Hampshire win, but wait, it's a no-ball

Hampshire vs Lancashire, Vitality Blast final, Edgbaston, 2022

Hampshire won by one run

It was the outstretched arm of Graham Lloyd that turned this tense, tetchy final into an instant classic. Hampshire's players were celebrating a third Blast title after a four-run win over Lancashire, clinched by Nathan Ellis' yorker to bowl Richard Gleeson, when Lloyd heard a word in his ear from TV umpire Paul Baldwin: Ellis had overstepped.

Lloyd called the players back from their huddle, stumps claimed as souvenirs were reinserted, and smoke from the fireworks hung in the air. With a no-ball worth two runs in English domestic cricket, Lancashire clarified that a tie would be enough for them to win the title: the tiebreakers would be wickets lost (eight each) followed by powerplay score (Hampshire's 60 to Lancashire's 48). It left Gleeson and Tom Hartley only needing to scramble back for two.

But Ellis held his nerve again, breathing a deep sigh of relief as Gleeson swiped in vain at his back-of-the-hand slower ball. Gleeson and Hartley attempted a second bye regardless, but the ball had already been called dead. Dane Vilas, Lancashire's captain, argued furiously that it shouldn't have been, but Hampshire's players shrugged their shoulders and celebrated their title for the second time in the night.

Among Blast finals, only Hampshire's first win could rival this drama: back in 2010, they snuck past Somerset by virtue of losing fewer wickets after Dan Christian hobbled through for a single off the final ball - despite the fact he had a runner, meaning Somerset could have run him out but failed to.

Hampshire got to celebrate their third Blast title twice Alex Davidson / © Getty Images

This 2022 triumph was all the more remarkable for the fact that Hampshire had started that year's Blast with four consecutive defeats. But with James Vince in the form of his life, they won ten of their next 11 games - including a quarter-final thrashing of a powerful Birmingham Bears side - to reach Finals Day, where they cruised past Somerset in the second semi-final.

Their total of 152 looked light against Lancashire, after choosing to bat. Ben McDermott, the Australian wicketkeeper, held them together with 62 but was one of four wickets to fall to legspinner Matt Parkinson. Hampshire's ninth-wicket pair added 19 off the last two overs, but were incensed not to be given a free hit when Lancashire only had three fielders inside the 30-yard ring for the last ball of the 19th.

Lancashire were flying in their chase at 72 for 1 in the eighth over, but Hampshire turned the screw through the middle, chipping away with regular wickets - including two each for James Fuller and the wily Liam Dawson. Luke Wells crashed consecutive boundaries in the 19th, but was brilliantly run out by Vince off the final ball to leave 11 required off the last. Ellis took on the responsibility, and came out on top - twice.

Despite a quiet Finals Day, Vince ended the season as the competition's leading run-scorer and his calm leadership shone through in the chaos of the final moments. He had called his team into a huddle before the free hit - "That was just a moment where we had to regroup" - and tried to help Ellis clear his mind as much as possible. His team played as though inspired by the mantra of their late captain Shane Warne, who had died a few months previously: "Never give up. Just absolutely never give up."

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98

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