Nottinghamshire beat Birmingham to win first T20 title

Brendan Taylor and Samit Patel rose to the fore as Nottinghamshire clinched a domestic limited-overs double by beating Birmingham Bears in the NatWest T20 Blast final at Edgbaston.

The pair came together in the evening twilight with the Royal London One-Day Cup champions reeling on 30 for three and contributed a 132-run partnership to help the Outlaws to 190 for four.

Sam Hain’s second T20 fifty against Nottinghamshire this year gave Birmingham hope but the impressive Harry Gurney ended his resistance for 72 from 44 balls as the Bears subsided to 168 for eight at their home ground, for a 22-run defeat.

Gurney, included ahead of England seamer Stuart Broad, demonstrated his worth with four for 17 to help Nottinghamshire to their first T20 title.

Taylor (65) and Patel (64no) were the architects in a final that pitted two teams from the North Group against each other – after Nottinghamshire had defeated Hampshire after Birmingham had seen off Glamorgan.

However, Nottinghamshire were up against it early on after a triple strike from Chris Woakes.

He proved his class after Nottinghamshire were put in, capitalising on a hint of movement early on to kiss the top of Alex Hales’ off stump before Tom Moores top-edged to midwicket three balls later.

To the delight of an increasingly boisterous crowd, Woakes had his and Birmingham’s third wicket in his next over when Riki Wessels tickled a scoop to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.

At 30 for three Nottinghamshire were in trouble but three stylish fours from Taylor in an Aaron Thomason over ensured they did not stagnate, before he and Patel consolidated.

They were watchful to the frontline bowlers but Patel cast off the shackles with a big maximum over midwicket to cap a 15-run over off Grant Elliott.

The pair continued to match hard running with the odd boundary as the stand developed, Taylor raising his bat first before Patel reached his half-century off the next ball in the descending darkness.

Woakes was brought back to stem the tide but was carved over deep cover for six by Patel. And although Colin de Grandhomme finally made the breakthrough with his first ball, the stage was set for Daniel Christian.

The Australian belted the final four deliveries from Olly Stone for four-six-six-four to lift his side to the highest total of the day, eclipsing Birmingham’s 175 for nine against Glamorgan.

Patel continued to be in the thick of the action when his direct hit from mid-off ran out Birmingham’s semi-final hero Ed Pollock, leaving the Bears two down after Gurney had castled Sibley with a slower ball.

Adam Hose and Elliott were dismissed for single-figure scores as Notts started to tighten the screw, with Birmingham left needing almost 12 runs an over at the halfway stage.

Hain had been playing almost a lone hand as he brought up a 27-ball half-century with a fantastic straight hit for his third six – having earlier twice cleared the ropes off Patel from successive balls – and he found a willing ally in De Grandhomme.

The New Zealander put the ball into the stands to lift morale but then chopped on to the returning Gurney, who took pace off the ball, to depart for 27.

With three overs to go, Birmingham were five runs ahead of their opponents at the same stage of their innings and while Hain was there the de facto hosts had a chance.

But he seemed to be struggling with a leg injury and when he spooned Gurney to cover in the penultimate over, the writing was on the wall.

Gurney had his fourth when Thomason (26) edged behind as Birmingham were left a fanciful 29 to win from the final over.