Berkshire became the first side to complete a National Counties white ball double by adding the T20 title to the NV Play National Counties Trophy they won last month after they beat Bedfordshire by one run in a gripping  final at Wormsley.

It was the second time Berkshire had won the T20 competition and it extended their remarkable run of success in finals to 17 unbeaten – they shared the Championship with Staffordshire in 2024 - across the formats since they were beaten by Devon in the 2008 Trophy final at Lord’s.

Their success was very much a team effort with Charlie Dunnett (31) and Andrew MacEwen (27) rescuing them from a precarious 57 for five to post a challenging total of 149 for seven with a sixth wicket partnership of 51 and then holding their nerve in a tense finale.

Chasing 150 was never going to be easy for Bedfordshire on a pitch that was 100 overs old and the task became more difficult after Jake Tarling was bowled by Euan Woods to the second ball of their innings and Jamie Dunk, the leading run-scorer in the country in the competition, shovelled a catch to wicketkeeper MacEwen.

But Bedfordshire almost got there with Kashif Ali, back with them having been left out of Worcestershire’s County Championship side, keeping them in the hunt with a quickfire 67 from 49 balls.

Eight were required from Euan Woods’ final over and Bedfordshire had wickets in hand. But Ali holed out to long-off trying to clear the ropes with four balls of the match left, Archie Houghton went LBW first ball and Pat Harrington was run out trying to take the third run which would have levelled the scores when four were needed off the last ball.

Bedfordshire will be disappointed to have come agonisingly close to their first silverware since 2004 but they emerged with plenty of credit from Finals Day by beating Staffordshire with a clinical display in the opening semi-final and then giving making Berkshire a huge fright in the final.

Having fielded a young and inexperienced side throughout the T20 few expected Bedfordshire to mount a serious challenge for the title, even when they emerged from a tough group which included Berkshire to reach the Super-12s stage.

But they put down a marker by beating Shropshire then ousting defending champions Norfolk in their Super-12s tournament at Sprowston and their young side acquitted themselves well here.

Berkshire are also going through something of a transitional phase with Andy Rishton the only survivor from the side that won their first T20 title in 2018.

But  they found ways to regenerate their squad with more homegrown talent. After a rare season without a trophy last year it has not taken them long to regain the winning habit.

Having beaten Devon in the second semi-final of the day Berkshire had only 30 minutes to catch their breath before they were in action again with skipper Johnny Connell opting to bat first when he won the toss.

Connell led from the front with 86 not out against Devon but he lasted just three balls in the final when he was bowled by the pacy James Anson for two.

Rhys Lewis, Matt Dalrymple, James Isbell and Euan Woods followed before Dunnett and MacEwen released Bedfordshire’s grip and Rishton (23 not out) and Sulaiman Akhtar (10 not out) boosted the total with 24 quick runs for the eighth wicket.

Connell then deployed his bowlers intelligently to restrict Bedfordshire and he also produced the catch of the day, spectacular one-handed effort at mid-off from a full-blooded drive from Jamal Richards.

Ali, who headed off after the final to play for Worcestershire Second XI at Billericay, demonstrated his value to Bedfordshire with a composed innings which included consecutive sixes off Rishton for consecutive sixes in the penultimate over which made them favourites.

But Berkshire, as they have done so often in the past, found a way to win from the most improbable of positions with Woods pipping Ali to the Player of the Match Award for his nerveless bowling.

In the semi-finals Anson became the first bowler from the county to take five wickets in a T20 match as he blew away Staffordshire’s top order in a devastating opening spell.

Anson took his first four wickets in seven balls and returned to bowl last man Jake Garlick on his way to figures of five for 13, a record against Staffordshire and the eighth best by anyone in the competition.

Nils Priestley was first to go when he upper cut to Ali at deep third man and he then dismissed Dan Lincoln and James Kettleborough for ducks in successive balls to make three wickets in five balls.

Anson struck again with the first ball of his next over when he was again rewarded for bowling full and straight to clean up Reeve Evitts as Staffordshire decline from 28 without loss to 42 for four.

Staffordshire rallied when Anson was out of the attack with Derbyshire staff-man Joe Hawkins and Ollie Walker adding 33 for the fifth over before the introduction of Ali’s leg spin made the breakthrough when Walker was stumped and Liam Hurt, who had been in the queue at the coffee van until wickets started to fall, was run out.

Hawkins departed when he lifted Ali to long on and Sam Atkinson was unluckily run out off the next ball when Ali deflected a return drive from Sam Keeling-Wright onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

Bedfordshire stuttered early in their chase with Hurt accounting for openers Theo Robinson and Tarling his first over and Garlick had Richards caught behind to leave them on ten for three.

But Dunk and Nabil Moughal calmed any nerves with a busy fourth wicket partnership of 119 in 16 overs which took Bedfordshire most of the way to victory.

The pair ran superbly between the wickets which kept them up with asking rate with Dunk rattling to a 37-ball half-century and Moughal needing only six more balls for his 50.

Moughal clipped Hurt to midwicket with Bedfordshire three short of victory but Dunk settled the issue when he lifted the same bowler for six.

A superb unbeaten 86 from captain Connell swept Berkshire to a six wickets victory over Devon in the other semi-final.

It was Connell’s first innings for Berkshire since the NV Play National Counties Trophy final victory over Cheshire in mid-July since when he had been on a short-term contract with Somerset.

Connell struck five sixes and five fours in a dominant 47-ball innings which got Berkshire to a target of 153 with an over to spare in a match that was reduced first to 19 overs than 18 overs-a-side contest by heavy showers.

Devon lost Ben Privett, who spooned Andy Rishton to midwicket, to the second ball of their innings but Dan Pyle, with a 32-ball half-century, and Seb Linnitt counter-attacked with a second wicket partnership of 95.

Pyle’s departure, taken at long-on, saw Devon lose some momentum with Linnitt soon following, run out coming back for two, James Matravers and Cameron Kidd in quick succession.

But Sam Read lifted them to 152 for seven with a late flurry of boundaries – five fours and a six  - in his 14-ball 30 not out.

Connell and Rhys Lewis opened with a partnership of 33 but Berkshire then lost three wickets for 15 before Connell and Euan Woods (30) repaired the damage by adding 58 for the fourth wicket.

Woods reverse swept slow left-armer Callum Harvey to what would have been point but Connell and Andrew MacEwen (21 not out from nine balls) finished the job with an unbroken stand of 50 from 20 balls.

NATIONAL COUNTIES T20 FINALS DAY

Wormsley

Semi-Final 1

Staffordshire 131 (Joe Hawkins 41, James Anson 5-13), Bedfordshire 136-4 (Jamie Dunk 70 not out, Nabil Moughal 57, Liam Hurt 3-19). Bedfordshire won by six wickets.

Semi-Final 2

Devon 152-7 (Dan Pyle 56, Seb Linnitt 44), Berkshire 156-4 (Johnny Connell 86 not out). Berkshire won by six wickets (DLS).

Final

Berkshire 149-7,  Bedfordshire  148-7 (Kashif Ali 67, Euan Woods 3-25). Berkshire won by one run.