T20 blast

Very good win for Gloucestershire posting a modest 138, knocks from Bancroft (43) and Hammond (30), Bears bowler Foulkes taking 3-22.

Steady tight bowling from David Payne 4-23, Olly Price 3-32 and Josh Shaw 2-16, then Benjamin 33, Ali 27, Hain 15 & Garton 15 fizzled out.

As you say a semi-final match v Sussex on finals day at Edgbaston on Saturday 14th September.

Finals day....
Surrey bowled out for 159.. Gregory taking 3 wickets and a run out,Davey also with 3,
Somerset with a disastrous start ,one time 7-3 after 13 deliveries, currently 115-3 Rew and Dickson 45 and 60 respectively, a good chance to get home if they stay together 🤞

Unless Lazarus is about to make a sudden appearance,and Sussex can get out of this track that Gloucester have,it looks like a West country final ....and Gloucs' seem to have one over on Somerset of late.. interesting session ahead

Saturday 14th September 2024 - Vitality Blast - Edgbaston, Birmingham - Finals Day

Surrey - 153-9 (20 overs) Sibley 48, Davey 3-34, Gregory 3-15

Somerset - 159-4 (18.4 overs) Dickson 78, Rew 62 not out

Somerset win by 6 wickets


Match report by Ged Scott at Edgbaston, BBC Sport England

Somerset produced one of the great T20 Finals Day comebacks as they recovered from 7-3 to beat Surrey in comfort by six wickets and reach their third final in four years.

Just two days after Somerset beat Surrey in dramatic style in the County Championship, it looked like the Brown Caps might get their revenge.

Defending a total of 153-9, Surrey quickly took the wickets of Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Tom Abell and Will Smeed in the space of just 13 balls.

But James Rew and Sean Dickson both hit half-centuries as they posted a highest-ever Finals Day partnership of 144 for the fourth wicket to see their side to a record seventh final with eight balls to spare.

The Cider Boys have only won two of their previous six finals - in 2005 against Lancashire at The Oval, and then again at Edgbaston 14 months ago, when they also beat Surrey en route to overcoming Essex.

They will become the first county to defend the T20 title if they can now also go on to beat the winners of the second semi-final between Sussex and Gloucestershire.

Saturday 14th September 2024 - Vitality Blast - Edgbaston, Birmingham - The Final - Gloucestershire won the toss and decided to field

Somerset - 124 all out (19.4 overs) Gregory 53, Kohler-Cadmore 21, MD Taylor 3-18, Payne 3-27

Gloucestershire - 129-2 (15 overs) Hammond 58, Bancroft 53, Ball 1-19, Davey 1-18

Gloucestershire win by 8 wickets

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Match report by Ged Scott, BBC Sport England at Edgbaston

Gloucestershire won their first T20 Blast title in glorious style as they beat holders Somerset, comprehensively outplaying their West Country rivals to claim their first trophy in nine years.

Openers Cameron Bancroft, up against his former county, and Miles Hammond both hit half-centuries at Edgbaston as they won by eight wickets with 31 balls to spare.

Somerset's hopes of a trophy treble, which had been given such a big boost by Thursday's sensational County Championship win over Surrey, increased when they beat Surrey again in a well-contested semi-final.

But that treble dream - and the chance to become the first side to retain their trophy - ended when they proved no match for a Gloucestershire side who came from nowhere to squeeze through in the Southern Group, then followed it up with three straight Edgbaston wins.

The unlikely quarter-final victory over Birmingham Bears eight days ago, Saturday afternoon's eight-wicket win over Sussex and then this repeat eight-wicket walloping earned Gloucestershire their first knockout trophy win since the 2015 One-Day Cup.

It was also a marvellous day out for their fans after previously being denied in the very first T20 Finals Day in 2003, Kent in the final in 2007 and Covid in 2020, when the county last made it to a then empty Edgbaston.

It was also a personal triumph for coach Mark Alleyne, who played in the only other cup final meeting between Somerset and Gloucestershire in the Nat West Trophy at Lord's 25 years ago.

Somerset still have the Championship title and the One-Day Cup to go at, while Gloucestershire became the 14th side to win the T20 - leaving Yorkshire, Durham, Derbyshire and Glamorgan as the only four sides not to have done so in its 22 editions.



Gloucestershire coach Mark Alleyne told BBC Radio Bristol:

"It was a real pleasure. The guys just kept on giving. Just getting here was an achievement, to qualify from that group. It's so special.

"The bowlers and fielders set up for us and the batters went out and finished the job."

Gloucestershire captain Jack Taylor:

“We’ve had a tough few years and it’s been a while since we won a trophy, but we have a strong belief in the group.

"We may not have international stars but we’ve got guys that can get it done. To play like that and have two comfortable victories is more than we could ever have imagined."

Somerset captain Lewis Gregory:

"Had we got to 150 we'd have had a sniff but it was always going to be a challenge with the ball. Hats off to them, they bowled brilliantly and we just couldn't get going.

Somerset opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore:

“If we had got up to 145 or 150 we would have been in the game but as it was when they came through the powerplay without losing a wicket it was game over really.

“They bowled really well and kept taking wickets. We didn’t get enough runs on the board - and we felt the pitch got better as the evening wore on."