McLaren leads Kent to glory

Ryan McLaren returned to his former workplace to inspire Kent to victory over Gloucestershire to lift the Twenty20 Cup.

The South Africa-born all-rounder became the first player in the brief history of Twenty20 cricket to claim a hat-trick on finals day after marking his return to Edgbaston, where he worked as a member of the groundstaff only two years ago, by inspiring Kent's four wickets victory with three balls to spare.

McLaren's hat-trick, dismissing Gloucestershire dangerman Hamish Marshall, Steve Adshead and Ian Fisher with successive balls, restricted Gloucestershire to a modest 146 for eight after they had looked capable of setting a far stiffer target.

Despite Gloucestershire's best efforts to strangle Kent's reply, which was led by 45 off 35 balls from Matt Walker, they closed out the win in the final over and end a long barren run without success.

Gloucestershire's challenge was undermined from the start by losing four wickets inside the first nine overs of their innings including opener Craig Spearman, who had inspired their shock semi-final triumph over Lancashire.