Will Smeed, with the help of some late-night umpty from Sean Dickson and Lewis Gregory, carried Somerset to a thrilling victory in the T20 Blast final, as they hauled in a record-breaking run-chase against Hampshire that one moment silenced the crowd, the next had them roaring each pin ball flying into, or sometimes over, the stands.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Smeed as the smoke from the celebration fireworks drifted into the night, 94 runs in one pocket, player-of-the-match award in the other.
“We set out at the start of the year to win the competition, and we’re glad we’ve done that. We’ve got match-winners one to 11. There’s a lot of role clarity.
“Nights like this are so special. Edgbaston is an amazing place to play. The atmosphere is always great and it felt like a home game tonight. I think the most special thing is playing with your mates and helping them succeed. There is an amazing spirit in this squad and I think we’re going to have a great night!”
The final was a battle of T20 big boys – with both Somerset and Hampshire on their 11th visit to Edgbaston – canny experienced campaigners. Smeed’s 94 off 58 balls had kept Somerset in the hunt to catch Hampshire’s 194 for six, even after Tom Kohler-Cadmore, in sparkling form, was bowled by an 88mph yorker by Sonny Baker – back in the limelight after his England debut. And even in the tricky middle overs as the runs dried up and the clock ticked down – with six overs to go, an imposing 76 were needed.
Sean Dickson, in his last game for the club before moving to Glamorgan, was dropped by Scott Currie on seven, a lease of life that proved bad news for Hampshire as he and Smeed dragged Somerset to within 18 runs before Smeed crunched the ball to James Vince on the boundary. The pendulum might have swung, but Lewis Gregory’s sealed the deal with 18 in five balls and an over to spare, to bring Somerset their third Blast trophy – level with Hampshire and Leicestershire – and their second in three years. “We did it the hard way,” said Gregory – but no one minded, least of all the spectators roaring Blackbird in the stands.
If Blast finals day hasn’t got the cachet it once had with the rise of the Hundred and franchise tournaments round the world, not to mention the scheduling squeeze, then no one at the ground had told the enthusiastic if occasionally dishevelled crowd, belting out a succession of stadium anthem specials, or the players whose despair, joy or fury was shown on the big screen, and who played entertaining cricket over 11 hours.
It was the end of a difficult week for Hampshire, who were deducted eight points for an unfit pitch to put them in relegation danger in the County Championship, and learned that they would lose the services of their head coach, Adrian Birrell, after seven years at the club. It had looked their game to lose at the halfway stage after James Vince, with his usual casual rakishness, and Toby Albert, touch-perfect as befits the Blast’s leading run scorer in 2025, gave Hampshire a blazing start in a partnership of 97.
They had both slotted fifties in their same over – Vince’s 46th in T20 Blast games – when Vince was caught. James Fuller followed soon afterwards but Albert pressed the accelerator, four times reversing his wrists and reaching the rope, a whirlwind of trick shots until Gregory finally sent him on his way for 85. Benny Howell kept up the momentum and Hampshire finished with the second highest score in Blast history. But it wasn’t quite enough.
Earlier, Australian Chris Lynn had flamed the first T20 Finals Day hundred to take Hampshire through and ruin Northamptonshire’s hopes of repeating their quarter-final miracle. Lynn moved from 78 to 108 in the space of one devastating over, sending Lloyd Pope into a Hollies Stand of ecstatic sombreros and swaying bananas with five successive sixes. He finished 108 not out, hitting every one of Hampshire’s 11 sixes to carry them to a six-wicket Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method win.
Somerset romped to a 23-run victory in the first semi final, beating an underpowered Lancashire, with Jimmy Anderson but without England’s Luke Wood, Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Saqib Mahmood, and the overseas players Ashton Turner (back in Australia) and Chris Green (at the Caribbean Premier League).
Lancashire’s chase had hinged on Liam Livingstone, whose disbelief when the third umpire upheld the onfield lbw decision when he was on 29 suggested a tickle of bat. When Lancashire retired out George Balderson only for his replacement Tom Hartley to hit his first ball straight to long-off, the die was cast.
