Bancroft stars in Gloucestershire T20 Blast title win
Gloucestershire have claimed the first T20 Blast title in the club’s history with a stunning eight-wicket victory over holders Somerset in the final at Edgbaston.
Jack Taylor’s team followed their eight-wicket semi-final defeat of Sussex with another superbly professional performance against their west country rivals, who were strong favourites after beating Surrey in the other semi-final but were soundly beaten in the decider with 30 balls to spare.
Openers Miles Hammond (58 not out) and Cameron Bancroft (53) put on 112 for the first wicket as Gloucestershire chased a modest target of 125 on a slow pitch that had yielded runs at a miserly rate for most of the day.
Matt Taylor (3-19) and David Payne (3-27), who have shared 61 Blast wickets this season, were again Gloucestershire’s biggest weapons with the ball as they showed themselves masters of the conditions, the county lifting their first silverware for nine years.
Taylor snared his three in the powerplay, Payne inflicting damage at the end of the innings. Only Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory’s 53 off 37 balls kept Somerset in the game as they were bowled out for 124 in 19.4 overs.
Gloucestershire were the outsiders on the day, having qualified for the knock-out stages only on net run-rate after winning their last two South Group games, before upsetting Birmingham Bears on this ground in the quarter-finals.
Their last trophy success came in 2015 in the One-Day Cup, which Somerset will hope to win in next weekend’s decider against Glamorgan after seeing their hopes of landing a treble come to an end.
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