Yorkshire Bank 40 2013: Preview to Nottinghamshire vs. Glamorgan Final

With the Ashes taking a back seat until the winter series in Australia, attention turns to domestic matters—namely the Yorkshire Bank 40 final between Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan.
The showpiece event on the county cricket calendar takes place at Lord’s on Saturday.
Here’s a look at a few talking points, the key performers and a prediction ahead of this limited-overs final.


When: Saturday, September 21. 11:30 BST.
Where: Lord's, London
Watch: Sky Sports 2, from 11:00 BST


Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire finished top of Group A, with nine wins from 12 matches, and beat Somerset in the semifinal. Most current talk around the Outlaws involves the controversial decision to recall their Ashes stars Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann.
The England duo have made little contribution to Nottinghamshire's progress—excluding a pair of appearances from Swann—but seem likely to take the place of two semifinal heroes.
Both have been included in a 15-man squad and it will be interesting to see the Outlaws' stance on the matter, and whether they follow Warwickshire's 2007 approach when they surprisingly omitted Ian Bell.

Glamorgan
After finishing second in Group C, Glamorgan qualified for the semifinals as the best-placed runner up, having a marginally superior net run-rate to Northamptonshire.
In the semifinal they took on favourites Hampshire and secured a well-earned 31-run victory by containing their opponents' fierce batting lineup.
The Welsh side are perhaps surprise finalists, without a squad of marquee names. However, they enjoyed not-too-distant success in limited-overs cricket, winning national titles in 2004 and 2002.


Key Players
Jim Allenby has been instrumental in Glamorgan's success, making several decisive contributions with both bat and ball.
His semifinal performance almost single handedly dragged his side to Lord's. A crisp 74 was the highlight on the batting card and his miserly 18 runs from eight overs proved the most economical return by a bowler.
Allenby snared both openers in that match and Nottinghamshire will need to be especially wary of him during both innings of this game.
While it's hard to ignore the impressive campaigns of so many Outlaws, the return of Graeme Swann sprinkles the Nottinghamshire side with stardust.

Rested and presumably reinvigorated from his post-Ashes break, Swann should be chomping at the bit to take centre stage here, and Glamorgan will do well to suppress his impact.

Prediction: Nottinghamshire to Triumph
Nottinghamshire’s lineup looks a little too formidable for the Welsh outfit to overcome, particularly in the batting department.
On paper they have too many players of international calibre and with their bowling core potentially reinforced by Ashes stars, expect the Outlaws to be crowned champions of the 40-over format.