Sidebottom is finally aiming to celebrate this time

Sidebottom has played in two previous showpieces with former county Nottinghamshire.

In 2006, he returned remarkable figures of 4-0-7-0 in the first semi-final at Trent Bridge as Nottinghamshire beat Surrey by 37 runs.

He also bagged Nottinghamshire’s most economical figures in the final of 4-0-23-1 in a match Leicestershire won by four runs.

In 2010, Sidebottom was a beaten semi-finalist as Nottinghamshire lost by three runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method to Somerset at the Rose Bowl.

The left-arm pace bowler was not so parsimonious on that occasion, returning 4-0-45-0 in a game in which the weather badly affected Nottinghamshire’s chances.

Now the 34-year-old has a chance to finally break his finals day hoodoo with his native county.

And he believes he has a great opportunity of doing just that.

“I’ve played in two finals days and never quite got over the line, so it would be great to do it this year,” said Sidebottom.

“We got to the final against Leicestershire one year and basically lost off a no-ball which wasn’t called, so that was frustrating.

“I’m just really looking forward to being part of the whole finals day experience again.

“We’ve played some outstanding cricket in the competition this year and if we play like we know we can, we’ve got a definite chance of winning the competition.”

Sidebottom, who appeared in Yorkshire’s opening five group games before missing the last five and the quarter-final with a calf injury, is back to boost a pace attack missing Australian left-armer Mitchell Starc.

Starc is the country’s leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 with 21 at 10.38 but he is unavailable due to international commitments.

“Mitch has done an outstanding job and he’s a big loss, so it’s up to the rest of us to do well now,” said Sidebottom.

“One man doesn’t make a team, but there’s no doubt Mitch has made a massive contribution for us.

“We’ve just go to crack on and make sure we do the basics right.

“The thing that has served us well this year is that we’ve done the basics right and kept things simple.”

Sidebottom, who has taken eight wickets in this year’s competition at an average of 16, may not have tasted domestic Twenty20 glory but he did win the Twenty20 World Cup with England in 2010 along with county colleague Tim Bresnan.

And he believes there are echoes in the way Yorkshire have performed with how England played en route to World Cup glory in Barbados.

“It’s a completely different situation, obviously, but there are similarities, I suppose,” he said.

“We’ve batted well, we’ve bowled well, and I don’t think our lower order have even had their pads on.

“But what’s stood out for me has been the fielding.

“Whenever I’ve seen people in the supermarket, everybody’s commented about how well we look in the field and that we look really together as a team.”

Sidebottom admits anything could happen at SWALEC Stadium.

“You look at all the teams at 
finals day and they’re all strong,” he conceded.

“It’s all about what happens on the day, and if someone goes in and gets a fifty off 20 balls, or if someone gets a couple of wickets early on and then bowls well at the death, it can change a game.

“I think you have just got to go out there and savour the atmosphere.

“You want to be serious, you want to win, but I think you’ve 
got to treat finals day as a big day out.”

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