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T20 Blast, Semi-Final

vs Nottinghamshire

Edgbaston, Birmingham

Worcs innings: Notts won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on a glorious September morning, with Edgbaston bathed in sunshine. From the very first it was clear that boundaries would be at a premium, and with pace off the ball, it was down to Moeen Ali to biff some early sixes in the powerplay, before being bowled by Matt Carter for 21 off just 9 balls. Riki Wessels kept the scoreboard ticking over for a few overs more, but through the middle of the innings Notts were able to put the brakes on, and in response Worcestershire collapsed from 40-1 to 97-7. It was Ross Whiteley who proved the hero at the back end, as so often before, smashing Carter down the ground for six over long-on before dishing out a three-ball 6-4-6 to Steven Mullaney in the very next over. He holed out to deep square leg after trying one hit too many in the last over, but Daryl Mitchell was able to whack a six of his own - the rarest of sights in any format - in order to lift the reigning champions up to a total of 147-9, which felt under-par for the surface, but better than it might otherwise have been.

Notts innings: What followed was one of the most bizarre and memorable chases on any T20 Finals Day in history. The East Midlanders were cruising to victory as they lost just two wickets in the first eighteen overs, with Chris Nash caught at backward square leg for 24 off Ed Barnard, and Alex Hales caught behind for 52 after edging Moeen Ali. With 26 runs required from eighteen balls, Wayne Parnell had a nightmare over that leaked 15, and suddenly the equation was under a run a ball for Notts with eight wickets in hand. But then came Pat Brown with a penultimate over that tore the opposition to shreds, as Dan Christian holed out to mid-off trying to finish things quickly, Tom Moores was caught comfortably at long-on attempting the same, and Steven Mullaney ran himself out after a huge miscommunication with set batsman Ben Duckett. After that sudden collapse, Notts required seven off Parnell in the last over for an outright win, but with the tie-breaker being a wicket-count, a run a ball would be enough. Yet the first delivery was a dot ball to Samit Patel, who only managed a single off the second. Duckett scrambled another single off the third, before Patel ran two off the fourth. A single from the fifth ball brought Ben Duckett back on strike for the last ball of the match, needing just one run to achieve the tie that would see Notts through... but Parnell hid the ball outside off-stump, skidding it past the nervous, prodding bat of Duckett and safely into the keeper's gloves to put Worcestershire into their second T20 final in as a many seasons.

Worcestershire WIN by one run