With an innings of 87 off 54 balls, Cameron Bancroft produced his finest Vitality Blast effort as Gloucestershire held off Middlesex to maintain their chances of making it to the quarterfinals.
The opening combination of 65 from 42 between the Australian, who hit 10 fours and three sixes, and Miles Hammond laid the groundwork for the visitors to score 179 for eight at Chelmsford.
Middlesex captain Leus du Plooy, whose first-wicket stand of 102 with Martin Andersson was a county T20 record against Gloucestershire, played a heroic innings, going unbeaten at 73 from 52, but his team lost six wickets for 39 and finished at 169 for seven.
Gloucestershire’s victory, which moved them up to equal fourth in the South Group table, was led by Matt Taylor’s two for seventeen. However, if Essex win their last game against Hampshire on Friday, they will lose.
Gloucestershire didn’t score from their opening seven deliveries after winning the toss and choosing to bat, but Bancroft quickly found his rhythm, hitting Tom Helm for six and then launching consecutive boundaries off Noah Cornwell.
Hammond (30 from 21) also started to get open, and at the beginning of the sixth over, the two quickly passed 50 when Luke Hollman struck, the left-hander misfiring on a one-to-point.
After hitting Hollman for two consecutive straight sixes, Bancroft reached his half-century with flair in just 31 balls. However, wickets kept falling at the other end, and Ben Charlesworth eventually joined him at 105 for four.
Before Ryan Higgins struck twice in an over and Blake Cullen had Charlesworth caught at point, the two had put up 46 from 29. Bancroft was run out to far on and Ollie Price was cleverly deflected onto the stumps by the bowler.
Even though Josh Shaw scrambled a boundary in the last overs, Higgins concluded with two for 25 from his four overs, and Gloucestershire fell just short of the 180+ total that had been certain.
In the opening exchange of the Middlesex reply, David Payne bowled two tight overs, but Andersson (49 from 39) had more luck against Shaw, taking 14 off the first three balls of his over and then surviving one that touched his off stump but did not remove the bail.
Andersson hit two maximums against Beau Webster with clean striking, while Du Plooy picked up speed following the powerplay by slog sweeping and selecting openings in the field.
With a stunning straight six from Tom Smith, the Middlesex captain reached his half-century off 32 balls. However, Andersson almost missed the mark, luring Matt Taylor to deep midwicket, where Hammond raced around to make an incredible one-handed catch at full stretch.
Following Max Holden’s blunder at backward point and Higgins’s dismissal off a ball skidding through from Price, wickets began to fall quickly. Jack Davies and Joe Cracknell were both caught in the deep.
Even though Josh de Caires and Helm delivered several late strikes, Payne’s one-for-26 total to end the game was insufficient for Middlesex.
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