http://bit.ly/oSuVIB Equestrian sport By Dainis Matisons

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Matthew Hoggard lifts the Pals Existence t20 trophy as his Leicestershire group-mates celebrate around him. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Motion Images

Following cricket's longest day, concocted specially for the shortest type of the game, Leicestershire, the rank outsiders, ended up crowned as this year's Twenty20 champions.
Soon after continuous interruptions, which served only to tax the nerves of absolutely everyone worried, Matthew Hoggard held the trophy aloft into a evening sky, which, for the moment, was not drenching those down under. Hence Paul Nixon's considerably-heralded dream of silverware at the end of his illustrious occupation arrived to pass.
Nixon's contribution in the closing was briefly stunning, a brilliant diving catch to dismiss Kieron Pollard, 1 of Somerset's dangermen. Hoggard afterwards described that catch as a "sprinkling of magic in a fairytale".
But there had been a great deal of Leicestershire stars. Josh Cobb went from zero to hero. He was out to the very first ball of the day nevertheless by the conclude he was choosing up wickets, catches and operate-outs with gusto, encapsulating the wonderful spirit of a side which has struggled so badly in each and every other sort of the video game this summertime. He was gentleman of the match in the last.
Meanwhile, Claude Henderson bowled impeccably and substitute fielder, Matthew Boyce, caught almost everything on the mid-wicket boundary.
At least the closing could be contested more than 20 overs, as opposed to possibly of the semi-finals, which, perversely, utilised up additional time given that they had been tied. So there had been two 1-through eliminators to determine which sides would make the finals and go to India and a chance to qualify for the ultimate levels of the Champions League.
That final was a taut affair. Leicestershire posted 145-six, hardly a mammoth whole, but this was not a excellent pitch. As in their first match Will Jefferson, a sort of prototype of Alex Hales, was the most fluent of the batsmen. Unusually, Alfonso Thomas was Somerset's most profligate bowler.
Somerset's chase was weary and unwell-conceived. They stored holing out, normally to Boyce on the mid-wicket boundary. They ran out of steam and judgment as the Foxes ruthlessly hunted down their prey. So a dark day for cricket's perennial Cinderellas, runners-up in the Twenty20 for a few a long time in succession, but at minimum Somerset have a chance of two much more trophies this 12 months.
Previously there was dark melodrama as the two rain-ruined semi-finals ended in ties. So the 1-above eliminator, a tragicomic format, was required to decide which two teams would contest the final.
The eliminators took place amid tattered nerve-stops almost everywhere at Edgbaston, among spectators, people, umpires and even the sages in the press box. The contests may not have been honest but they have been bizarrely compelling.
By any specifications this was an eccentric day of cricket and at the finish of it Nixon, who has constantly delighted in the eccentric, had to delay his retirement once once again. He retains threatening to go but Leicestershire, no-hopers with a red ball, refuse to go away in this format.
Leicestershire's route to the closing was fraught and punctuated by a raft of Duckworth-Lewis calculations in between fierce showers, six-hits, dropped catches, amazing catches, a tie, and the eliminator, in which Jefferson finally settled matters like a huge pleasant giant by hitting Gary Keedy for six into the Hollies Stand.
In that initial eliminator, the two captains gave the solitary through to historic left-arm spinners Henderson for Leicestershire and Keedy for Lancashire, due to the fact of the nature of the surface area ready here.
The ball turned far far more than is best for a one-day game. Even so, as the day went on and much more rain fell, those spinners had been typically hampered by a moist ball.
Neither left-arm spinner appreciated the stress of bowling in a one-above match. Neither could at any time have envisaged staying invited to do these kinds of a thing at the begin of their long and distinguished careers.
Stephen Moore hit Henderson's very first ball for six, but the lanky South African was ready to limit Lancashire to 13 in the over. Keedy fared less properly versus the mighty Jefferson. His initial two balls had been smashed for fours to mid-wicket and the sightscreen. Then, with 4 required from two balls, Jefferson popped the ball into the stands and the players could lastly shake arms. Very poor Keedy, very poor Lancashire.
The 2nd semi-closing was an similarly tense affair. Somerset encountered Shahid Afridi in 1 of his destructive moods. The Pakistani hit 80 from just 42 balls, five of which ended up crunched for six as the Hampshire innings closed on 138-four after 15.five overs.
Far more rain had the ECB laptop computer whizzing all around but yet again and the fresh new equation was a goal of 95 from ten overs. Despite Marcus Trescothick and Jos Buttler batting brilliantly, Dominic Cork managed to stop Somerset from scoring five runs off the ultimate more than. So yet another tie.
In the eliminator Somerset hit sixteen off the busy Afridi's above and Thomas managed to defend that target. This time Afridi was caught on the mid-wicket boundary for 4. He deserved much better. Possibly the spectators and the gamers did as effectively in a mesmeric, macabre lottery.