LEICESTERSHIRE, winners of the Benson and Hedges Cup in its first year, reached the final in its last, but only after Surrey put up a titanic fight in defence of the trophy.
In a rerun of last year's semi-final when Surrey batted first to make 308, the Brown Hatters found the task of chasing a similar total fractionally too demanding.
After 45 overs, both sides had made 253, but for Surrey, without the same wickets in hand, it would have been an astonishing effort to get home. Chris Lewis ensured they would not by yorking Adam Hollioake at 274 with 16 balls remaining.
Lewis bowled magnificently in his opening five-over spell when he claimed Surrey's Test trio at a cost of just eight runs, but it was Darren Maddy who won his fifth Gold Award this year with another brilliantly paced innings, 120 not out from 138 balls.
From the very start of their match-winning partnership of 172 in 31 overs, Maddy and Ben Smith ran Surrey off their feet. Singles were pilfered and apparent ones converted into twos, which got the scoreboard moving after only 30 were scored off the first 10 overs.
At 68 for one off 18, the game was nicely poised, before fate conspired against Surrey. Ian Salisbury was now introduced, but with his first delivery, he felt a groin muscle tear in his delivery stride.
Two separate interruptions for rain followed, which left Surrey with a wet ball from the 22nd over until the last 10 overs. Whether that or the difficulty of operating into the gale from the pavilion end affected their bowlers more is
uncertain, but all apart from Joey Benjamin were guilty of pitching too short or too full.
Smith, who played as well as Maddy for his 106-ball 89, cut five of his seven fours, while Maddy was no less devastating off the back foot. Both players used their feet well to negate Saqlain Mushtaq.
From the final 10 overs, a crucial 100 were pillaged. Phil Simmons thrashed 40 off 35 balls and Paul Nixon stole 17 off eight. Maddy, caught off a Ben Hollioake no-ball when 53, was bowled by another from Mark Butcher when 104.
It was clear that Maddy's luck was in when he ran Ally Brown out in the second over with only one stump to aim at. Lewis now replaced an expensive Jimmy Ormond and immediately had Alec Stewart caught at first slip.
Graham Thorpe, flashing outside off, soon followed and in the same over, Butcher trod on his wicket after slipping.
At 72 for four in the 16th over, Surrey looked beaten but the Hollioake brothers - Ben with an effortless 63 off 74 balls and Adam with a more violent 85 from 97 - gave a disappointingly small crowd of 3,000 at Grace Road a finish to remember.