Birmingham stun Surrey to reach T20 finals day

The Birmingham Bears joined Hampshire, Glamorgan and the Notts Outlaws at NatWest T20 Blast finals day with victory over Surrey on Friday.

Here, we wrap up the week’s quarter-finals.

Best innings

Shahid Afridi. Hampshire’s ex-Pakistan swashbuckler was promoted to open their innings against Derbyshire and responded with 101 from 43 balls, with 10 fours and seven sixes. Hampshire’s eventual margin of victory? 101.

Tweet of the round

Moment of hubris

“Can Surrey declare?” – absent batsman Kevin Pietersen gets ahead of himself with his team scoring quickly early on against the Bears

There will be no finals-day return for the ex-England man.

Quote of the round

“I told the captain that you’re wasting me at number seven or eight, please send me up the order” – Afridi, as reported by PakPassion.net.

Partnership of the round

Samit Patel and Dan Christian. The Notts duo combined for four wickets between Somerset’s 13th and 16th overs and then put on 54 for the fifth wicket to see their team towards an ultimately comfortable win. Patel contributed 45 and two for 26, Christian 36 not out and two for 23.

Pantomime villain

Peter Trego. The Somerset all-rounder’s catch to dismiss Notts star Alex Hales was only upheld after a succession of marginal replays – at which point Trego theatrically shushed the booing Trent Bridge crowd. He had earlier bashed 40 for good measure.

Stat of the round

Afridi’s century was his first in Twenty20 cricket, in his 222nd innings in the format.

Shot of the round

Birmingham’s Grant Elliott launched Moises Henriques a huge distance into the stands at The Oval for the second of his three sixes (https://twitter.com/NatWestT20Blast/status/901177986358980608/video/1).

Who’s next?

Glamorgan v Birmingham Bears, Hampshire v Notts Outlaws – semi-finals, Edgbaston, September 2.