Friends Life t20 2011: Leicestershire Foxes Win by 18 Runs — Josh Cobb's 4/22 Dismisses Somerset at Edgbaston

Leicestershire Foxes won the Friends Life t20 2011 on 27 August 2011 at Edgbaston, Birmingham, defeating Somerset by 18 runs. Leicestershire scored 145/6 in 20 overs; Somerset were restricted to 127/9 in their reply. Josh Cobb scored 18 off 10 balls and took 4/22 as Player of the Match — both the batting contribution and the key bowling performance that dismissed Somerset as they attempted to chase 146. Matthew Hoggard captained Leicestershire; Marcus Trescothick captained Somerset. It was Leicestershire's third domestic T20 title, having also won the Twenty20 Cup in 2004 and 2006.

Josh Cobb 4/22: The Bowling Spell That Ended Somerset's Chase

Josh Cobb's 4/22 — the Friends Life t20 2011 final's decisive bowling contribution — restricted Somerset as they chased Leicestershire's 145/6. Somerset had reached 89/3 in the 14th over, still in the contest, before the wickets fell rapidly. Cobb's four wickets gave Leicestershire the margin their 145/6 needed to defend, with Somerset finishing at 127/9 — 18 runs short. Paul Nixon's wicketkeeping also contributed a famous one-handed catch to dismiss Kieron Pollard during the Somerset chase, a moment that swung the final's momentum decisively toward Leicestershire. Cobb's Player of the Match award reflected the dual batting-bowling contribution that T20 cricket rewards — his 18 off 10 with the bat and 4/22 with the ball combining to give Leicestershire two match-influencing individual performances from the same player.

Matthew Hoggard's Leicestershire: A Third T20 Title

Matthew Hoggard captaining Leicestershire Foxes to the 2011 Friends Life t20 title — their third domestic T20 championship (following 2004 and 2006) — gave one of English county cricket's most decorated fast bowlers his most significant captaincy achievement. Hoggard, the former England pace bowler who had been one of England's primary Test match wicket-takers across the 2000s, leading a Leicestershire team to the Friends Life t20 title at Edgbaston gave the county's T20 program a third title that confirmed their status as one of the competition's most successful teams in its first decade. Marcus Trescothick's Somerset, as the 2011 finalists, had Somerset's batting depth at the top of the order but could not overhaul Leicestershire's 145/6 after Cobb's 4/22 ended their chase at 127/9.

Friends Life t20 2011 in Context

The Friends Life t20 2011 was the ninth edition of the domestic English T20 competition (having run since 2003 as the Twenty20 Cup, then briefly as the Friends Provident t20 in 2010). Leicestershire's 18-run win over Somerset — Josh Cobb's 4/22 the decisive bowling performance — gave the 2011 edition a result that reflected Leicestershire's batting reliability (145/6 on an Edgbaston pitch) and bowling depth (Cobb's four wickets ending Somerset's chase at 127/9). Somerset's consistency in reaching Finals Day across multiple editions — but not winning — continued their pattern of close finishes that would not culminate in a domestic T20 championship until their 2023 Vitality Blast title.