The Cricketer looks at the main talking points from the Hundred tie between Oval Invincibles and Welsh Fire
It was only for a share of the spoils in the end, but Tom Curran's death-over batting continues to go from strength to strength, having spent most of the T20 Blast as a specialist batter for Surrey.
He has had little choice but to improve his batting in the last couple of years amid a catalogue of injuries that have proven restrictive to his bowling. Prior to Blast Finals Day, he hadn't bowled since the Pakistan Super League, but the former England man reckons he's bowling as well now as he has done for some time.
He is just back from the Zim Afro T10, which he opted for in order to get some bowling work into his legs ahead of this month, but it was all about his ball-striking from No.7 on Sunday night, which included one outrageous blow that cleared the Kia Oval.
"People say that I've improved my batting," he said afterwards, "but I come in a lot of the time right at the end when you have to go, so there is no in-between – you either come off or you don't. And because you're not facing many balls, sometimes the impact that you can have on the game is very limited. But at the same time, when you do have that impact those are the most valuable players.
"You look at the guys – Kieron Pollard, how Tim David has come on – these guys finishing the game are the most valuable players, so it's something I really want to try and keep developing because I know that if I can add that finishing role to my bowling, then hopefully that makes me a very valuable player to the teams that I play in."
Tom Curran starred for Oval (Getty Images)
On the same pitch on which only three players reached double figures in the women's match beforehand, Joe Clarke was the glue that held together Welsh Fire's innings after Tom Abell had won the toss.
Clarke had little choice but to take his time, having watched the rest of Fire's top five disappear within the first 30 balls of the match.
But he sped up gradually and was grateful for Ben Green's cameo at the back end, taking some of the pressure off the Notts man, whose unbeaten 69 was the difference between a paltry total and a competitive score – ultimately one run short of victory.
Worryingly for Welsh Fire, though, Clarke didn't then take the gloves in the field, sitting out with an ankle issue picked up during his innings.
Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Jason Roy with the first ball of Invincibles' innings (Getty Images)
People are raving about Gus Atkinson and, as he ramped up the pace on his home ground, it was easy once again to see why.
The 25-year-old fast bowler was in the England running earlier this summer and his stock is only rising; he was clocked at 91mph on his way to a three-wicket haul that burst the game open for Oval Invincibles.
He had the dangerous Luke Wells splicing a catch to mid-on, before accounting for the middle-order engine room of Tom Abell and Glenn Phillips to force the rebuild between Clarke and David Willey.
The selection of Zak Chappell, a second tall fast bowler on a surface that assisted the seamers all day, meant that the leg-spin of Nathan Sowter was only needed for a single set.
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