| Vitality Blast Finals Day, Edgbaston |
| Hampshire Hawks 190-6 (20 overs): Prest 64; Goldsworthy 2-24, Van Der Merwe 2-29 |
| Somerset 153 (19.3 overs): Lammonby 34; Ellis 3-30 |
| Hampshire won by 37 runs |
| Scorecard |
Hampshire ended their Edgbaston T20 Day hoodoo as they beat Somerset to book a meeting in the final with Lancashire.
Although Hampshire have won the T20 trophy twice, they were at The Rose Bowl in 2010 and at Sophia Gardens in 2012 – and they had lost all their six previous semi-finals at Edgbaston.
But Tom Prest led the way with 64 as they made the final for a third time.
After posting 190-6, their highest Finals Day score, Hampshire then bowled out Somerset to win by 37 runs.
Somerset had twice beaten Hampshire in their two previous semi-finals in Birmingham, most recently in the last clash between the two sides 10 months ago.
But Hampshire perhaps began to lay that Edgbaston ghost when they demolished Birmingham Bears here in the quarter-final just nine days before.
Hampshire lost two wickets in the powerplay, openers Ben McDermott (31 off 17 balls) and skipper James Vince (20 off 12), but 68-2 was still a powerful springboard against a Somerset attack missing Craig Overton and the injured Josh Davey, and with 37-year-old Peter Siddle carrying an injury.
And Prest built on it well, with good support from Joe Weatherley (24) and Ross Whiteley (27).
It was by some distance Hampshire’s highest score in 11 attempts on Finals Day – beating their 173-5 to beat Somerset in the final at the Rose Bowl, when they won it for the first time in 2010.
But it turned out be enough against an in-form Somerset side who had broken the English T20 team scoring record against Derbyshire in the quarter-final just seven days earlier.
Main dangermen Will Smeed, Tom Banton, who was run out, and quarter-final hero Rilee Rossouw were all gone inside eight overs.
Skipper Tom Abell (27) and Tom Lammonby (34) kept Somerset just about in the hunt, but the writing was on the wall long before they were bowled out in the final over with wickets in successive balls for Nathan Ellis, who will start the final on a hat-trick.
Somerset captain Tom Abell:
“Obviously a very disappointing day for us. Across all three facets we weren’t at our best. They got off to a good start and we couldn’t restrict them through the middle overs.
“At halfway, we were still in the game. We bat pretty deep and have power at the top but we fell behind the rate too early and I couldn’t keep up in the middle. We couldn’t find a rhythm or a partnership.
“We’ve chased well through the competition and I was confident in our group but we didn’t execute with the bat and just fell short.
“I’d like to say a huge thank you to the Somerset fans. We are as gutted as they are. The cheer that went around the ground before the start of play made it clear the huge following and support we had.”
