In the end it wasn’t the thrilling finale that the competition deserved, but it nevertheless produced worthy champions as Surrey became the first ever Twenty20 Cup winners at Trent Bridge
Freddie Auld18-Jul-200310.5 overs
Jonathan Batty jumps with joy as Trevor Penney is bowled by Adam Hollioake
In the end it wasn’t the thrilling finale that the competition deserved, but it nevertheless produced worthy champions as Surrey became the first ever Twenty20 Cup winners at Trent Bridge. After Jimmy Ormond had helped reduce Warwickshire to a miserable 115 all out, Ian Ward and Alistair Brown led Surrey to an emphatic nine-wicket win.Ormond was the star of the show and deservedly picked up a healthy cheque for the Man of the Match award. He led the way for Surrey on a seaming and bouncy pitch under the lights with an immaculate display of seam bowling. He ended with 4 for 11 and immediately put Warwickshire on the back foot with those four early wickets.Neil Carter and Nick Knight both played on to Ormond, and Jim Troughton couldn’t repeat his heroics of the morning as he and the other batsmen found life more difficult under the evening lights. Troughton only lasted three balls before he was caught by Brown at first slip off Ormond (22 for 3). Azhar Mahmood then got in on the act when Ian Bell fell to a peach of a delivery. The ball seamed and spat from just short of a length, and Bell could only fend it to Rikki Clarke at point (32 for 4).Batting wasn’t easy and the batsmen were just looking to survive, making it easy to forget this was a Twenty20 game – let alone the final. And things got worse for Warwickshire when the impressive Ormond picked up his fourth wicket, Dougie Brown, who nicked him to Jonathan Batty, the wicketkeeper, for a three-ball duck to leave Warwickshire in dire straights at 33 for 5.Trevor Penney (33) and Tony Frost (31) did their best to post some sort of challenging score with the odd big hit, but after they both fell the wickets continued to tumble. Collins Obuya heaved a few lusty blows, including a six off Saqlain Mushtaq over midwicket to bring up the 100 in the sixteenth over, but that was as good as it got.Obuya was caught in the deep going for another big hit, and when Neil Smith was needlessly run out by Waqar Younis with two overs remaining, it summed up a sorry batting display from the Warwickshire Bears – who were nursing very sore heads.Warwickshire needed quick wickets, so Ward smashing 20 off the first over, from Neil Carter, wasn’t quite what they were looking for. Ward spanked four boundaries off the wayward Carter, and Waqar, who must have been licking his lips with the seaming conditions and playing against his old club, couldn’t produce any magic.Ward and Brown were keen to wrap things up as quickly as possible and the fifty partnership came off only 33 balls, and they continued to shine under the lights and treat the full house to some dazzling strokeplay. Brown showed signs of getting back to his buccaneering best, especially when he launched the other Brown, Dougie, for a cracking straight six in amongst his three maximums.Knight turned to Obuya in a last throw of the dice, but he disappeared in to the Nottingham night, conceding 18 off his one and only over. Ward smote his fifty from 26 balls, and Brown notched his first half century of the competition from 32.In a comical touch fitting for such a successful new innovation, Knight bowled the last over himself among smiles and laughs with his old England team-mate Mark Ramprakash, who then put on a more familiar straight face, and cracked him through the covers for the winning boundary.Second semi-final
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Azhar Mahmood celebrates Surrey’s semi-final win against Gloucestershire
What promised to be a run-fest of a semi-final turned out to be a low-scoring thriller, in which Surrey scraped home by five runs and booked their place in the Twenty20 Cup final at Trent Bridge. Surrey’s score of 147 for 9 didn’t look like a winning one, but after an opening burst from Jimmy Ormond and Azhar Mahmood, Gloucestershire couldn’t quite recover.After their disappointing effort with the bat, Surrey made immediate amends with a blistering start in which Gloucestershire’s tri-nations top three only managed eight runs between them. Craig Spearman was bowled by Ormond for 1, Jonty Rhodes went first ball, edging Azhar Mahmood to Jonathan Batty, the wicketkeeper, and Ian Harvey skied Mahmood to Saqlain Mushtaq at mid on. That left Gloucestershire reeling on 17 for 3, and time for Alex Gidman and Matt Windows to step up.However, Saqlain gave it a rip in his mixed spell of 1 for 24, and Windows fell to a quicker ball which clipped his off stump. Gidman and Mark Hardinges then stopped the rot with a partnership of 52. Hardinges knocked 24 from 26, including three fours, and when he was bowled by Adam Hollioake, Chris Taylor carried on the good work with a four from his first ball.It was Gidman though, who kept Gloucestershire’s hopes alive with six fours and three sixes to all parts of Trent Bridge, including two huge hits over midwicket off Ian Salisbury in the sixteeenth over. But just as the game was tilting back Gloucestershire’s way, Mahmood struck again to remove Gidman for a fighting 61 from 49 balls.That left Gloucestershire needing 28 from 14, and then 17 off the last over, bowled by Mahmood, who was by then suffering from cramp and is a doubt for the final. Martyn Ball hit the third ball for four over extra cover, but Mahmood held his nerve to see Surrey through.Gloucestershire though will be kicking themselves after their usual one-day wonders in the field restricted Surrey to 147 for 9. Harvey was again at the fore. He mixed up his yorkers and slower balls to good effect and finished with 2 for 32, including Graham Thorpe, bowled second ball. Mike Smith, the most economical bowler in competition, was his miserly self with 0 for 11 from his four overs, and Ball looped his way to 2 for 26.However, Ian Ward battled away with a valuable 49 from 48 balls, by far the top scorer as the other batsmen struggled, and they will be hoping they can do better against the Warwickshire attack under the lights this evening. But in the meantime, let’s all enjoy a bit of Atomic Kitten.First semi-final
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Brad Hodge: his fighting 66 wasn’t enough for Leicestershire
Trevor Penney and Jim Troughton led Warwickshire through to the first ever Twenty20 Cup final at Trent Bridge. Chasing Leicestershire’s under-par 162, Penney and Troughton overcame a mid-innings wobble, and cruised home with four balls to spare.Penney, who earlier kept wicket, made sure Warwickshire kept ahead of the run-rate with a classy 43 not out from 30 balls, and Troughton put his England disappointment behind him with a much more assured 33 not out from 21.Neil Carter was a surprise promotion to the top of the order, and the move paid off as he whipped a quick 35. But once Ian Bell was out for only four, and Nick Knight ran himself out for 32, the Leicestershire Foxes were back in with a sniff. However, Penney and Troughton put them back off the trail with 67 in six overs before Penney hit the winning boundary off Darren Maddy.Leicestershire made a disastrous start after choosing to bat first. Virender Sehwag was caught by Knight off Waqar Younis (3 for 21) for 5 and Trevor Ward fell for the same number of runs after he was brilliantly run out by Dougie Brown. However, Brag Hodge gave Leicestershire some sort of total with a dashing 66 from 50 balls, including a steepling six off Collins Obuya to bring up his fifty. He put on 59 with Maddy (26), but their 162 was never going to be enough.After the game, Philip DeFreitas, the Leicestershire captain, who only bowled one over due to a groin strain, said: “We were 20 runs short, and our fielding and bowling was not up to scratch. Warwickshire played extremely well and good luck to them in the final.”