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CRICKET ROADSHOWS

Week 17 Preview - 1 Sep, Lord's Roadshow brings down curtain at Lord

It's an unlikely scenario, and one that couldn't have been envisaged at the beginning of the season, but on Saturday it will fall on a 21-year-old Pakistani to banish our Ashes blues.

The player in question is free-hitting Shahid Afridi and the venue none other than cricket's headquarters as Leicestershire take on Somerset in the inaugural C&G Trophy final, previously more recognisable as the NatWest Trophy.

It may seem odd to charge Afridi with putting a smile back on English cricket but, as the last Cricket Roadshow of the year will examine, if the dynamic right-hander cuts loose at Lord's it will bring the summer to a most spectacular conclusion.

Since replacing the injured Daniel Marsh, who went home with a fractured cheek bone in early July, Afridi has set the county scene alight with a string of mesmeric innings as he's dispatched the ball to all corners of the British Isles.

His unique brand of batting has confounded all who have bowled at him, with his 58-ball 95 in the semi-final against Lancashire being typical of his flamboyant success for the Foxes in one-day cricket.

He's even taken that form into the county championship but it's his impact in the shortened game that has really captured the imagination and on Saturday he has the opportunity to crown a quite stunning debut season with one last spectacular in the traditional summer swansong.

Pity the poor bowlers charged with denying Afridi – it could complete Andy Caddick's miserable season as the Somerset and England strike bowler tries to end his summer on a high.

Of course, all it takes is one ball and that's something Somerset's captain Jamie Cox will be drumming into his side prior to Saturday's final, while opposing captain Vince Wells seeks to complete a notable one-day double by adding the C&G Trophy to the Norwich Union National League (which they should wrap up next week).

The Roadshow runs the rule over both sides and their likely match-winners prior to play beginning, broadcasting live from Lord's with the usual morning crew of Mark Nicholas, Sybil Ruscoe and Adam Darke fronting the presentation.

Elsewhere there is the final '60 seconds with Slats' to look forward to as well as a review of the summer as a whole, both internationally and domestically.We take a look back at how the Ashes were lost, or won (depending on your perspective), reflect on Yorkshire's first county championship since 1968 and relive some of the best moments from this year's weekly Roadshows.

All in all it promises to be quite finale...now it's over to you Mr Afridi.

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