Nottinghamshire awarded wrong medals after winning Lord's final
What’s the story?
Members of the Nottinghamshire squad who beat Surrey in the Royal London One-Day Cup final at Lord’s on Saturday were given a huge surprise as they were awarded the wrong medals following their victory. Instead of being awarded the One Day Champions medal, the team were given a medal that had “Women’s One-Day Cup Champions 2017” engraved on it, according to a report in The Times.
However, an ECB spokesperson who spoke confirmed that while the wrong medal was given to Chris Read’s side, the mistake had been corrected and before the team left Lord’s their rightful medals were given to them.
In case you didn’t know...
In the final at Lord’s, Surrey put on 297 in their 50 overs on the back of an unbeaten 144 from Mark Stoneman, who carried his bat throughout the innings. Samit Patel, who has been the star of the One Day tournament for Notts picked up three crucial wickets to restrict Surrey to under 300. In response, England opening batsman Alex Hales scored an unbeaten 187, which was his career-best List-A score and the highest score at Lord’s to help his side get over the line with some help from captain Chris Read, who scored a 57-ball 58.
The heart of the matter
After his incredible knock, Hales, who was the hero of the final, said: “It’s incredible, one of the best days I’ve had in cricket and definitely one of the best days I’ve had at Notts. The game went from one side to the other, they were on top to start with, we fought back really well with the ball, then took wickets early on and then we fought back as well, so it’s a great feeling to win the trophy”.
What’s next?
Nottinghamshire, who are currently leading the County Championship Division 2 and have just won the Royal London One-Day Cup, will turn their attention towards the shortest format of the game as the Natwest T20 Blast begins on June 7 (Friday) against Yorkshire at Leeds.
Author’s Take
With so many things under the scanner in modern-day cricket, it was surprising to see that Notts were given the wrong medal after the 14-member squad performed brilliantly at Lord’s to lift the tournament. However, the fact that the mistake was immediately corrected speaks volumes about the diligence of the organisers, who made sure that although a mistake was committed, it was corrected almost instantaneously.