[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

T20 Blast, Quarter-Final

vs Gloucestershire

New Road, Worcester

Gloucs innings: Worcestershire won the toss and put Gloucestershire in to bat on a fine late-summer afternoon. It looked an iffy decision early on as the visitors racked up the runs in the powerplay, reaching 65-0 with little effort or alarm, and the Pears couldn't get any kind of foothold in the game until Daryl Mitchell came on and immediately removed the in-form Miles Hammond for 45. At that point, the innings turned. Dolly took the big wicket of Michael Klinger by tempting him into a reckless slog to long-on, then caught a top-edged steepler from Benny Howell off his own bowling to leave Gloucs 85-3. Nor did he stop there, as Ryan Higgins departed in exactly the same fashion as Klinger before Jack Taylor was clean bowled by a rank half-tracker so slow that it deceived the batsman and almost bounced twice before hitting the stumps. With his best-ever bowling figures in a T20 game, Dolly then made way for Wayne Parnell to see out the innings, and after the overseas man had removed Gareth Roderick and AJ Tye, Gloucestershire finished their twenty overs on a very lightweight 136-8.

Worcs innings: A lengthy rain delay allowed nerves to build for over an hour as the suspicion took hold that Worcestershire would find a way of losing early wickets, press the panic button and then bottle a straightforward chase. And it was so nearly the case, as Moeen went LBW in the second over and Joe Clarke followed him back into the hutch after an ill-judged pull straight down the throat of deep square leg. Gloucestershire mirrored the Worcs bowling tactics from the first innings, going with pace off the ball throughout the middle overs, and were rewarded when both Dolly and Ben Cox were deceived by slow balls that they chipped straight to mid-on. A little after the halfway point it was 66-4, the run-rate was climbing as the dot balls stacked up and the boundaries dried up, and everything felt horribly familiar on Planet Worcestershire. Thank the cricket gods, then, for this season's star signing Callum Ferguson, who seized the innings by the scruff of the neck and used all his experience to keep the scoreboard ticking over with minimal risk. The fifth-wicket partnership kept the Pears well in touch until the sixteenth over, when Ross Whiteley finally (and inevitably) put his foot down. A 22-run over from David Payne, replete with wides and no-balls, permitted Whiteley to smash one huge six down the ground and another over deep midwicket before he perished attempting a third over extra cover; nevertheless, the rate was down below a run a ball, and the visitors somewhat went to pieces. There were no figurative fireworks at the death as it all ended in an amusing anti-climax: with just 3 more runs needed, Matt Taylor sent down a waist-high full toss which Ed Barnard happily nicked for a single, and the no-ball signal from the umpire took Worcestershire across the line and treated us all to a moment we thought would never come.

Worcestershire WIN by five wickets

The Verdict: Far from the most comfortable victory you'll ever see, but I doubt you'd find a Pear who cares. A win that was fifteen years in the making breaks Worcestershire's long T20 curse and takes the county to their first ever Finals Day, as well as providing us with a first knockout win in white-ball cricket since May 2005. After the heartbreak of the One-Day Cup semi in June, you can't help but feel that this young, local, homegrown side has finally come of age and got the reward they deserve. No pressure or expectations now for September 15th; just go out and enjoy the occasion.

Before then, of course, there's the minor matter of a trip to Southport on Wednesday, when Worcestershire will continue to try and salvage a difficult Championship campaign against Lancashire.