2007 Friends Provident Trophy
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Friends Provident Trophy was an English county cricket
County cricket
County cricket is the highest level of domestic cricket in England and Wales. For the 2010 season, see 2010 English cricket season.-First-class counties:...

 tournament, held between 22 April and 19 August 2007. The tournament was won by Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...

.

Changes from previous tournament

Following the 2006 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
2006 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
-External links:* at CricketArchive....

, which had been won by Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...

, various changes were made to the tournament. The first of these to be announced was the inclusion of a semi-final stage in 2007, following complaints of there being "too many meaningless matches". Another change was that of the competition sponsor; Cheltenham & Gloucester
Cheltenham & Gloucester
Cheltenham & Gloucester plc is a mortgage and savings provider in the United Kingdom, a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. C&G specialises in mortgages and savings products. Previously, C&G was a building society, known as the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society. C&G is one of the largest...

, who were reportedly unhappy at the format for 2006, cancelled their future sponsorship before the 2006 season began. Friends Provident
Friends Provident
Friends Provident was an organisation offering life insurance based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as a mutual Friendly Society for Quakers, although it was demutualised in 2001 and became a publicly listed company, no longer linked with the Religious Society of Friends...

 were revealed as the new sponsors on 8 February 2008.

The final major change from 2006 was the introduction of player referrals. Introduced on a trial basis, the fielding captain or batsman involved had the right to refer decisions to the third umpire
Third umpire
In international cricket matches the third umpire is an off-field umpire who makes the final decision in questions referred to him by the two on-field umpires. Television replays are available to the third umpire to assist him in coming to a decision...

 if they disagreed with the decision of the on-field umpires. Each team were permitted two appeals per innings, losing an appeal should the third umpire concur with his on-field colleague. However, this option was only available during televised matches, which led some to suggest it would favour some teams over others.

Format

The eighteen first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 counties were joined by the Scottish and Irish national teams and divided into two groups, north and south. Each team played each other once, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the semi-final stage. During the group stage, teams were awarded two points for a win, one point for a tie, abandonment or a no result, with no points awarded for a defeat. Teams level on points at the end of the group stage were separated by most wins, followed by net run rate
Net run rate
Net Run Rate is a statistic used in the sport of cricket. It is the most commonly used method of separating teams in one-day league competitions, effectively acting as the Cricket equivalent of "goal difference" in football....

, followed by most wickets taken per balls bowled in matches achieving a result.

North Conference

Team Pld W T L NR Pts NRR
Net run rate
Net Run Rate is a statistic used in the sport of cricket. It is the most commonly used method of separating teams in one-day league competitions, effectively acting as the Cricket equivalent of "goal difference" in football....

Durham Dynamos
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...

9 7 0 2 0 14
0.865
Warwickshire Bears
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

9 6 0 1 2 14
0.711
Nottinghamshire Outlaws
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...

9 6 0 2 1 13
0.802
Worcestershire Royals
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...

9 4 0 3 2 10
0.207
Yorkshire Carnegie
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....

9 4 0 3 2 10
0.086
Leicestershire Foxes
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....

9 4 0 3 2 10
Lancashire Lightning
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...

9 3 0 5 1 7
Derbyshire Phantoms
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...

9 2 0 6 1 5
Northamptonshire Steelbacks
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...

9 1 0 6 2 4
Scotland 9 1 0 7 1 3

South Conference

Team Pld W T L NR Pts NRR
Hampshire Hawks
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...

9 6 1 1 1 14
0.315
Essex Eagles
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...

9 6 0 2 1 13
1.050
Gloucestershire Gladiators
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....

9 6 0 2 1 13
0.125
Kent Spitfires
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...

9 5 0 3 1 11
0.889
Surrey Brown Caps
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...

9 4 0 3 2 10
0.779
Somerset Sabres
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...

9 4 0 3 2 10
0.198
Middlesex Crusaders
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

9 3 0 5 1 7
Sussex Sharks
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...

9 2 0 5 2 6
Glamorgan Dragons
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...

9 0 0 6 3 3
Ireland 9 0 0 6 3 3

Semi finals

Durham came out the victors in a low-scoring encounter where both sides collapsed to 38–7. Heavy rain had fallen over the course of the previous few days and overnight, creating a damp pitch offering "enough movement for the ball to find the edge or earn lbw
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...

s". Andy Bichel
Andy Bichel
Andrew John Bichel is a retired Australian cricket player and was the bowling coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2009 Indian Premier League....

 was the only batsman to make a significant score (24 runs from 35 balls faced), as Neil Killeen
Neil Killeen
Neil Killeen is a former English cricketer who has played for the cricket teams of Durham CCC, Marylebone Cricket Club and Combined Universities....

 and Ottis Gibson
Ottis Gibson
Ottis Delroy Gibson is a cricket coach and former player from Barbados. A pace bowler and exploiter of the older cricket ball for the West Indies, Gibson is now head coach for the West Indies. He previously worked as bowling coach for England.- International career :Gibson made two Test...

 took three wickets each before Liam Plunkett
Liam Plunkett
Liam Edward Plunkett is an English cricketer, who plays for Durham and England. In the 2005 season he was Durham's leading first-class wicket-taker, with 51 wickets at a bowling average of 30.84, including eight for 88 in his first game of the season against Leicestershire.-Test cricket:Plunkett...

 claimed career-best bowling figures of 4 for 15.

Chasing a small target, Durham also lost early wickets, as Bichel and the on-loan Martin Saggers
Martin Saggers
Martin John Saggers is a retired English cricketer, who spent the majority of his career at Kent. He had little success in his three seasons with Durham between 1996 and 1998, but then joined Kent and from 2000 to 2003 passed 50 first-class wickets each year, his best being 83 in 2002...

, followed by Graham Napier
Graham Napier
Graham Richard Napier is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium fast bowler....

, reduced them to 38–7. This brought Plunkett to the crease, and, batting "sensibly rather than desperately", he hit 30 of the remaining 34 runs to win the match.
Warwickshire elected not to include Ian Bell in their line-up, opting instead not to disrupt the side that had got to the semi-final. Hampshire, however, did select Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...

, who was flown to Southampton on a chartered helicopter following England's Test match win over the West Indies.

Hampshire won the toss and chose to bat first, but started slowly, with John Crawley
John Crawley
John Paul Crawley is a retired English professional cricketer, who represented England in 37 Test matches. He is regarded alongside his near contemporaries Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash as a hugely talented player who failed to realise his full potential at international level.Crawley is a...

 playing an anchor role following the early wickets of Michael Carberry
Michael Carberry
Michael Alexander Carberry is an English cricketer. Carberry is a left-handed opening batsman who bowls right-arm off break. He was born in Croydon, Surrey....

 and Michael Lumb. He was the key batsman on what was described as a "sluggish" pitch, and scored 64 before being narrowly run out by Heath Streak
Heath Streak
Heath Hilton Streak is a former Zimbabwean cricketer. He made his Test debut in Zimbabwe's tour of Pakistan 1993/1994 making his mark by taking 8 wickets in the 2nd Test at Rawalpindi...

's throw from third man. In reply, Warwickshire seemed on course for victory at 98–3, before Sean Ervine
Sean Ervine
Sean Michael Ervine is a Zimbabwean cricketer. Ervine is a left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium pace.-Domestic career:Ervine originally played for the Midlands cricket team in Zimbabwe....

 dismissed top-scorer Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara is a Sri Lankan, Sinhalese cricketer and the former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team. He is a left-handed top-order batsman...

 and Alex Loudon
Alex Loudon
Alexander Guy Rushworth Loudon is an English former cricketer. A right-handed batsman and off spin bowler, he was considered a promising future international player....

 in the same over. Despite a battling innings from Tim Ambrose
Tim Ambrose
Timothy Raymond Ambrose is an Australian born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He commenced his domestic career with Sussex in 2000, although he now plays for Warwickshire...

, Warwickshire never recovered, bowled out for 166.

Final

Durham's preparations for the final were hampered by the news that Steve Harmison
Steve Harmison
Stephen James Harmison MBE is an English cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODI's, and 2 T20's. He also plays county cricket for Durham....

 would be unable to play after sustaining a muscle tear in his back in a County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...

 match against Surrey. Hampshire were without Stuart Clark
Stuart Clark
Stuart Rupert Clark is an Australian International cricketer who plays domestic cricket for the New South Wales Blues. He plays as a right-arm fast-medium bowler...

, whose two month contract had expired; Daren Powell
Daren Powell
Daren Brent Lyle Powell is a West Indian cricketer who plays first-class cricket for Jamaica. A right-arm fast medium bowler, he has played Test matches and One Day Internationals for the West Indian cricket team. Despite starting his cricketing career as a number 3 batsman, Powell is a genuine...

 was his replacement.

Durham batted first and scored 312–5, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Shivnarine "Shiv" Chanderpaul is a cricketer, and former captain of the West Indies cricket team. He is the first Indo-Caribbean in the West Indies team to play 100 Tests for the West Indies and has captained them in 14 Tests and 16 One Day Internationals...

 top-scoring with 78 before being run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...

 by a "magnificent throw from long-on" by Michael Carberry
Michael Carberry
Michael Alexander Carberry is an English cricketer. Carberry is a left-handed opening batsman who bowls right-arm off break. He was born in Croydon, Surrey....

. Hampshire's bowling was poor, with their six-man bowling attack of Powell, Jamie Bruce
Jamie Bruce
James Bruce is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler.James was in the 1st XI at Eton for several years before representing Durham UCCE and playing minor county cricket for Cumberland. His exceptional control and cricket brain attracted Hampshire to...

, Dimitri Mascarenhas
Dimitri Mascarenhas
Adrian Dimitri Mascarenhas is an English cricketer of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He currently plays county cricket for Hampshire County Cricket Club, in the Indian Premier League for the Kings XI Punjab and for the Otago Volts in New...

, Sean Ervine
Sean Ervine
Sean Michael Ervine is a Zimbabwean cricketer. Ervine is a left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium pace.-Domestic career:Ervine originally played for the Midlands cricket team in Zimbabwe....

, Chris Tremlett
Chris Tremlett
Christopher Timothy "Chris" Tremlett is an English cricketer who plays for Surrey County Cricket Club. He is 6 ft 8 in tall and is a fast bowler able to extract bounce on most surfaces. He is a competent number 8 or 9 batsman, with seven first-class fifties to his name...

 and Shane Warne "struggling [sic] for consistency". Phil Mustard and Kyle Coetzer
Kyle Coetzer
Kyle Coetzer is a Scottish cricketer who has represented his country at all levels, captaining at Under-15, U-17 and U-19 levels including skippering in the 2004 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh...

 joined Chanderpaul in scoring half-centuries for Durham, in what was the highest 50-overs total in domestic Lord's finals.

Hampshire's reply started badly; with the opening two deliveries of the innings, Ottis Gibson
Ottis Gibson
Ottis Delroy Gibson is a cricket coach and former player from Barbados. A pace bowler and exploiter of the older cricket ball for the West Indies, Gibson is now head coach for the West Indies. He previously worked as bowling coach for England.- International career :Gibson made two Test...

 "slanted successive balls across Lumb and Ervine" to get both left-handers to edge to Michael Di Venuto
Michael Di Venuto
Michael James Di Venuto is a former Australian cricketer of Italian descent who played first-class cricket for Tasmanian Tigers and One Day Internationals for Australia. Although he has retired from representative cricket in Australia, he currently continues to play for Durham CCC. He has also...

 at second slip. Hampshire's chase was "in tatters" when Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen
Kevin Peter Pietersen, MBE is a South African-born English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who plays for England and Surrey...

 was dismissed, and once John Crawley
John Crawley
John Paul Crawley is a retired English professional cricketer, who represented England in 37 Test matches. He is regarded alongside his near contemporaries Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash as a hugely talented player who failed to realise his full potential at international level.Crawley is a...

's 68 was ended by Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood
Paul David Collingwood MBE is an English cricketer. He has been a regular member of the England Test side, was captain of the One Day International team 2007–2008. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is a batting all-rounder, whose batting...

, Durham had effectively won. Rain stopped play with Hampshire on 158–5, ensuring the two sides would have to return the following day to complete the match. Upon resuming, Durham required less than nine overs to take the final five wickets.

Durham's win brought their first domestic trophy since becoming a first-class county
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 in 1992, and left Glamorgan
Glamorgan County Cricket Club
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...

 and Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....

as the only counties to have never won the tournament in one of its various guises.

External links

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