Cricket
Matt Roller 5y

'Young players win you games, but experience wins you titles' - Harry Gurney

Vitality Blast, Cricket

Only a handful of teams have managed to string together something approaching sustained success in the 17-year history of English domestic T20: Leicestershire (2004 and 2006), Hampshire (2010 and 2012), and Northamptonshire (2013 and 2016) are the only teams to have won multiple titles within a short period.

But Nottinghamshire are well-placed to add their name to those that have gone before. After charging to the title in 2017, they have regenerated over the course of the next two years, losing the experience of Riki Wessels, Chris Read and Michael Lumb while bringing through Matt Carter, Ben Duckett and Luke Wood.

On Saturday, they go into Finals Day as firm favourites. And while personnel has changed considerably since 2017, several constants remain. Dan Christian remains in situ as captain and overseas player; Alex Hales will hope to use the day as a platform to stake his claim for England re-integration; and Harry Gurney remains among the competition's premier death bowlers.

"It's difficult to compare it to the 2017 white-ball teams," Gurney tells ESPNcricinfo. "We probably had a little bit more experience then, with Brendan Taylor, Read, Lumb, those kind of guys. But this is certainly a very exciting group."

Never has a squad had as much depth as Nottinghamshire's in the history of English domestic T20 cricket, and that much was evident in their quarter-final against Middlesex.

They thrashed a side containing Eoin Morgan and AB de Villiers by ten wickets, with Steven Mullaney injured and Joe Clarke, Zak Chappell, Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, Paul Coughlin and Ben Slater all left out. Even with Imad Wasim absent on Saturday due to a Pakistan training camp, they will still have a level of bench strength that only IPL sides can rival.

"In our quarter-final we were back to batting how I've become accustomed to seeing Nottinghamshire bat over the years," says Gurney. "We were so fortunate for a number of years to have so many destructive players, but with Nashy [Chris Nash] going in and hitting his first ball for four and really setting the tone - it felt sat on the balcony watching - a lot more like those years."

"That depth is so important. To have someone like Nashy, who is in the top three run-scorers in the history of the competition, coming into the team and having the impact that he did is amazing.

"And then having bowlers of the calibre of Luke Fletcher, Jake Ball sat on the bench, and Coggers [Coughlin] who was captain of Durham a couple of years ago - all of those guys would play in most teams around the country. It's so valuable.

"Dan [Christian] made a point about it in the changing room after the game - the way those guys have behaved despite not being in the starting XI has been really world-class, and that's part of the reason that we've come together so well as a team and as a squad."

In that quarter-final, Gurney's return of 2 for 44 from his four overs was unspectacular, but by dismissing Morgan in his penultimate over, he may well have saved his side 15 runs.

"I've been slightly more expensive than I'd have liked this year," he says, "but I've been picking up quite a lot of wickets. That is the key to reducing an opposition score, really - and that wicket was a good example of it."

He remains one of the more sought-after death bowlers on the T20 circuit, and it was no surprise to see him re-sign with the analytics-driven Melbourne Renegades for the 2019-20 Big Bash.

Another similarity with the 2017 vintage is the presence in the side of a moving, living insurance policy. That year, Billy Root played ten games as a batsman, but only got to the crease four times; this season, Jake Libby has been picked nine times, but batted in only three of those matches.

The logic is simple: with Christian and Samit Patel offering genuine all-round options, the presence of an extra batsman means that the explosive players in the side have less to fear about getting out, safe in the knowledge that there is a proper player behind them.

"He's been a massively underrated T20 cricketer in my view," says Gurney of Libby. "If you look at his numbers, his average [33.54 over his career] and strike-rate [134.18] are very impressive. He bowls handy offspin, he's a hell of a fielder, and his versatility with the bat is invaluable to a T20 team."

"If you're 10 for 3, having someone like Libbs to go in and knock it around and rebuild is incredibly useful, and at the same time he can also go in down the order and clear the ropes, or play spin very well."

Libby's role in the side is almost unique across sports; he is a player whose failure to exert any influence on a game demonstrates that his team-mates have been at their best.

"He's very versatile, a very handy cricketer," says Gurney. "It's frustrating for him fulfilling that role at times, because when things are going well he gets shoved down the order, but I'm sure he won't complain if he's got a medal round his neck on Saturday night."

On Finals Day, Nottinghamshire will play in the first semi-final against Worcestershire, who turned them over at Trent Bridge both this year and last, but Gurney is convinced that will count for little. "It can work the other way," he says. "If you play against a team who you've had the wood over, you can start to overthink it, and wonder if they're due to beat you. From a psychological perspective they might feel like it gives them a little bit of confidence, but I don't think we'll be short of that."

The other consideration for Gurney is that he has a poor record against two Worcestershire batsmen. In the past three seasons, he has bowled 16 balls at both Ross Whiteley and Ed Barnard; they have hit him for 39 and 34 runs respectively.

"I'll definitely trust my method against them," Gurney says, "and the positive to take from a match-up like that is that you don't go into a game taking anyone lightly. Maybe sometimes if you've got a good record against someone you can become complacent - there are games where you haven't done your homework and think 'I probably should have done'. That won't be the case on Saturday."

And while the young players have caught the eye at times this year, Notts will rely on the experienced heads on Saturday. "There's a bit of an adage that goes around in cricket: young players win you games, but experience wins you titles," Gurney notes.

If he is somewhere near his best at Edgbaston, that adage will be rooted in reality.

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