No, the exact opposite. “I didn’t have that fire in my belly and that’s when I prefer it, when I feel a bit dead. That’s when I feel like I’m going to perform my best.”

Bopara, who played in the inaugural T20 Cup in 2023, is a mere whippersnapper compared to 43-year-old James Anderson, who has royally enjoyed his first slice of T20 cricket in a decade after taking 18 wickets during Lancashire’s run to Finals Day.

Livingstone to prove a point to England?

Liam Livingstone said in an interview earlier this summer, after being dropped by England, that he “did not know where he stood” in terms of getting his international place back. “You’ve got my number, mate,” was England MD Rob Key’s response.

Whether or not Livingstone has made that call, he let his bat do the talking, to use a cliché, during Lancashire’s quarter-final victory over Kent, smashing seven sixes in an unbeaten 85 from 45 balls after coming out to bat with his side 5-2 chasing 154.

A player who hits the ball as hard and as far as Livingstone is surely still an attractive option for England. His 42-ball ton against Pakistan in 2021 remains his country’s fastest in T20 internationals and his six out of Headingley in the same series was jaw-dropping.

A good Finals Day in a pressure-cooker environment for Livingstone, who also has the ability to bowl off-spin and leg-spin, could speed up an England recall, with Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain saying he would still have the 32-year-old as the team’s finisher.

Fourth final in five years for Somerset?

The Blast’s form county in recent times has been Somerset, with the Taunton team reaching the last five Finals Days including this coming one, winning in 2023 after overcoming Essex and finishing as runners-up in 2021 and 2024.

Lewis Gregory’s side topped the South Group with 11 wins from 14 and then edged past Bears with one ball to spare in a nerve-jangling home quarter-final as the Glamorgan-bound Sean Dickson capped a 26-ball 71 not out with the winning run.

Somerset – who, like Hampshire, are into a record-equalling 11th Finals Day – required 19 from the final over against Bears and Dickson went six, six, four off Ed Barnard after a wide and single, before clipping away the decisive run to complete quite the heist.

Watch Vitality Blast Finals Day live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.30am on Saturday or stream without a contract through NOW.