Vitality Blast | Notts Outlaws win second title

SEMI-FINALS
Surrey 74/4 beat Gloucestershire 73/7 by six wickets
Notts Outlaws 95/5 beat Lancashire Lightning 94/4 by five wickets

FINAL
Notts Outlaws 129/4 beat Surrey 127/7 by six wickets

NOTTS OUTLAWS ARE CHAMPIONS
For the second time, Notts Outlaws are Vitality Blast champions. It was a tricky run chase, with Alex Hales falling first ball and Surrey reducing the Outlaws to 19/3, a long way from their target of 128. But the calm, mature innings of Ben Duckett was critical to the Outlaws' triumph, the opener surviving the early wickets and knuckling down to ensure he was there at the end, fittingly hitting the winning runs. 

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
The perfect day for Dan Christian, who earned a player of the match award in the final, leading his side to the title. Christian changed the game with the ball, picking up four wickets to slow the flow of Surrey runs. He removed Laurie Evans to break a 90-run partnership between him and Jason Roy, before the Outlaws captain took three more wickets as Surrey scored just 13 runs in the final 16 balls.

FINALS DAY: TAKE TWO
For the first time ever, Finals Day needed a reserve day. Edgbaston's hallowed turf spent all of Saturday under covers and forced all three matches into the Sunday. It was a further delayed start but when play did commence at 3:15pm, the players were able to complete reduced matches with no further interruption, with the semi-finals consisting of 11-over matches and the final becoming a 16-over match.

CHRISTIAN CARNAGE TOPPLES LANCS
The Outlaws' semi-final against Lancashire Lightning was well poised: 29 needed from 23 deliveries with six wickets in hand. Then Dan Christian took charge. He decided to take hold of Liam Livingstone, striking him for four consecutive sixes into the Hollies Stand, taking the game well out of reach of the Lightning. Christian fell in the following over, looking to win in style against Matt Parkinson, but he had already done more than enough. 

BOWLERS SEND SURREY TO FINAL
It was a phenomenal bowling performance to get Surrey to the final, turning the screw on Gloucestershire. A shortened 3.2 over Powerplay produced just 12 runs for the loss of two wickets, and it was a start from which Gloucestershire never recovered. Liam Plunkett was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 12, before small contributions through the Surrey order guided them home.