Gloucestershire, least fancied of the semi-finalists, won the Vitality Blast for the first time since the T20 competition was inaugurated in 2003. Fairly impecunious, mainly home-spun, without stars coming and going, they fought as a unit to overwhelm Sussex in the semis then beat Somerset in the final by eight wickets with all of five overs to spare.
Gloucestershire’s signature is that they have become kings of the powerplay. The first six overs have become a time for mayhem when Travis Head opens up, or Jos Buttler used to. For opponents dreaming of bludgeoning Gloucestershire, the reality — especially on a dry, abrasive, grudging pitch like this one — is that the ball propelled by their medium-pacers, two of them left-armers, seldom comes on to their bat and is often a slower ball that sticks in the pitch.
The second semi-final against Sussex was turned into a non-event by Gloucestershire’s seamers who throttled them to the extent of 35 for four in the powerplay. No northern or Midland county was on show because Birmingham Bears had suffered the same fate, at Edgbaston too, against Gloucestershire in the quarter-finals. So it was again for Somerset, 41 for three after the powerplay, whereupon niggardly medium-pacers were followed by niggardly finger-spinners.
This formula is the same as it was when Mark Alleyne captained them to five limited-overs trophies in the two seasons of 1999 and 2000 — loads of medium pace, often left arm, and finger-spin backed by splendid fielding and wicketkeeping — and it lives on now he is their head coach.
Taylor and Price turn up
Yet the machine is not automatic. Every fielder knows his place for a new bowler but there is no predictability about when he comes on: the routine is not set in advance. David Payne was the leading wicket-taker in this year’s competition, often bowling three overs of his teasing left-arm medium in the powerplay, but in the final he was clobbered for two sixes by Tom Kohler-Cadmore and withdrawn after two overs.
Payne instead came back to administer a body-blow in the 16th over when his pace-off dismissed the Somerset finishers Ben Green and Craig Overton with consecutive balls so their innings ended mutely.
Instead of Payne, another left-arm medium-pacer — slightly brisker — in Matt Taylor took Somerset’s first three wickets, giving him 29, the second most in this year’s tournament. Another tidy contribution was made by Tom Price, who has only just returned to the side after an injured summer. Thus Gloucestershire had to bowl only four overs of spin, when dew stopped the ball gripping so much, whereas in the daylit semi-final they had bowled seven.
One of England’s less heralded cricketers, Somerset’s captain Lewis Gregory, held his team together with 53 off 37 balls. In the semi-final against Surrey he had been no less influential with the ball, taking three wickets for 15, including the two England batsmen Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith with successive full and straight balls as they aimed to leg. Gregory had an inconspicuous England white-ball career, doing nothing wrong but unblessed with the opportunity to do much right.
Somerset’s two batsmen who had won the semi-final against Surrey — Sean Dickson and James Rew, coming together at a crisis of seven for three wickets, had added 144 off 98 balls — were brought down to Edgbaston’s hard earth. Dickson did not start all over again, as cricket demands: he went to reverse-sweep his first ball and was bowled. But his resurrecting 78 off 57 should not be forgotten.
Rew had never played a Vitality Blast T20 game — and only one T20 of any professional kind, against a Sri Lankan side last year. He must have been pretty exhausted too after all the wicketkeeping involved when Jack Leach and Archie Vaughan took all 20 of Surrey’s wickets during the week.
Yet, promoted to number four against Surrey, he shaped with the calmness of a Test keeper/batsman in the making, before unveiling his cover-drives and legside hits hitherto unaired in his 62 not out off 44 balls.
Somerset could not even bat through their 20 overs in the final, such was their neighbours’ stranglehold. Cameron Bancroft, who had fielded as an occasional wicketkeeper should, ramped and ran to help post 49 without any loss in the powerplay. He shared an opening stand of 112 with Miles Hammond who drove at times like his namesake Walter.
Not even Gregory the bowler could save his side from the rampant opening partnership, but Somerset may have other trophies ahead of them: their first championship title if they can overturn Surrey’s eight-point lead with two matches left, and the Metro 50-over cup final next Sunday against Glamorgan which is designed for youngsters. But they will miss the T20 title they had held.
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