Hampshire 187 for 3 (Weatherley 88*, Vince 57) beat Nottinghamshire 160 (Clarke 64, Fuller 4-26) by 27 runs

Hampshire marched into the Blast final with a comprehensive win over Nottinghamshire, set up by Joe Weatherley and sealed by their relentless seam attack. They will have the chance to win a record-breaking fourth Blast title when they take on Northamptonshire tonight and must fancy their chances after such a complete performance.

After a low-scoring first semi-final, Weatherley and captain James Vince looked like they were batting on a completely different Edgbaston pitch in adding 126 in 84 balls for the second wicket. Their middle order could not quite capitalise on a strong platform, finishing only three down, but their score was put into context when Notts fell behind the required rate almost immediately and never caught up.

Hampshire topped the South Group and cruised through their quarter-final against Essex thanks to Vince's 125, but he was upstaged by Weatherley in this semi-final, whose 88 not out was perfectly paced. Born in Winchester, Weatherley was one of seven academy products in the Hampshire side and has played a major role in their success with the most prolific season of his T20 career.

Nottinghamshire's hopes relied mainly on captain Joe Clarke and No. 3 Jack Haynes, whose unbeaten 75 had seen off Surrey in the quarter-finals. They added 85 for the second wicket, looking to take the game deep, but fell in quick succession and watched the middle order crumble on a pitch that has proved tricky for new batters throughout the day.

From 100 for 1, Notts lost their last nine wickets for 60: Haynes holed out off Liam Dawson, before Hampshire's impressive and varied seam attack shared the remaining wickets around. Scott Currie took an outstanding caught-and-bowled chance to remove Liam Patterson-White before cleaning up Dillon Pennington, and James Fuller mopped up the tail to finish with 4 for 26.

Heavenly Weatherley

Weatherley was dropped from Hampshire's County Championship team in April after scores of 1, 4, 0 and 11 but has been a consistent run-scorer at No. 3 throughout their T20 season. He walked in to face the third ball of the innings after Mohammad Amir had Toby Albert caught behind by Tom Moores, and immediately looked in pristine touch.
He slog-swept the fifth ball that he faced over deep backward square leg for six off Pennington, and dovetailed beautifully with his captain. They traded sixes off Pennington in the fifth over - Weatherley's a leg-side pick-up, Vince top-edging over the keeper - then kept Clarke on his toes by taking down George Linde's left-arm spin.

Vince had a life on 34, dropped by Haynes sliding around on the deep midwicket boundary, then dumped two more leg-side sixes - one into the building site, another into the Eric Hollies Stand - on his way to a 37-ball 50. He picked Olly Stone out at long-off to give the miserly Benny Howell a wicket against his former county, but Weatherley continued to press on.

He cracked Stone back over his head for a towering straight six and while he lost the strike towards the end, he comfortably cleared his previous T20 best of 71 - coincidentally also made in a Blast semi-final, against Somerset in 2021. Tristan Stubbs was dropped at midwicket before reverse-lapping to short third, but Hilton Cartwright's late boundaries dragged Hampshire to 187.

Weatherley's aggregate of 516 runs heading into tonight's final makes this his most prolific T20 campaign, and puts him second to Beau Webster (578) in the Blast's run-scoring charts. Curiously, he has been overlooked by all eight teams in the Hundred this year, though could yet sign a late replacement deal.

Dawson strikes back

Notts made a slow start to their chase, reaching 37 for 1 after the powerplay. George Munsey, the Scottish opener, landed two early blows but picked out deep square leg off Chris Wood, while Clarke - who has been short of form in the Blast this season - struggled to adapt to the surface, mistiming several attacking shots to reach 20 off 19 balls after the first six.
But he made a clear attempt to accelerate by taking on Dawson, released from England's ODI squad to play on Finals Day, and launched the first ball of spin he faced over long-off for six. He struck consecutive balls from Fuller for six then four, and Haynes just about cleared Currie at wide long-off to keep the pressure on Dawson after he changed ends.

Clarke reached a 35-ball 50 with a single to long-on after top-edging Currie's slower ball over third man for four, and continued to target Dawson: he gave himself room to crash the first ball of his third over through cover, then launched him over midwicket with a towering slog-sweep for six.

But Dawson had his revenge, dropping his pace and looping one up above the eyeline to have Haynes caught at long-on. He roared in celebration after breaking the stand and when Clarke picked Currie out in the same position in Fuller's subsequent over, Notts had lost both set batters in the space of five balls and the game was up.