It's a used wicket at Trent Bridge so the thinking is that runs on the board are the way to go.

It must be why both sides are opted to bring in an extra spinner for this game.

Jack Haynes hits the first boundary of the innings off Sean Abbott in a more profitable over.

Sam Cook found a bit of swing and nip in his first over.

Just the three runs from it.

Watchful stuff from the Hampshire openers James Vince and Toby Albert.

It's a blisteringly hot afternoon at Northampton with just a few clouds in the sky. There's some green on the square but none on the parched outfield.

The seating arrangements in the bars and hospitality areas are sorted ahead of another sporting event tonight but first two teams from the Central and West zone do battle for a invite to Saturday's Blast Finals party.

It's the Steelbacks' second quarter-final in a row. They won at Surrey last season to reach their fifth Finals Day where they lost in the semis. It's 10 years since the last of the two occasions when they've lifted the trophy.

Home hopes are high after the Steelbacks dominated the group winning their opening eight games including both meetings against Gloucestershire. Darren Lehmann's team did stumble with three defeats in their last four but by then a home quarter-final was all but assured.

Gloucestershire are chasing their second Finals Day in three years having won the trophy for the first time in 2024. They too started their campaign strongly but fell away somewhat in the closing stages. It needed a narrow victory at Worcester in the penultimate game to see them through.

That featured the joint fastest 50 in Blast history from 21-year-old Winchester-born Kamran Dhariwal who could be one to watch this evening.

Dave Bracegirdle
BBC Radio Nottingham commentator

Joe Clarke has had a pretty disappointing tournament throughout and that will just add to it.

Six balls, no runs, one wicket.

Superb stuff from Reece Topley for the visitors.

A neat and tidy opening over from Shane Snater until the final delivery as he drops one short and James Vince pulls it to the fence.

Jordan Cox is standing up to the stumps to keep the batters in their ground.

Sam Cook will partner Snater in opening the bowling.

Adam Lyth takes strike to Craig Overton for the first over at Headingley.

It is Moeen Ali, not Jonny Bairstow alongside him.

Jonathan Doidge
Commentator on BBC Radio Leeds

For Yorkshire it's going to be interesting to see what batting line-up they adapt for this one.

It's a high-scoring ground and they're going to need to score big.

Image source, Shutterstock

Aaaand we're getting under way at Trent Bridge, Headingley and the Utilita Bowl.

Strap in...

Just a reminder that three games - Hampshire v Essex, Notts Outlaws v Surrey and Yorkshire v Somerset - are getting under way at 16:30 BST.

Northants against Gloucestershire starts at 17:00... toss and team news coming up from the County Ground.

Image source, Getty Images

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Dan George
BBC Sport at Utilita Bowl

Image source, BBC Sport

A very good evening from Hampshire's Utilita Bowl where it is swelteringly hot.

With the football being on today and the game brought forwards, I have been told Hampshire are expecting a crowd of around 2,500, which is a considerable amount below what they would usually expect.

Essex are unchanged from their win over Surrey on Sunday while The Hawks are without a couple of their key players.

Spinner Liam Dawson has not been released by England after being part of their ODI squad, and batter Tristan Stubbs is at a Cricket South Africa awards event that means he won't play tonight.

We saw England's Jos Buttler and Harry Brook smash some big numbers on this wicket over the weekend when England's T20 side played India here, it will be interesting to see if today's game involves some big scores too.

Hampshire have won the last six meetings at Utilita Bowl against Essex in T20s, they'll be hoping to extend that record here this evening, with a spot at Finals Day up for grabs.

It's a day for runs on the board at Trent Bridge as Joe Clarke decides the home side are going to bat first.

There are two alteration to the Notts Outlaws team from the Yorkshire defeat with Mohammad Amir back in for Dillon Pennington and Joe Pocklington taking the place of Freddie McCann.

Notts Outlaws: Clarke (c), Munsey, Haynes, Moores (wk), Linde, Howell, Patterson-White, Stone, Amir, Fernando, Pocklington.

As for Surrey, there is one change from the side that was hammered by Essex in the final group game on Sunday as Ollie Sykes comes in for Jordan Clark.

Surrey: Roy, Evans, Philippe, Pope (c, wk), Lawrence, T Curran, Sykes, Jordan, Abbott, Lawes, Topley.

Image source, Getty Images

It was in 2003 that Surrey swaggered their way to win the very first T20 Finals Day, when teams treated 20-over cricket as a bit of a hit-and-giggle.

Back on that Trent Bridge evening, it's hard to believe the Brown Caps would not have added to that inaugural success.

But that's where we are in 2026 as Surrey return to that venue, hoping to get another crack in Saturday's Edgbaston jamboree.

A home loss to Essex on Sunday cost them top spot in the South Group, sending them to face North Group winners Notts.

The Outlaws put together an eight-game winning run to get them to the knockout stages and with players including Joe Clarke and Tom Moores around from their last triumph in 2020, they will be determined to reach their first Finals Day since that Covid success.

Yorkshire won the coin toss at Headingley and elected to bat in the afternoon sun.

Joe Root, Harry Brook and Adil Rashid are with England's ODI squad and will not feature for Yorkshire.

AJ Tye and Hasan Ali continue as the overseas pair with former Somerset spinner Dom Bess playing against his old side as one of three frontline spinners.

Captain Jonny Bairstow has been batting in the middle order, so Adam Lyth is set to open with Will Luxton.

Yorkshire: Lyth, Luxton, Moeen, Bairstow (c, wk), Revis, Hill, Tye, van Beek, Hassan Ali, Bess, Chohan.

Tom Banton has been released by England to play for Somerset, while Thomas Rew will keep the gloves rather than his brother James.

Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby are still nursing injuries, Lewis Gregory is too, but more affecting his bowling so plays as a specialist captain and batter who may only bowl if he feels a sixth option is needed.

Somerset: Smeed, T Rew (wk), Kohler-Cadmore, J Rew, Banton, Gregory (c), Sams, Overton, Goldsworthy, Meredith, Ball.

Image source, Shutterstock

Somehow, after more than two decades of the T20 Blast there are still ties that have never been played.

Yorkshire and Somerset have met in Division One of the County Championship regularly over the years, but rarely in 50-over cricket and never before in the T20 format.

Somerset have not played at Headingley since before Jack Leach's famous one not out there in 2019 when he helped Ben Stokes take England to victory against Australia.

This is Yorkshire's seventh Blast last eight match, having won three and lost three before today. Can they stop Somerset reaching a record 12th Finals Day?

Essex have won the toss at the Utilita Bowl and chosen to bowl first.

Liam Dawson's starring role for England in a losing effort against India yesterday means he is not available for Hampshire today so Andrew Neal comes in to replace him in the only change to the team which beat Sussex at the weekend.

Hampshire XI: Albert (wk), Vince (c), Weatherley, Mayes, Cartwright, Potgieter, Fuller, Neal, Currie, Wood, Baker.

Essex have named the same side which gained the all-important win at Surrey on Sunday.

Essex XI: Walter, Pepper, Cox (wk), Allison, Benkenstein, Critchley, Harmer (c), Thain, Snater, Bennett, Cook.

Image source, Shutterstock

These two sides found very different ways to navigate themselves into the T20 Blast quarter-finals.

Hampshire's blistering six-match winning streak after an opening night defeat by Somerset set them up for a relatively comfortable passage to the last eight, with Sunday's four-wicket victory over Sussex nailing top spot in the South Group.

Teenage batter Ben Mayes has found some timely form for the Hawks with his 146 runs in five innings coming at an average a touch under 50 while seamer Scott Currie is the competition's second-highest wicket taker with 21 to his name.

When Essex won the Blast in 2019 they did so by winning three of their final four group games before relying on previously winless Glamorgan beating a powerful Hampshire side to squeeze into the quarter-finals.

This year almost feels the same, where another slow start left them needing to win their final two matches to snag a place in the knockout stages.

With no batter or bowler in the top 15 of this year's averages they are more a sum of their parts, and a 30-run battering at Southampton in the group stages means there will need to be a sizeable turnaround if they are to make it to a seventh finals day.