Gloucestershire 109 for 2 (Bracey 49*, Bancroft 39) Defeated. Sussex 106 (Carson 26, M Taylor 3-25, Smith 3-25) by eight wickets

Gloucestershire booked themselves a West Country showdown with local rivals Somerset in the Vitality Blast final, giving them a shot at their first silverware for almost a decade as well as their first title in the competition with an emphatic eight-wicket victory. After Against Sussex in the other semi-final at Edgbaston.

Sussex had no hope of playing with so few runs. Timmell Mills obviously tried to front-load his strike bowling by rejecting his call on the toss, Robinson was relatively subdued but was wicketless for 23 runs in his four overs, while the other successful bowler was James Coles, who 1 for 17 runs in three overs. As more experience is gained at the end of a progress campaign.

Payne and Taylor own the power play.
Payne’s use of swing in the powerplay is his “superpower”, as he told ESPNcricinfo in the build-up, and with metronomic inevitability he proved his point once again. His 21st powerplay wicket of the campaign, and 30th overall of the tournament, was exactly what Gloucestershire needed.

With 595 runs at 42.50 on Finals Day, Daniel Hughes had been the rock of Sussex’s batting throughout the season, but he added just one more run to his tally when Payne dismissed him in his second over. With a hint of shape from over the wicket, he coaxed Hughes to his crease then defeated his intentions with some extra bounce, the under-edger into his own stumps.

Five balls – and no runs – later, Sussex’s innings was officially in the soup. Matt Taylor’s low full toss wasn’t quite the yorker he was aiming for, but neither was Harrison Ward’s remarkable response. Hammond scooped a low-swinger that somehow reached mid-on, and although James Coles then took Taylor’s next four balls for three for four, he too fell at number five, as Bancroft bowled to short mid-off. Stopped on the wicket.

However, Taylor’s third and final wicket was a real collector’s item. Round the wicket, perfect line and length, he took hold of the dry pitch and tore through Tom Alsop’s half-formed defense like a leg-break. His hat-trick ball was too full to bother John Simpson – “You greedy boy!” James Bracey jeered on the stump mic, but at 35 for 4 at the end of the Powerplay, Sussex were scrambling for anything competitive.

Price is correct for middle overs.

Ollie Price’s first two deliveries were not very good. Five wides first up, then four more byes fooled both the batsman and the keeper as a fierce appeal for lbw. However, his third ball was on the money. Rounds the wicket to left-hander Tom Clarke, and drives his off-stump back so straight through the leg holes that Clarke misses his sweep.

And, after a solitary over for his brother Tom, Ollie got him two wickets in as many overs as Fynn Hudson-Prentice, a ball finding the stands at deep midwicket, only to find the fielder there instead, as He had become too greedy for drag. -down delivery, and once again dispatched Hammond’s safe hands for 13 runs a ball.

No let-up from the back end.
Five balls were enough for Tom Smith to end Sussex’s last realistic hope of a defendable total. Simpson was also swept as he was completely nailed, right off stump, leaving Sussex at 64 for 7 in the 10th over, with the overs to bat and Joe There was no option but to take what little they could muster.

Robinson and Jack Carson tied for a time, adding 37 runs a ball to push the total to 100. But Smith came back, tossing it over Robinson’s eyeline to lure it to deep mid-off. A ball later, he and Bracey combined for a moment that may have been designed as a Jack Russell-Mark Alleyne tribute, as Smith flicked a quick delivery past the pads of the oncoming Mills, and An unseen Bracey removed the bales for stumping. Which would have captured the club’s trophy-winning glory days in the late 2000s.