The match was decided when Ollie Price smashed a six into the ground. On the day of the final, Gloucestershire, the least expected team, lifted the maiden T20 Blast trophy and proudly declared themselves champions. Throughout the day, they displayed a masterpiece of T20 cricket.
Cameron Bancroft and Miles Hammond batted brilliantly, making the Somerset bowlers cannon fodder, but it was Gloucestershire's bowlers who laid the foundations. Twice they held their opponents to below-par scores. On both occasions the chase felt like a mere formality. It couldn't have been any easier. After nine years of waiting for a new trophy, Gloucestershire won it without breaking a sweat.
The similarities between this team and current coach Mark Alleyne's powerhouses of the 2000s are undeniable. They may not have had many stars, but they had inventive pitching, energetic defense and the deft direction of Jack Taylor. Like Alleyne's teams, they were full of grit and greater than the sum of their parts.
Leading up to the final, there had been some introspective discussion about the Blast's place in the British summer. A final between West Country sides felt like the perfect antidote to the disappointment. These neighbours had never before contested the main event of a tournament. As the sun went down on a glorious late-summer day, the cider-swilling, Technicolor-dressed crowd at Edgbaston came to life.
Winning the toss, Taylor didn't hesitate to send Somerset out to bat. Their defence paid off in the semi-final but the runs were hard to come by in the early stages. In the third over, Tom Kohler-Cadmore hit two huge sixes. Under pressure, the captain turned to his brother Matt, whose introduction provided two breakthroughs that turned the tide of the match. In Taylor's next over, Bancroft had James Lew caught with a leaping kick. By the end of the powerplay, Gloucestershire were in command.
They gradually pressed on, tightening the screws with Somerset with some tight bowling. Sean Dixon attempted a reverse sweep and was castled by Ollie Price with the first ball. Tom Abell and Lewis Gregory wisely recovered, realising that one more wicket would be a disaster. But the boundaries dried up and between the end of the third and the start of the 14th, Somerset could only score more than eight in one over.
Trying to get out, Abel botched a checked drive to long-on and the re-entry of David Paine caused further trauma. He quickly fooled Ben Green and then Craig Overton with a slow ball and when Roelof van der Merwe fell in the next over Somerset were in dire straits, trailing by eight runs.
Gregory was the only ray of light as the wickets collapsed. The captain reached fifty in 33 balls but was run out by Ollie Price in the 19th over. Jake Ball weakly chipped a ball to the same fielder and Somerset's innings ended, two balls short of the quota.
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Gloucestershire's openers batted fluidly, confident that their bowlers had worked hard. Somerset's attack posed little threat. When Bancroft hit sixes in the third and fourth overs, the result was a foregone conclusion. Hammond soon joined in. Gloucestershire were 76 for nothing at the end of the ninth innings. Somerset needed a miracle.
Nothing went right for Gregory's team. Hammond's slog sweep fell inches over the boundary. Green thought he had taken Bancroft's wicket but the DRS overturned the decision. To Gloucestershire's credit, there was no danger in the chase. It was just a question of when they would get the win.
Somerset eventually got Bancroft and James Bracey sent off but at that point they were playing for pride. Gloucestershire had played near flawless all day and if they kept playing like this they would win many more trophies. For now they should smile and celebrate. This was a performance the coach and the county could be proud of.
