NatWest T20 Blast: Notts Outlaws beat Birmingham Bears in final
Brendan Taylor and Samit Patel rose to the fore as Notts Outlaws clinched a domestic limited-overs double by beating Birmingham Bears in the NatWest T20 Blast final.
Match scores (Edgbaston)
Final: Notts Outlaws win by 22 runs
Notts Outlaws inns: 190-4 (20 overs. Taylor 65, Patel 64*, Christian 24*; Woakes 3-29)
Birmingham Bears inns 168-8 (20 overs. Hain 72, de Grandhomme 27, Thomason 26; Gurney 4-17)
First semi-final: Birmingham Bears win by 11 runs
Birmingham Bears inns: 175-9 (Pollock 50, Elliott 32, de Grandhomme 30).
Glamorgan inns: 164 (19.4 overs. Rudolph 65, Salter 27; Woakes 3-40, Stone 3-29)
Second semi-final: Notts Outlaws win by 23 runs
Notts Outlaws inns: 169-7 (20 overs. Wessels 48, Patel 35)
Hampshire inns: 146 (18.4 overs. Vince 56, Dickinson 27; Gurney 3-19, Mullaney 3-22)
Match report
Brendan Taylor and Samit Patel rose to the fore as Nottinghamshire clinched a domestic limited-overs double by beating Birmingham Bears in the NatWest T20 Blast final at Edgbaston.
The pair came together in the evening twilight with the Royal London One-Day Cup champions reeling on 30 for three and contributed a match-shaping 132-run partnership to help the Outlaws to 190 for four.
Sam Hain's second T20 fifty against Nottinghamshire this year gave Birmingham hope amid the clatter of wickets under lights but the impressive Harry Gurney ended his resistance for 72 from 44 balls as the Bears subsided to 168 for eight at their home ground, for a 22-run defeat.
More to follow...
Earlier, Steven Mullaney was Nottinghamshire's hero as the Outlaws beat Hampshire by 23 runs to reach the NatWest T20 Blast final.
The Royal London One-Day Cup champions seemed set for a semi-final exit for the second year in a row when Hampshire reached 97 for two in the 11th over as they chased down 170 at Edgbaston.
But Mullaney's three for 22 tilted the balance of the encounter in Nottinghamshire's favour, while Harry Gurney's three lower-order scalps in four balls was ultimately the final nail in Hampshire's coffin.
Nottinghamshire will now take on Birmingham Bears, who have beaten each other once this season, in Saturday's final.
Nottinghamshire, who lost the toss, were indebted to their bowlers after failing to fire during their innings, when they recorded seven partnerships between 20 and 28 in making 169 for seven.
Much was expected of Alex Hales and although England's limited-overs opener briefly sparked as he passed 500 runs in the competition at a staggering strike-rate of 206, he and then Tom Moores were both caught at short third man off Chris Wood.
Hales' opening partner Riki Wessels has been just as pivotal to Nottinghamshire's run to the last four and he proved harder to shift, hammering sixes off Kyle Abbott and Wood and following that up with three successive fours off Liam Dawson.
He too overhauled the 500-run milestone this year but was dismissed in a soft manner, miscuing Mason Crane's third ball to short extra cover for 48. That wicket allowed leg-spinners Crane and Shahid Afridi to take a stranglehold.
The pair bowled their allotment in tandem unchanged from the eighth over, recording identical figures of 4-0-22-1 to put the brakes on Nottinghamshire, who were losing wickets at regular intervals.
Samit Patel (35 off 31 balls) and Dan Christian (24 off 12) added useful cameos but it was left to lower order pair Billy Root (11no) and Ish Sodhi (15no) to get Nottinghamshire towards a par score.
Their hopes of victory would have been raised when Afridi - a centurion in the quarter-final - lofted a long hop off the first ball of the reply from Patel straight to deep midwicket.
But the boundaries flowed freely in a 55-run stand between Calvin Dickinson and James Vince, who creamed a huge straight six off Sodhi - which landed near Darren Gough - while a maximum off Patel brought up a supreme 25-ball 50.
At 97 for two, Hampshire looked to be in the ascendancy but Mullaney's triple strike, thanks to subtle changes of pace, gave Nottinghamshire a foothold back into the contest.
After taking a return catch from Tom Alsop and cleaning up George Bailey, Mullaney took the crucial wicket when Vince thrashed to deep backward square-leg to depart for 56 from 32 deliveries, while Michael Carberry was run out two balls later.
Harry Gurney, included at the expense of England's Stuart Broad, also took pace off to claim three wickets in four balls as Hampshire were all out for 146 in 18.4 overs.
Earlier in the day, Birmingham Bears were given a slight final over scare by tail-end batsman Andrew Salter before sealing their place in the NatWest T20 Blast final with an 11-run victory over Glamorgan at Edgbaston.
Salter took 14 runs from the first three balls off Chris Woakes to leave Glamorgan needing 12 from three but then holed out, to the relief of a partisan home support under blue skies.
Ed Pollock's blistering 50 from 27 balls in only his eighth T20 lit up Finals Day and lifted Birmingham to 175 for nine after they were put into bat, while Glamorgan lost early wickets in their reply and Jacques Rudolph's lone hand seemed to be in vain - until Salter got them close.
Birmingham now await the winners of this afternoon's second semi-final between Hampshire and Nottinghamshire.
They were able to welcome back England all-rounder Woakes, playing his first T20 since featuring in the Indian Premier League, but it was rookie Pollock who rewarded the punctual members of the crowd with a barnstorming early blitz.
The 22-year-old, who made his debut in the sprint format in July, peppered the boundary rope seemingly at will, thumping four sixes in Birmingham's first 14 balls as he moved to his 50 from only 23 deliveries, with opening partner Dominic Sibley on eight at the other end.
Birmingham stuttered once Pollock had sliced a Marchant de Lange full toss to cover-point, with highly-rated pair Adam Hose and Sam Hain departing cheaply.
They were indebted to some late cameos from New Zealand pair Grant Elliott (32) and Colin de Grandhomme (30) lifting them to 175 for nine.
It was a total that looked more than enough as Glamorgan's reply was undermined by four wickets falling inside the powerplay, the first two to outstanding catches.
Hain pouched Aneurin Donald in the deep on the legside before Elliott sprinted from mid-on to take a blinding steepler over his shoulder and see off dangerman Colin Ingram, celebrating with a 'mic drop' of the ball.
David Miller and Kiran Carlson edged behind but Jacques Rudolph kept Glamorgan's total moving, passing 400 runs for the competition in the process, and launched Jeetan Patel for a huge six over midwicket shortly before reaching a 30-ball 50.
But the Glamorgan captain departed in unfortunate fashion, left stranded while backing up after bowler Aaron Thomason smartly collected the ball and threw out of the back of his hand onto the stumps.
With his departure seemingly went Glamorgan's hopes, but Salter, batting alongside last man Michael Hogan, thumped Woakes for four-four-six, only to then hammer to Hose at long-off, with the Welsh side all out for 164 after 19.4 overs.