T20 Blast: Gloucestershire stun Birmingham Bears to reach Finals Day

Birmingham Bears captain Alex Davies told BBC CWR:

“It is tough to take. I stood here last year with the same result but you have to take what positives you can. We’ve just had two guys selected for England on the back of their Blast form and we’ve finished top of the group three years running, so we must be doing something right.

“At halfway, we were happy with that score. It wasn’t quite the pitch we thought it was. It was quite slow, turgid and attritional at times but we said if one guy bats through and gets 50 off 40 balls we’ll be fine but that didn’t happen.

“It was the job of Moeen and myself to break the back of it. If we’d batted for 10 overs the rate would have dropped significantly, but that didn’t pan out.

“They just kept taking wickets, and that’s credit to them. And Jack Taylor captained brilliantly. He gambled by bowling David Payne for a third over and got Mo out, so he deserves credit for that.”

Glos captain Jack Taylor told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:

“They bowled really well and, although Cam Bancroft played nicely, he didn’t really kick on and we didn’t have anyone play that significant innings.

“But we had to believe at half-time, though we were defending a low score, that in knock-out cricket anything is possible.

“It was a bit of a punt giving David Payne that third over in the powerplay when he got hit for six and four by Moeen Ali and just as I was thinking it might have been the wrong decision, he gets him out.

“Our bowlers have set the tone all year and they have executed on the big stage and got some wickets here.”