The Analysis: Birmingham Phoenix make sure Moeen Ali absence proves inconsequential

NICK FRIEND reviews the stand-out talking points from a crucial win over Trent Rockets for Birmingham Phoenix, who go top of the table

Birmingham Phoenix: What a fun team.

Will Smeed, Finn Allen and Liam Livingstone: The Adidas Men, doing wonders for their bat brand, no doubt, whacking balls out into the Nottingham streets almost at will. Three big-hitters, led by Livingstone – their swaggerer-in-chief – while Moeen is on England duty. Allen was hardly known beyond New Zealand until 18 months ago.

When he played for Brondesbury in the Middlesex Premier League only four years ago, he scarcely made a meaningful contribution with the bat. Smeed, meanwhile, is just a year older now than what Allen was then. But those at Somerset who know him best reckon he might just be the greatest talent to emerge through their academy system.

Benny Howell and Pat Brown: the mystery seamers – two of the more interesting, curious cricketers on the circuit. By curious, I mean deep-thinking. Both have spoken openly about the origins of their slower deliveries – about the role of baseball pitchers and how they are always looking to expand their portfolios.

Both were excellent tonight, especially Brown, whose journey back to this point after two years of injury struggles was quite heart-warming to watch.

Dillon Pennington: the 22-year-old fast bowler, an England Under-19 star not long ago and built to bowl fast. He has spoken to The Cricketer previously about how he has looked up to Brown, his county teammate, as an example to follow.

Even allowing for Brown’s difficulties in the last two years, he remains a fascinating, inspiring story for players of Pennington’s age and relative inexperience: he made his T20 debut in 2017 and his T20I bow two years later, having finished his first full Blast campaign as its leading wicket-taker and a champion, and his second as a runner-up, with an international call-up.

Then, there is Miles Hammond: once upon a time, a gun off-spinner of the future. Now, having spent a year studying at Central Saint Martins – the world-renowned art college – and come through the yips, he is the long-haired batsman, reverse-hitting into unusual areas and sneaking under the radar in a much-vaunted, bloody watchable batting line-up.

Livingstone was given the Match Hero cap, but Hammond was very much the star, dragging an innings that began in cavalier style before briefly stagnating until he counterattacked against Rashid Khan and took down Marchant de Lange at the death.

^{Liam Livingstone hit a half century in his first game as Birmingham Phoenix captain}

Chris Cooke: the reliable county pro, almost entirely forgotten in this side, batting down the order and spending most of his time in the field helmet-clad, crouched up to the stumps as wicketkeeper.

The other Chris, Benjamin: the opposite. Cooke is his county captain; Benjamin is brand-new to this – straight out of university, impressing in Warwickshire’s second team, a rookie contract, a Blast debut, a Royal London Cup debut, a Hundred gig, a Remember The Name debut. In franchise tournaments the world over, you unearth the new guy. This was one of his quieter nights, but he has already made his impact.

Tom Helm: forever linked with England but still uncapped. He was in the 55-man back-to-training group after last year’s lockdown and named as a reserve for their winter tour of South Africa.

And then, Imran Tahir: the king. Unstoppable even at 42 – a hat-trick last time out, just two wickets tonight but a spell so full of wily experience. His dismissal of Lewis Gregory, hitting almost exclusively legside, was perfection: he lobbed it wider and enticed a slog-sweep that only ended up in the hands of short third man.

Hammond ensures Moeen goes unmissed

Without Moeen Ali, Birmingham Phoenix needed someone to step up in his absence. Enter, Miles Hammond: this wasn’t his first important contribution of the season, having played second-fiddle to Liam Livingstone in his takedown of Southern Brave last month, albeit in defeat.

In a loaded batting line-up of strong hitters, he is something of an outlier: a name lesser-known, a quirkier figure, a wristy flicker rather than a muscular belter.

The Gloucestershire opener began life as an off-spinner, playing for England at under-19 level before struggling the yips and turning his batting into his primary skill. In recent seasons, the Bristol county have got their white-ball cricket together, with Hammond at the top of the order last year when they reached T20 Finals Day for the first time in 13 seasons.

His signature was an ability to reverse-sweep at will – a shot that carried him through their quarter-final against Northamptonshire but then failed him in the semi against Surrey in what became a painful effort to watch.

^{Pat Brown starred with the ball for Birmingham Phoenix}

But that was an exception rather than the rule. It took him a few attempts to find his range tonight, finally connecting properly to hit Rashid Khan over extra cover for a boundary. From there, he was a man transformed; there was no shot over the entire day at Trent Bridge that was easier on the eye than his check-drive through the off-side against the thunderbolts of Marchant de Lange. So good was it, he played it twice.

His cameo ended unbeaten, strolling off at the conclusion of Birmingham’s 100 balls to speak to Sky Sports, pretty satisfied at his night’s work.

All being well, The Hundred will raise the profile of Hammond’s like – one among plenty of good cricketers whose careers have flown under the radar in the domestic game.

Pat Brown is back

Watching Pat Brown tonight was really quite lovely. It has been a while since he has been able to bowl like this – he said as much afterwards, telling Andrew Flintoff on interview that for the first time in a long time, he is bowling without pain.

“I don’t want to be in that position where I’m letting my teammates down again because I’m not physically able to do something,” he told The Cricketer at the end of last season in an emotional, brutally candid assessment of his own game. His economy rate in 2020 was 10.85.

“I think being a pessimist, I often feel like my career has peaked at the age of 21. I genuinely fear that that has happened. When I’m in a negative mindset, that probably works against me; but when I’m in a positive mindset, that spurs me on to make sure that it isn’t the case.

“I want to be in that position where I’m still very successful and a very good county bowler into my 30s.”

Last winter, he worried about the future. “You’re never as far away from a success as you think you are, but you’re also probably not quite as far from a failure as you think you are either,” he said. “To just think that you’re not going to get released is stupid; there’s every chance that if I were to continue to perform like I did, I’m not going to have a job, and rightly so.

“There are people who will never get released because they’re so good, and hopefully I’ll be in that bracket as well. But everyone thinks about it and everyone would worry when they’re in bad form about what happens if it continues.”

He has deleted his Twitter account, recovered from his back problems and is doing what he does best once more. On the biggest stage in English domestic cricket, it was a terrific sight. Pat Brown was always going to come again; he was far too talented for last season to define him. Fitness-permitting, that period is surely in the past.

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