Underdogs Gloucestershire will meet defending champions Somerset in the final of the Vitality Blast later after bowling out Sussex for just 106 on the way to an eight-wicket victory in the second semi-final at Edgbaston.
Sussex, who had scored 200 or higher six times in the group stages, were blown away in 18.1 overs as left-arm seamer Matt Taylor and left-arm spinner Tom Smith took three wickets each and David Payne raised his tally to 30 as the competition’s leading wicket-taker while conceding just nine runs in four overs.
Wicketkeeper James Bracey then hammered an unbeaten 49 off 28 balls with three sixes as Gloucestershire, looking for their first T20 title, having been finalists just once, back in 2007, eased through to the decider with a yawning 38 balls to spare. Australian opener Cameron Bancroft had earlier hit 39 from 35.
Jack Taylor’s team qualified for the quarter-finals only on net run-rate after losing half their group games, including both clashes with Sussex.
But they sneaked through with wins in their last two fixtures before knocking out hosts Birmingham Bears on this ground to reach their fourth finals day.
Sussex had backed their batting power as the toss fell their way but suffered a calamitous start, losing their first four wickets for 27 in 5.3 overs.
Their troubles began when Daniel Hughes, the competition’s leading run-scorer, was bowled off a bottom edge by Payne for just a single.
Things worsened when Harrison Ward hit a Matt Taylor full toss straight to mid-off and then doubled when the left-armer’s second over saw James Coles caught at short midwicket and Tom Alsop bowled through the gate from consecutive deliveries.
New batter John Simpson put away two short balls for four but, at 35-4 from six, Sussex needed to gather their senses. Instead, they had lost three more before they’d reached the halfway point at 65-7.
Tom Clark, sweeping, was bowled by off-spinner Ollie Price, who picked up a second when Fynn Hudson-Prentice hauled six over deep midwicket but was caught there next ball. John Simpson departed leg before to the left-arm spin of Tom Smith, also missing the sweep.
Sussex at least negotiated the next five overs without losing a wicket but any sense of achievement soon evaporated as Smith became the third bowler of the day to take two in two.
Ollie Robinson heaved a slower delivery to long off after adding 38 with Jack Carson before a razor-sharp James Bracey gathered a leg-side wide to stump Tymal Mills.
Shaw and Payne conceded just four between them from overs 18 and 19 before Carson’s failed attempt to clear deep midwicket gave Miles Hammond his fourth catch of the innings.
Needing only 5.35 per over, Gloucestershire came out of the powerplay well on track at 41-1. They had ridden their luck a little with airborne shots that just evaded fielders but their only casualty was Miles Hammond, who sliced to deep backward point.
Bracey pulled Tymal Mills for the first of his sixes and, though they lost Bancroft at the start of the 11th over, when he skewed a drive off left-arm spinner James Coles to be well taken at mid-on, by that point just 36 runs were needed.
That came down to 15 following an expensive over in which Mills conceded a second pulled six and a driven four by Bracey before a one-sided contest.
In a moment that summed up Sussex’s afternoon, Robinson spilled an absolute dolly to give Bracey a life two balls before he lofted Carson over the long-off boundary to win the match.
Mills said: “After how well we’ve played in the group stages, that was one of our poorest performances of the season and to do that on finals day is very disappointing.
“But we’ve made huge improvements on where we have been in the last few years so credit to all the backroom staff and all the players for the hard work put in over the last 12 months. My message in the dressing room is to build on this and come back stronger next year.
“Farbs (Paul Farbrace) has given me a lot of freedom as captain to make the team how I want to make it. I’ve tried to lead by example.
“My main goal was to get the club and the boys to take T20 more seriously and we certainly do that now and hopefully we’ll be back here again.”
