Mark Alleyne is working his Gloucestershire magic again.

The 56-year-old head coach looked on approvingly as his energised team booked their place at T20 Finals Day with a superbly controlled 14-run win over Birmingham Bears.

Chasing Gloucestershire’s all out total of 138, a Birmingham side including the likes of Moeen Ali and England new boys Dan Mousley and Jacob Bethell, were restricted to just 124-9 after a masterful performance by the visitors’ bowlers.

Gloucestershire will return to Edgbaston for Finals Day on Saturday and will play Sussex in the second semi-final at 2.30pm, three-and-a-half hours after the first semi-final between Surrey and cup holders Somerset.

Gloucestershire will be the clear underdogs going into the end-of-season spectacular but that won’t worry Alleyne, a player and coach who has made a career out of upsetting the bigger, more-fancied teams.

Back in the late 90s and early noughties he captained Gloucestershire to multiple one-day trophy successes, won the 50-over competition as player/coach in 2004 and then three years later, as head coach, saw Gloucestershire finish runners-up in the T20.

That is the only time that Gloucestershire have reached the final in the shortest format of the game and this year will be only the fourth time that they’ll have played in Finals Day.

Just like those halcyon days of 20-odd years ago, it’s fair to say that the sum of Gloucestershire’s current team is greater than its parts.

Under Alleyne’s keen eye, they are a team who are clearly moving in the right direction although they have a long way to go to match the club’s achievements of yesteryear, of course.

And it has been very much a team effort even though it was the bowlers, excellently marshalled by captain Jack Taylor, who deservedly grabbed most of the plaudits in the win over Birmingham Bears.

Left-arm seamer David Payne led the way with 4-23, but off-spinner Ollie Price took 3-32 and seamer Josh Shaw went for just 16 in his four overs and also claimed two wickets.

That was after Gloucestershire looked to be some 20 runs or more short of where they needed to be at the halfway stage despite an opening partnership of 51 in 5.2 overs between Cameron Bancroft and Miles Hammond.

Bancroft top-scored with 43, but despite a few lusty blows from Ben Charlesworth and Tom Price in the middle order, Gloucestershire failed to build on their quickfire start.

Top-order batsmen James Bracey, Ollie Price and Jack Taylor will all be hoping to be in the runs when they return to Birmingham on Saturday afternoon although that won’t be easy against a Sussex attack that includes Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson and Tymal Mills.

Six of Gloucestershire’s Edgbaston heroes – Bancroft, Hammond, Bracey, the Price brothers and Charlesworth – are playing in the County Championship Division Two game against Middlesex at Lord’s which started today.

The T20 final is scheduled to start at 6.45pm on Saturday.