T20 Finals Day: a long days journey into a floodlit evening of fireworks and fanfare.T20 Finals Day: three hefty dollops of disappointment, one massive plateful of joy. The first three are staggered through the day; the joy is celebrated until light seeps under the door of night on a Sunday morning in BirminghamT20 Finals Day 2016: short form, short showers and the beguiling transience of fame. Twelve months ago Gavin Griffiths and George Edwards were in the Lancashire side that won the Blast. Late last month both players were told they were being released. As Northants and Notts warmed up in early morning, it really was not cheesy to hope that a similar fate does not befall any of the players from the four teams competing this year.Losing the first semi-final of the T20 is a bit like arriving at a party, putting your bottle on the table and then being told that its already time to leave. And well before three oclock it was the Outlaws who had been handed their coats. Some of Dan Christians players may have got home by the time the final was due to start.Mick Newell was sitting in that early press conference all four coaches wanted to avoid and bemoaning the failure of his batsmen to chase down 162. One of the many good things about Newell is that he does not wrap truth in euphemism: he had no problem about selecting Dré Russell because the bloke had been playing in ICC competitions; Notts were in a relegation battle at the bottom of Division One because they had not been playing well enough. Already Newell was thinking about Scarborough on Tuesday when Nottinghamshire will play Yorkshire.Most people have long since ceased being surprised by Northants short-form cricket. Alex Wakelys men have always punched above their weight, a particularly fine achievement in their case. All the same, their victory against the Outlaws was a considerable coup, not least because they had lost both Richard Gleeson and Seekkuge Prasanna from their full-strength T20 side. So while it was difficult to work out who Outlaws would leave out, it was also a little tricky to decide who the Steelbacks would call on.Northants had played Notts in seven previous T20 matches and had won none of them. They ended that miserable run partly, as Newell said, because Notts top order performed poorly, but also because Ben Duckett played an innings littered with invention. It would be interesting to work out how many of Ducketts 11 fours and two sixes had a place in any of the coaching manuals written five years ago.Certainly not the inside-edged fours, of course, and it would be a modern cricket book that would include details of the reverse pull, the scoop or the ramp. Yet Duckett played all of these as easefully if they were off-drives, his bat describing exotic curves even as the ball came towards him. DArtagnan.The Northants scorecard looked a little like that you find when a club side imports a couple of county professionals: one bloke made 84, another 53 and no one else more than 8. This was ironic really, since the Northants coach, David Ripley, rightly makes much of the fact that all his players contribute to their successesFor all that it was blessed by good fortune in its early stages, Ducketts innings was touched by genius yet it was not the most spectacular cricket seen in the semi-finals. That honour belonged to Mark Wood, whose four-over spell transcended any context and reminded one that a truly quick bowler in full cry is one of the greatest sights in the game. For many Durham supporters Ballance ct Collingwood b Wood 0 will always be one of the great dismissals, a reminder of a great catch at leg gully and a fast bowler in his pomp.Mediocre? I think not.Still, of course, we were nothing like done. Edgbaston is rarely shown to better advantage than when it hosts the T20 final, even when the occasion is punctuated with showers. But no one seemed to mind about the rain. Keaton Jennings played an innings as orthodox as Ducketts had been unconventional. His booming straight sixes were toasted by one line of dancing men wearing tennis gear from the 1950s and another group who felt an overpowering need to watch the cricket dressed as soldiers from the days of the Raj. Look, stranger on this island, now.Northants needed 154. The crowd waited for Wood. When Collingwood called on him to bowl the second over there was a rippling hush which, in its way, was comparable to that before the first ball of a Test match. Perhaps it is fearful pace which causes such a reaction, maybe its the animal danger as well. For a few balls Wood did not disappoint his new fans. Scott Borthwick clung on to about as sharp a slip catch as he can have taken and then he ran out Richard Levi. Next over Rushworth had Duckett leg before. Again one was reminded of the current Durham Yearbook with its photograph of Paul Collingwood clutching the badge on his shirt and brandishing it in the lens of the camera. A hard man for hard times.Then Josh Cobb won the game for Northants. Usman Arshad bowled a dreadful over, the type that makes opponents believe they are not yet defeated. Rain hammered down and Cobb blasted the ball into the blackness. A six off Borthwick cleared the Hollies Stand and sailed towards the Colts Ground.Cobbs nickname at Wantage Road is Tuckshop; he tucked in and Durham could not bowl to him. Wood was recalled but was pulled to the boundary and his moment had gone. The night was filled with cracking noises as this big man in a team of big men clubbed fours and sixes. Late wickets added a frisson of doubt but no more. Some people left early, others danced.Soon it was done with and the presentation platform which had lain unoccupied behind the Wyatt Stand since early morning was being wheeled across the outfield. More rain. It billowed vengefully across the ground as if making up for its restraint during most of the day. But the Durham players were deep in the moment of defeat and the Steelbacks may not have noticed a blizzard.There will never be a franchise at Wantage Road but they had earned the right to savour their joy. At the press conference Alex Wakely clutched the trophy, Cobb a bottle of champagne from which he swigged. They joked and took selfies. Nobody minded. Then, like 23,700 others this boisterous day, they disappeared into the Birmingham night. Pistons Jerseys China . 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Custom Allen Iverson Jersey .Y. - Jerome Samson scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the St. Cheap Pistons Jerseys .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Michael Phelps and Simone Biles powered their way to more gold medals with rousing routs at the Rio Games on Thursday.Sauntering to the sounds of Latin music befitting the beaches and boulevards of Rio de Janeiro, Biles soared to the womens all-around gymnastics title.Hours later, Phelps blew away rival Ryan Lochte -- and everyone else, for that matter -- to win his fourth gold medal of the Rio Olympics and 22nd overall with a victory in the 200-meter individual medley.This was touted as the last showdown between two of Americas greatest swimmers, though theres never been any question about which one had the upper hand. Lochte didnt even reach the podium this time, fading to fifth after leading at the midway point.Simone Manuel of the United States and 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak of Canada tied for the gold medal in the womens 100-meter freestyle, upsetting world-record holder Cate Campbell. Manuel became the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming.Putting the gulf between herself and the rest of the world on full display , the 19-year-old Biles became the fourth straight American woman to win the Olympic all-around title and fifth overall while cementing her reputation as the best of her generation and perhaps ever.Biles has spent the last three years dominating her sport, winning 15 world championships.The pairs powerful performances came on a day the Rio Games turned aside the disconcerting lime-like waters at the aquatics center and toward the emerald green fairways as golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years.Adilson da Silva of Brazil hit the first Olympic golf shot since 1904 with the opening tee shot. Justin Rose made what is believed to be the first hole-in-one.The Pacific Island nation of Fiji erupted into celebration after its rugby sevens team defeated Britain 43-7 to capture the countrys first Olympic medal.Rugby is back in the Olympics for the first time since 1924.Golf is back after an even longer absence.Da Silva smiled and removed his cap to wave to the sparse crowd that included more golf officials than fans after his tee shot. Growing up in golf-starved Brazil with little equipment, Da Silva used to make golf clubs out of tree branches as a child.Marcus Fraser of Australia had the first that mattered the most on the Olympic Golf Course -- the first-round lead. Fraser shot an 8-under 63 that stood for a three-shot advantage over Henrik Stenson of Sweden and Graham DeLaet of Canada.The only one of four Americans in the 60-man field to break par was Matt Kuchar (69). Rickie Fowler started with a double bogey and shot 75, beating only two players. Patrick Reed shot 72 and Bubba Watson had a 73.The worlds top four players -- Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy -- skipped the Rio Game s because of Zika fears and safety concerns.ddddddddddddPervasive violence is an everyday part of Rio, and a police officer was hospitalized after getting shot in the head when he and two others got lost near a slum. The Justice Ministry said the officer was recovering after four hours of surgery.The incident was the bloodiest of several at the start of South Americas first Olympic Games. Muggings have been reported among Olympic athletes, officials and journalists.A total of 21 gold medals were earned in 11 sports Thursday.Other highlights from Day 6 of the Rio Games:EXOTIC ANIMALS : The course where Olympic golf made its return features all the normal pratfalls like bunkers and sloping greens. There are also native animals such as capybaras, caimans and corujas. The capybara is the worlds largest rodent, albeit an herbivore. The caiman, a small crocodile, and the corujas are burrowing owls, some of whom have taken up residence in the courses bunkers.HANGING ON : Venus Williams Rio Olympics is still going -- just barely. Upset in the first round in singles and doubles while battling a virus, the four-time gold medalist was a late entrant into mixed doubles. She and teammate Rajeev Ram faced two match points Thursday and saved both in rallying from a set down for a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 10-8 tiebreak win over Kiki Bertens and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands.SICK SAILOR : A Belgian woman who won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics has become sick after racing on polluted Guanabara Bay, the first sailor to fall ill from the waters that were heavily scrutinized leading to the Rio Games. Evi Van Acker reported feeling sick after Wednesdays races . Her poor performances have put her at risk of missing out on a medal in the Laser Radial class. Her coach said he believes Van Acker contracted a severe intestinal infection while training in Rio in July that sapped her energy.OH NO, NEYMAR : In a scary scene for Brazilian fans at the teams arrival in Sao Paulo for the quarterfinals of the Olympic soccer tournament, superstar Neymar limped heavily with his ankle wrapped up. But the Brazilian football confederation said exams conducted on the star strikers right foot on Thursday showed no serious injuries. Neymar is expected to practice on Friday and be fully fit to play in Saturdays match against Colombia.---AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org---Follow AP Sports Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton ' ' '