For a while, it looked as if this game would go down in the cricketing record books to be the first major one-day title since limited-overs cricket came into the county calendar in 1963 to be shared as monsoon-like deluges on the last Sunday of summer washed out play as the game went over into a reserve day. With an amber weather warning for the Monday, ECB officials were scurrying around collecting enough medals to present to both teams.
But the rain did not arrive until mid-afternoon and after a pragmatic decision agreed by both captains, to play a 20-overs match instead of 50, the ECB staff did not have to worry about surplus supplies, as Glamorgan beat Somerset and the weather to become the winners of the One-Day Cup for the second time in four years. But it was the West Country side who made the early running after opting to bowl first in the dank conditions, and under the Trent Bridge floodlights, as left-armer Alfie Ogborne removed Kiran Carlson and Tom Bevan in successive balls.
As Sam Northeast dropped anchor, Will Smale played the first of three important cameos in the Glamorgan innings, with the opener striking five fours and a six from 14 balls. After Colin Ingram had holed out at long-on, Northeast and Billy Root then added 78 from 49 balls to lay the foundations of what proved to be a match-winning total. The fifteenth over of the innings proved to be decisive as, after quietly working the ball around, Northeast upped the tempo, striking Kasey Aldridge for four and six over extra-cover, before pulling a head-high delivery, which was called a no-ball, to mid-wicket for four and then lofting the free hit for a straight six as 29 runs came from the over. Root also unfurled a couple of massive pulls for six before Timm van der Gugten put the gloss on his team’s efforts with 26 from nine balls, smiting Ben Green for four through point and square-leg before, in the final over, edging Josh Davey to third man for four, and then drilling the bowler back over his head for four and six with Northeast, who was later nominated as the Man of the Match, smiling at the other end and unbeaten on 63 from 49 balls.
The momentum remained with Glamorgan as Somerset made a jittery start as a mix-up in calling saw George Thomas run out by Northeast. Jamie McIlroy also completed a juggling catch at third man, as Lewis Goldsworthy tried one expansive blow too many, but Andy Umeed met with better success until under-edging Andy Gorvin into Smale’s gloves as the wicket-keeper took a smart catch standing up to the stumps to end his salvo. Smale then completed a regulation catch as James Rew skied a ball from Ben Kellaway who had again dabbled with a couple of left-arm deliveries.
The task had become 84 from 36 balls when the experienced Sean Dickson arrived belatedly in the middle and unleashed a series of lusty sixes against van der Gugten, as well as an audacious ramp to fine-leg against McIlroy. Archie Vaughan also cleared the ropes for a pair of massive sixes as the task swiftly became 38 from 18 balls, but over-ambition led to Dickson’s downfall as he reverse-flicked Gorvin into Ingram’s hands at short third-man. McIlroy then delivered a frugal final over before, with 23 needed from the last over, Green hoiked Douthwaite into van der Gugten’s hands at square-leg, Douthwaite duly held his nerve and saw Glamorgan to victory by 15 runs, much to the delight of a group of their supporters who had decided to stay on in Nottingham in case the storms of apparently biblical proportions never materialised.
Their faith was handsomely repaid as, by the time they were watching Carlson lift the silverware again, light rain was just starting to fall. For Somerset, this was their third bitter-tasting defeat in the space of ten days, having arrived the previous weekend at Edgbaston for T20 Finals Day with dreams of emulating the Warwickshire side of 1995 by completing an historic treble. But, after losing to Gloucestershire in the final of the Vitality Blast, they were defeated by Lancashire at Old Trafford to end their hopes of a first-ever Championship crown before, on an overcast and damp Monday in the East Midlands, they were the bridesmaids rather than the bride again, as Glamorgan deservedly became One-Day Cup champions of 2024 and made it two from two in knockout finals at Trent Bridge, with the only disappointment being that the hundreds of Glamorgan supporters who had left South Wales in the early hours of Sunday morning were not able to be present to share in the joyous celebrations, as they had to returned to their homes later that evening in order to be at work or school on Monday.
