PERSISTENT rain at Edgbaston has forced T20 Blast Finals Day to be put back to today for the first time in the competition’s history.

The decision was taken at 18:00 BST, seven hours after the scheduled start of play in the first semi-final.

Gloucestershire are to play Surrey followed by Lancashire Lightning against Notts Outlaws, with the winners to meet in the final.

If no play is possible today, the teams will try again on Wednesday.

Organisers say they will do everything possible to play three games on Sunday – each of a minimum of five overs per innings.

However, should one semi-final be completed and then further rain makes it impossible to finish the second game and/or final, they will be decided by bowl-outs.

The Edgbaston outfield was left saturated by heavy overnight rain and an 11:00 inspection was cancelled with no sign of an improvement in the weather.

The umpiring panel in charge is Martin Saggers, Michael Burns, Alex Wharf, David Millns and Stuart Cummings.

Finals Day was scheduled for October for the first time in the hope that a limited number of spectators would be allowed to attend.

However, the tightening of coronavirus restrictions by the government late last month means no crowd will be present.

If Finals Day does have to be moved to Wednesday, there will be no reserve day, and bowl-outs will, if necessary, decide which team lifts the trophy.(BBC Sport)