FINALS DAY: Six shooter Ballance leads the way

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Gary Ballance has been warming up for this weekend's FLt20 Finals Day by clearing the ropes more than any other player. He sits top of the Sky Sports Sixes League

The left-hander has hit 23 maximums so far this season and will have the opportunity to showcase his talent in front of Sky Sports cameras on Friends Life t20 Finals Day at Cardiff on Saturday.

Yorkshire take on Sussex Sharks in the semi-final of the competition, and will be hoping to make the Final for the first time in the competition’s history.

As the season draws to a close, second place Eoin Morgan’s domestic opportunities may be limited due to his England call up, but the chasing pack will not have given up hope just yet as it can take just one big-hitting innings to make a big impression on the title race.

The Sky Sports Sixes League, sponsored by The Independent, ranks the top ten batsmen that have hit the most sixes in Clydesdale Bank 40 and Friends Life t20 Cup matches. It provides batsmen with another incentive for big-hitting with £2,000 and the Sixes trophy for the winner, plus awards for each month’s big hitter.

Last year, Kent’s Darren Stevens won with 31 sixes from 616 balls, finishing three maximums ahead of second-placed Kevin O’Brian of Gloucestershire. Past winners include Ryan ten Doeschate in 2010 with 30 off 369 deliveries, Dwayne Smith in 2009 with 27 sixes from 420 balls. The record is held by Ian Blackwell who hit a massive 45 sixes off 669 balls in 2005.

The league has become a hugely popular element of Sky’s cricket coverage with the league table featured on Sky’s domestic cricket coverage and Cricket AM. It is also published every week in The Independent and on skysports.com/sixes.

SEASON	Team	6s	Balls
Gary Ballance	Yor	23	500
Eoin Morgan	Mid	20	197
James Foster	Ess	17	302
Phil Mustard	Dur	17	503
Steven Croft	Lan	17	624
Riki Wessels	Not	16	351
Mark Pettini	Ess	16	487
David Miller	Yor	15	231
Gareth Andrew	Wor	15	243
Luke Wright	Sus	14	392