By Sam Peters Andrew Flintoff dragged himself out of his fish and chip van and came agonisingly close to inspiring Lancashire to Twenty20 final glory as Warwickshire claimed their first-ever Twenty20 crown. The 36-year-old former England all-rounder got a last-minute call up for the final after Kabir Ali damaged his shoulder in the semi and looked set to deliver a virtuoso performance when he dismissed his old mate Ian Bell with the first ball of his spell. He returned, with hope apparently gone, to smash 20 not out off just eight balls, to give Lancashire a chance of the most unlikely victory only for current England all-rounder Chris Woakes to hold his nerve with a brilliant last over to leave Flintoff and his team-mates five runs short of victory.
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Bears scored 181-5 from their 20 overs, with Laurie Evans grabbing 53
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Lancashire struggled to stay with the pace and posted 177-8 from 20 overs
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Varun Chopra (30) and William Porterfield (31) contributed to score of 181
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Andrew Flintoff took wicket of Ian Bell and returned figures of 1-20 in final
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He then smashed 20 from eight balls to put Lancashire within four runs
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Karl Brown scored 55 for Lancashire but it was not enough to win
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Oliver Hannon-Dalby took 3-31 and Chris Woakes 2-35 for Bears
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Bears beat Surrey by 16 runs in first semi to reach evening's final
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Lancashire qualified by beating Hampshire by 41 runs via Duckworth-Lewis
Pose: @placeholder bears players hold the trophy aloft as they stand for photos after their final victory