We look at Gloucestershire and Surrey's routes to the Royal London One-Day Cup final
Sunday 11 September 2016 13:03, UK
As Gloucestershire and Surrey prepare to do battle in the Royal London One-Day Cup final at Lord's, we take a look at how the sides made it to Saturday's showpiece occasion.
The teams made up the top two in Group A to progress to the quarter-finals with the final game of the group stage seeing Alec Stewart's side beat Richard Dawson's Gloucestershire by 12 runs at the County Ground.
Such a close contest earlier in the season suggests it could be an intriguing final between two sides who have performed consistently well throughout the competition.
Gloucestershire
Group - Played 8, won 5, lost 2, 1 no result
After seeing their opening fixture with Yorkshire rained off, two overs into the second innings at Scarborough, Gloucestershire picked up their first win in another rain affected match, this time against Derbyshire in thrilling fashion.
Having been set a revised target of 204 to win from 35 overs, Jack Taylor and Benny Howell hit 69 off the final four overs to see their team home.
However, they looked to have fallen just short when Taylor, who finished 41 not out off 14 balls, was caught on the boundary with six needed from the final ball.
The reprieve came as a no ball was signalled as the visitors had too many men on the legside. That left Howell on strike with three needed from the last delivery. He smashed it down the ground for four to spark wild celebrations.
There was another dramatic finish in the next game as they beat Leicestershire by 1 run at Grace Road, Michael Klinger running out Clint McKay with a direct hit to win the match.
More straightforward wins over Somerset, Durham and Worcestershire followed before Gloucestershire were comfortably beaten by Northants having been bowled out for 219.
Another defeat to Surrey made in successive defeats to end the group stage although their run of five straight wins meant qualification was never in doubt.
Quarter-final - Beat Hampshire by 4 wickets
Klinger was the star again as Gloucestershire reached the last four following another rain-hit game at the County Ground.
Hampshire were the visitors and having hit back-to-back centuries during the group phase, Klinger struck 87 as the hosts chased down 218 to win with an over to spare.
The Australian was the fifth wicket to fall with 55 still required from 5.3 overs. However, more big hitting from Taylor (34 from 17 balls), ably assisted by Geraint Jones (39no) saw them home.
Semi-final - Beat Yorkshire by 8 wickets
Gloucestershire went into the match as underdogs against a much-fancied Yorkshire outfit featuring the likes of Adam Lyth, Jonny Bairstow and Gary Ballance.
The signs were ominous as the White Rose moved past 100 without losing a wicket at Headingley before Benny Howell entered the attack and took the wickets of talented duo Alex Lees and Jack Leaning.
Lyth continued though and looked set for a century before holing out off the bowling of James Fuller, four short of the landmark.
Bairstow and Ballance attempted to push on but both fell after making decent starts, the latter giving Howell his third wicket while Liam Norwell trapped Bairstow lbw to make amends for putting down a simple caught and bowled from the same batsman a few balls earlier.
Tim Bresnan did his best to kick-start the innings but with limited success and eventually the home side struggled to 50 overs, reaching 263-9.
Gloucestershire's reply got off to a good start and they were 56-1 after Chris Dent was bowled by Matthew Fisher from the final ball of the powerplay. Gareth Roderick joined Klinger in the middle but was back in the hutch before the score reached 100 to give Yorkshire hope.
However, Hamish Marshall arrived at the crease and together will Klinger went about knocking off the runs. The pair rarely looked troubled and Klinger hit the winning runs with a straight six in the 47th over. He ended on 137 not out with Marshall 78 not out from 75 deliveries.
Surrey
Group - Played 8, won 6, lost 1, 1 no result
Like Gloucestershire, Surrey's first match fell foul of the weather but once they were finally able to take to the field, they too went about securing their quarter-final spot as quickly as possible.
The tone was set by a 220-run victory over Northants as a century from Jason Roy and 99 from Steven Davies allowed them to finish on 343-5 before bowling Northants out for 123, Sam Curran taking 4-32.
Zaraf Ansari was star as they beat Yorkshire by 6 runs at the Oval. The young all-rounder hit 66 not out as his side reached 265-8 before recording figures of 3-58 from his 10 overs.
Davies made 98 as they beat Durham at Chester-Le-Street in the next game, bowling their hosts out for 222, 49 runs short of their target.
The margin of victory was even greater against Derbyshire, 77 runs to be exact, as centuries from Davies and Kumar Sangakkara set the away team a target of 327 that they never threatened to reach.
Worcestershire were the next to concede more than 300 to Surrey, Jason Roy top-scoring with 99 before Sam Curran's 3-49 helped skittle the opposition for 292.
Another Davies ton was not enough to prevent Surrey slipping to their first defeat, Somerset chasing down 267 to win by three wickets.
It was a victory to end the group stage though, Gloucestershire's late charge just about held at bay.
Quarter-final - Beat Kent by 17 runs
The weather played its part of Surrey held off a spirited Kent revival led by Matt Coles to win by 17 runs on the Duckworth/Lewis method.
Having been bowled out for 249 in the final over despite Roy's knock of 112, Surrey seemed to have the win wrapped up after 20 overs with Kent struggling at 101-7. Enter Coles.
The powerful bowling all-rounder bludgeoned a career best 100 from 73 balls before being the last man to go after a stand of 64 with Matt Hunn.
Tom Curran was the pick of the bowlers with 3-22 from 7.4 overs despite Coles' onslaught.
Semi-final - Beat Nottinghamshire by 4 runs
After Davies fell early in the last four clash with Nottinghamshire, Kumar Sangakkara arrived at the crease in the third over.
He departed with five balls remaining of the final over to a standing ovation having played an ultimately match-winning innings of 166.
The Sri Lankan was in supreme form and timed his knock to perfection, scoring all around the ground as he hit a total of 13 fours and a six from the 138 balls he faced.
Sangakkara was supported well by Ben Foakes (42) and Gary Wilson (48) as they set Notts 301 to win at the Oval.
Sam Curran ensured the visitors got off to the worst possible start by taking two wickets in as many balls to leave them 1-2 in the second over. That was soon 16-3 when Michael Lumb fell to Jade Dernbach before Greg Smith set about leading the fight back.
He made a brilliant 124 before being run out while fifties from Samit Patel and Daniel Christian ensured this one went right to the wire.
Steven Mullaney was not out at the end having smashed 42 from 26 balls but with five needed from the final ball, Tom Curran kept his cool and Surrey held on to win by four runs.
Watch the Royal London One-Day Cup Final between Gloucestershire and Surrey from 10am on Saturday, Sky Sports 2. You can also catch the game with a NOW TV Day Pass.