Alex Wakely said he was proud of his Northants side despite his disappointing as the Steelbacks missed out on a second t20 title, beaten by Lancashire in the show-piece final at Edgbaston.
Having beaten Birmingham Bears in the semi-final earlier in the day, Northants were set 167 to win, but fell short despite Josh Cobb’s unbeaten 44, and Shahid Afridi’s quick-fire 26 that kept hopes alive until the death.
However it was the Red Rose county who left Edgbaston with the trophy, and Wakely admitted afterwards that they were worthy winners, with no Northants batsmen able to make the major match winning innings.
“When you get to a final and you lose it’s disappointing,” he said. “But for a Club that’s continually punched above our weight to have it snatched away from you right at the end is pretty disappointing and quite frustrating.
“We played some really good cricket throughout the competition, and we played some entertaining cricket which is what we talked about doing all the way through but to come up short is disappointing and hard to take at the moment.
“Lancashire were the better team, I felt the way they started we clawed it back nicely but I thought they were the better team in the final and they lifted the trophy because of that.
“I felt when they got the score they got we were in it all the way, just disappointing we never had that person that could do on and get that big match winning score.”
Despite defeat Wakely remained proud of his side’s achievement in reaching the final, just two years after they won the trophy, once again flying the flag for the smaller counties in a day and age where they are so often overlooked.
“I’m really proud of my team, we’ve come through some tough times with limited resources, a small squad but we’ve stuck together well and that’s why we seem to be punching above our weight as people keep saying, and it’s nice we’re good friends off the pitch.
“It would have been nice to win it just to prove a point that we’re the small county but we can still do it, I believe we’re as good as any of the big teams in t20 cricket, and it’s a bit frustrating to me that we’re always called the underdogs, although we’ve played on that tag.
“It’s always going to be tougher for the smaller counties but I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved at Northants and we’ve shown especially in the shorter formats you don’t need to be a big club with loads of money to be successful.”