Allrounder a key influence as county seeks to become first back-to-back Blast champions
Andrew Miller14-Jul-2023Whatever transpires at Finals Day this year – and let’s face it, the weather doesn’t exactly look conducive to high drama – it’s hard to imagine a more chaotic, breathless finish than Hampshire conjured up in winning their third T20 Blast title at Edgbaston last year.”It was really weird,” Liam Dawson says. “Even watching it back now sometimes, you still get nervous. You think, ‘What the hell happened there?'”What happened was this: After a nip-and-tuck pursuit of a target of 153, Lancashire reached the final ball of the tournament needing four more runs to win. Nathan Ellis had already done brilliantly to concede just seven from his first five balls of the over, and as he ran in to bowl at the recently-arrived Richard Gleeson, he duly pegged back his off stump with a perfectly executed slower ball.Cue utter bedlam from the Hampshire players and fans. The stumps were out of the ground, the fireworks were unleashed all around the stadium, the sub fielders were pouring onto the pitch to join in the celebrations. For a full 25 seconds, it was glory in excelsis. But then, umpire Graeme Lloyd got word through his earpiece that Ellis had overstepped. And as he stuck out his right arm – and waved them back into position with his left – Hampshire were obliged to reset and reload, but this time with just two runs left to defend.Ellis’s response was exemplary. He banished any mounting angst, and trusted his best ball to serve him and his team well. Another slower ball, just back of a length, hopped over the stumps as Gleeson swung across the line to no avail, and though they scampered a bye, there was no chance of turning for the all-important second. This time the celebrations could be for real.”It was a really incredible game of cricket, probably something that will never happen in a final again,” Dawson says. “To think that we’d won it, and the celebration, and then to hear on the tannoy that it was a no-ball. After the comedown from that and the disappointment, then you start thinking, ‘Oh, no, is it going to be? Are we going to win it? Have we messed it up?'”Vincey was very good,” he adds, recalling James Vince’s calming influence as captain. “It was all about understanding the situation, how many they needed to win, and staying as calm as we could to try and execute under pressure.”And thankfully Nellie [Ellis] did that. It was a good slower ball that he bowled, and then to actually win it and get over the line, all those feelings and emotions came back again. It was a really, really weird experience, but also fun because we got over the line in the end.”Getting over the line had been something of an issue for Hampshire in recent Finals Days. Though that third title drew them level with Leicestershire as the most successful county in T20 history, it also came after a run of five semi-final losses in the ten years since they had last lifted the trophy in 2012.Nathan Ellis held his nerve to secure the T20 Blast title in 2022•Getty Images
And as one of Hampshire’s most senior pros, Dawson has been involved in most of those contests – seven semi-finals and two finals since 2011, not to mention their only other knock-out appearance in the 2009 quarter-finals against Northamptonshire.”It’s a fantastic day as a player to be involved in,” he says. “But also, one of the best days for a supporter coming to the ground. You get three games of cricket, you get four good teams and it’s always a brilliant atmosphere which, as the day goes on, gets better and better.”Assuming the weather holds, Hampshire will contest the first semi-final against Essex, a team that they bested twice in the group stages, with Dawson himself playing a key role in both. At Chelmsford in June, he cracked 19 from 5 balls then followed up with 4 for 21 in a thumping 118-run win, and though it was a tighter affair at the Ageas Bowl three weeks later, Dawson’s first-ball six in the penultimate over all but sealed a stiff 210-run chase.Those results, however, will count for nothing come Saturday. “It’s completely irrelevant that we’ve beaten them in the group stage,” Dawson says. “It means absolutely nothing. It’s a knockout game and anybody can beat anyone. It’s all about trying to play well on the day and trying to play well as a group. And if we do that, hopefully we get on the right side of the result.”He sees no particular advantage in contesting the first semi-final either – for, as he notes, each of the two finals that he’s won with Hampshire have come from a short turn-around after winning match two.”I don’t really know what to expect there,” he says. “I remember last year it was it was quite rushed actually, in between the second semi final and the final, so it wasn’t ideal preparation. But hopefully, if we can get over the line, it’d be a nice little break before the final. But as I said, there’s a hell of a lot of work to do before that. Essex are very good team.”We’ll be trying our best [to defend the title],” he adds. “There’s four really strong teams here on the day and anybody can win it. Surrey are extremely dangerous, as are Somerset, they got some players that can hurt you and take the game away from you. But hopefully, we can get a good day’s cricket in and the weather can look after everyone.”The forecast, unfortunately, could hardly be less accommodating. But while the prospect of a bowl-out for the title hangs in the rain, Dawson concedes that’s not something Hampshire are overly concerned about at this stage.”I have no idea, we’ve not even spoken about it,” he says, when asked who would be their five-man attack for such an eventuality. “If it happens, it’s like a penalty shoot-out, isn’t it? Complete luck on the day. Yeah, we’d try and win it, but any team can win that way. It’s complete luck and let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”Related
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Either way, Dawson is geared up for Finals Day being one of his indisputable highlights of the season. And given his allround form across formats, he is sure to be one of Hampshire’s key players as they look to become the first team in English T20 history to successfully defend their title.”At the minute it’s going well, but I’ve played long enough now to understand the ups and downs of the game,” he says. “I didn’t have a great start to the summer but recently it’s gone well, and I’ve got to try and keep that form up and stay hungry to do well. Because cricket is a hard game, so I’m not taking anything for granted.”He’s not dwelling on what might have been on the England front either. When Jack Leach succumbed to a stress fracture prior to the Ashes, Dawson’s name was one of the most prominent in the frame – and though Moeen Ali was recalled for the first Test at Edgbaston, Dawson’s response in his next Championship outing was a remarkable double of 12 wickets and a century in Hampshire’s innings victory over Middlesex in June.But, he says, he was not remotely put out by his omission from England’s plans, having played his most recent Test against South Africa in 2017.”No, doesn’t bother me at all,” he says. “I’ve said this to a number of people now, I’ve not expected to play Test cricket for a number of years now. It’s not been on my radar. If it happens, brilliant. If it doesn’t, I’m not fussed at all.”I’m enjoying playing my cricket, and that’s all I can do. I’m not getting any younger now. I’m 33 and worrying about playing for England is something that I’ve done way too much in the past, and it’s something that is not healthy to do. So if it happens great. If not, then I certainly won’t lose any sleep over it.”
