Bancroft stars as Gloucs win first T20 Blast title

Gloucestershire have claimed their 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.

"I think we probably won it with the ball in that first half of the match," said Payne, who finished the campaign as the Blast's leading wicket-taker with 33 wickets.

"It was a pretty good effort by the bowling pack to keep them to 120-odd, although we didn't think we would chase it down as well as we did. It was pretty clinical in the end.

"We snuck in through the back door really with a few things going our way but you feel that when you get into the knockouts it is anyone's to win and there was a real belief and confidence in the side that we could do it."

Gloucestershire were the outsiders on the day, having qualified for the knockout stage only on net run-rate after winning their last two South Group games, before upsetting Birmingham Bears at the same venue in the quarterfinals.

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.

Beau Webster was also exceptional for Gloucester during the group stage, netting six wickets at an economy of 7.72 in 13 matches, to go with his 237 runs, but missed the playoffs due to his domestic commitments for Tasmania.

"Hats off to them, they bowled brilliantly and we just couldn't get going," Gregory told Sky Sports.

"Had we got to 150 we'd have had a sniff but it was always going to be a challenge with the ball.

"We've got a great bunch of lads in the dressing room but it's a tough one to take tonight."

Australians in the 2024 County Championship

Durham: Ben Dwarshuis, Ashton Turner (both T20s only)

Essex: Daniel Sams (T20s only)

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne

Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Beau Webster

Hampshire: Michael Neser, Ben McDermott (T20s only)

Kent: Wes Agar, Charlie Stobo, Xavier Bartlett (T20s only), Tom Rogers (T20s only)

Lancashire: Nathan Lyon, Chris Green

Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris

Northamptonshire: Chris Tremain (first four matches only), Ashton Agar (T20s only)

Somerset: Matthew Renshaw, Riley Meredith

Surrey: Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson (T20s only)

Sussex: Nathan McAndrew, Daniel Hughes