Gloucestershire won their first T20 Blast title in glorious style as they comprehensively outplayed West Country rivals Somerset.
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 ended when they proved to be simply 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 2015.
Somerset still have the Championship title and the One-Day Cup to go at, Gloucestershire became the 14th side to win the T20 – leaving Yorkshire, Durham, Derbyshire and Glamorgan as the only four sides who have not done so.
And 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.
