Simon Harmer holds onto trophy ambitions despite T20 Blast disappointment

After playing some brilliant cricket throughout the T20 Blast, Essex fell 14 runs short of winning the competition. Speaking about their performance, Essex skipper Simon Harmer stated that he is disappointed but expects good things for the team in the future. The 34-year-old also added saying that if everyone in the same can maintain the same attitude, Essex can soon lift a few trophies.

Notably, Essex have been one of the most successful counties in recent years, winning the County Championship in 2019 and the Bob Willis Trophy in 2020. They finished fourth in the Championship last year and are competing for the title this season, and thus, Harmer is confident of the team succeeding soon as he wants to put pressure on league leaders Surrey. 

“We are trying to play an exciting brand of cricket and trying to take it on from ball one. We've made some really good strides and understand that we are going to get it wrong from time to time, but we've learned some good lessons this year. One thing you can say about this Essex team is that they never give up and fight to the very, very end, and I think that's something you can't buy, the rest of the stuff you can work on. If we can maintain that attitude, there will be trophies to come,” Harmer told BBC Essex.

“We are slowly but surely chipping away at Surrey's lead and starting to put some pressure on them. I think they know that if they slip up, we're right behind them, but we need to keep focusing on ourselves. Tom Westley's having an unbelievable campaign as skipper and with the bat as well. Long may that continue, and hopefully, we can continue putting in big performances,” he added.

Notably, in the final, Somerset struggled to get going, but Sean Dickson’s 53 runs off 35 deliveries changed the complexion of the game. Courtesy of his brilliant batting, the Lewis Gregory-led side posted 145 runs on board and that ended up being enough for Somerset.

When it came to the chase, Essex faced the wrath of Matt Henry as the New Zealand international picked up four wickets in the middle. Daniel Sams tried to rescue the team later on, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the team got bundled for 131 runs.