12:52 AM IST, 8:22 PM Local Time: That's it. Gloucestershire emerge victorious in a thrilling contest here in Worcester. They beat Worcestershire by two wickets to get back to winning ways. No one would have predicted this game to go down the wire but the visitors held their nerves to finish on the winning side.
Worcestershire opted to bat first and lost both their openers in Daniel Lategan (2) and Isaac Mohammed (15) inside the powerplay. Skipper Gareth Roderick (44) and Brett D'Oliveira (31) steadied the ship with a wonderful partnership and laid the foundation for a strong finish. Henry Cullen played a decent cameo of 16-ball 27.
Kashif Ali at five provided a perfect finish to the innings with a thunderous knock. He hit some lusty blows at the back end of the innings and remained unbeaten on 58 off just 24 to power his side to 181/5 at the end of their 20 overs. For Gloucestershire, James Hayes picked up two wickets, conceding 14 runs in his three overs.
In reply, D'Arcy Short scored a quickfire 13-ball 26 at the top of the order before falling in the fourth over. Dawid Malan (14), Miles Hammond (16) and Liam Scott (13) got starts but failed to carry on. Gloucestershire were placed at reduced to 73/4 in the 11th over. In walked Kamran Dhariwal and he changed the whole complexion of the match.
Dhariwal dealt in sixes and brought up his fifty in just 13 balls. The ball kept sailing over the ropes and the game slipped away from Worcestershire. Dhariwal scored 70 off 22 before holing out in the deep in the 16th over. It helped the hosts pull back things. James Bracey (4) and Matt Taylor (6) fell cheaply.
The game went down the wire. Graeme van Buuren (16*) and Marchant de Lange (2*) held their nerves to take Gloucestershire across the line in 19 overs as they sealed the game with two wickets in hand. Ben Allison (2/28), Usama Mir (2/38) and Fateh Singh (2/16) grabbed two scalps for Worcestershire but it wasn't enough as they failed to defend the total.