Spearman stars for Gloucestershire

Craig Spearman hit a brilliant 86 to help Gloucestershire storm into the Twenty20 Cup final as Lancashire continued their desperate run of semi-final failures.

Tournament favourites Lancashire slumped to an eight-wicket defeat in the opening match of Twenty20 finals day at Edgbaston after being limited to a modest score of 148 for six, which Gloucestershire passed with ease with 19 balls to spare.

It was Lancashire's eighth semi-final defeat in all one-day competitions in eight seasons - during which time they have also lost two limited-overs finals.

England pair Andrew Flintoff and James Anderson returned to the Lancashire ranks but New Zealand-born Spearman launched into the star-studded line-up.

He hit eight fours and four sixes in his superb 54-ball innings and guided Gloucestershire to an emphatic triumph.

Lancashire's hopes of reaching their second final in this competition were undermined by losing their top three batsmen inside the first three overs after being put into bat.