[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

T20 Blast, Final

vs Sussex

Edgbaston, Birmingham

Sussex innings: Sussex won the toss and elected to bat on a clear, chilly evening. Having demolished Somerset in their semi-final with a score of 200+, it was vital that the Pears keep the southerners under wraps, and the wicket of the destructive Philip Salt in the powerplay - a comedy run-out that saw Salt caught unawares and dismissed by a direct hit while entering the crease, having failed to ground his bat and with both feet in the air - helped the cause. Nevertheless, Sussex kept coming, with Luke Wright and Delray Rawlins both providing useful knocks as they went after the Worcs slow bowlers before both were removed by Moeen. At 121-3 with six overs remaining, there was still potential for the south coast side to make it up to 180 or above, but once Ed Barnard had bowled Laurie Evans, the anchor of the innings, Pat Brown stepped in to provide an endless string of dot balls at the death, finishing the campaign as he's gone all along with the accolade of being the second-highest wicket-taker in an English T20 season, and restricting Sussex to a very gettable 157-6.

Worcs innings: The powerplay belonged to the Pears, with Joe Clarke - perhaps playing his last-ever white-ball game for Worcestershire - supplying a quickfire 33 to seize the game by the scruff of the neck. However, with the first six done, Sussex turned to their spinners to wrest back momentum, and the fall of Clarke brought about a very difficult spell with boundaries hard to come by and wickets tumbling. As Dolly and Tom Fell went cheaply, Moeen attempted to play the Laurie Evans role and anchor the innings, only to depart to another ill-judged shot. Worcestershire were 90-4 with only eight overs remaining, and even the introduction of Ross Whiteley didn't quite swing it back in our favour, as the big man hit only two fours before being caught off a low full-toss. For the second time in a day, it was all down to Ben Cox to get the Pears home against a world-class Sussex seam attack. Requiring 25 off the last 14 balls, the wicketkeeper smashed Chris Jordan for six off long-on before taking a two to finish the over, bringing it down to 17 off 12. A single off the first ball of the nineteenth brought Coxy back on strike, and there he remained as Sussex simply folded. Needing 16 off 11, Jofra Archer fired in a shocking beamer that raced to the boundary for four byes and a no-ball, and Cox gaily lamped the resulting free hit for six backward of square. 16 off 11 had abruptly become 4 needed from 10, and the man of the hour was in no mood to hang around, as he hooked the very next delivery down to long leg for the winning boundary with nine balls to spare. With the youngest team in the competition, and missing both Guptill and Ferguson, somehow Worcestershire dug deep to win their first major domestic trophy since 1994.

Worcestershire WIN by five wickets

Worcestershire are CHAMPIONS of the 2018 T20 Blast

The Verdict: A magnificent day for the Pears, and one that's richly deserved after the heartbreak of the One-Day Cup. Not since the days of Steve Rhodes, Graeme Hick and Long Tom Moody have a Worcestershire team distinguished themselves like this, and though it's just not happening right now in red-ball cricket, at last there's some vindication for the years spent bringing young local talent through the ranks. The only question now is whether this will represent the start of something special for the county, or instead be seen as the high-water mark in years to come, as richer counties and international franchises come sniffing after our players. But for now, it's enough to savour a moment that's been a quarter of a century in coming.