Gloucester romp to victory

20.3 overs Gloucestershire 150 for 3 (Harvey 61, Weston 46) beat Worcestershire 149 (Solanki 40, Gidman 2-12) by seven wickets
Scorecard

It's been three years since Gloucestershire last won the trophy that might have been named with them in mind, but today, on a beautifully sunny day at Lord's, they once again established themselves as the pre-eminent one-day team in the country.

Worcestershire had no answers to a wonderful allround display from Gloucestershire. It was Mark Alleyne who set the ball rolling by winning the toss and choosing to bowl - an illogical decision on the face of it. But 67 overs later, it all made perfect sense. Gloucestershire's tireless fielding (led inevitably by Jonty Rhodes) and their clever array of medium-pacers proved too much for Worcestershire. They collapsed after a steady start to 149, before being ripped asunder by Ian Harvey and their old boy, Phil Weston, in a thrillingly gung-ho run-chase.

Worcester looked to have had the better of the opening exchanges, as Vikram Solanki and Anurag Singh caressed the ball all around Lord's with typically wristy flair. But Rhodes engineered the breakthrough, running out Solanki with an accurate throw to the non-striker's end, and the innings came tumbling down.

Graeme Hick lasted just three deliveries, before driving loosely at a wide delivery from Harvey to Matt Windows in the covers (65 for 2). Then, in Harvey's next over, Singh was suckered by a wonderful two-card trick. First, he jabbed down late on a crafty floating yorker delivered from the back of the hand. Then, he swished wildly at Harvey's next delivery, a big outswinger that was snaffled by Martyn Ball at slip (72 for 3). The collapse wasn't finished there. Alleyne missed a sharp return catch off Andrew Hall, but two balls later, it was Worcestershire's captain Ben Smith who returned to the pavilion, after being run out at the non-striker's end by Jack Russell's pick-up-and-shy from behind the stumps (92 for 4).

Gloucestershire had some problems of their own when Mike Smith was forced to leave the field with an injury. But up stepped Alex Gidman, better known as a promising batsman, but now filling in as an extremely accurate medium-pacer. He picked up two wickets in the same over as David Leatherdale edged to slip (96 for 5), before Andrew Hall was trapped lbw on the back foot (99 for 6).

Gareth Batty and Steven Rhodes attempted to salvage the innings, but it was beyond repair. Batty lofted Ball down the ground for a handsome one-bounce four, but he fell lbw for 20 to become Jon Lewis's first victim (133 for 7), and after struggling with a side injury Rhodes holed out to Ball in the covers for 15 (134 for 8).

The tail resolutely refused to wag. Matt Mason heaved down the track and was stumped down the leg side by the ever-excellent Jack Russell (136 for 9), before Nantie Hayward slogged Ball down the throat of the substitute fielder Chris Taylor at deep-midwicket. Worcestershire were all out for 149, and then the fun really began.

Gloucestershire were in the zone and nothing was going to get in their way. Craig Spearman was an early casualty as he chanced his arm once too often and slapped Kabir Ali to Ben Smith in the covers for 10 (30 for 1), but Weston and Harvey were unstoppable. In particular, they took a heavy toll on the erratic Hayward, who opened with a 90mph wide and was sooned warned for an unintentional beamer to Harvey.

Matt Mason thought he'd made the breakthrough when Weston, on 28, edged straight to Andrew Hall at slip, but Hall muffed the opportunity and the moment passed. On a true Lord's surface, the batsmen needed only to swing through the line of the ball, and the boundaries - all 25 of them - flowed like champagne.

Hall eventually made amends at slip to remove Weston for 46, but at 108 for 2 it was already curtains for Worcestershire. Harvey followed shortly afterwards, stumped by the substitute wicketkeeper James Pipe for a whirlwind 61 from 36 balls. It was left to Gidman and Rhodes to seal the victory with a record 29.3 overs to spare, a fitting farewell to their outgoing coach, John Bracewell.