Carter wheels away after winning the day

In one fell sweep, Carter rendered Mark Chilton's superb century earlier in the day wasted, and Warwickshire will face Essex at Lord's on 22 June in a replay of the 1997 Natwest Trophy final, won by Essex.

Lancashire looked likely to win after reducing Warwickshire to 131 for six with 16 overs to go, but an imortant stand of 60 for the seventh wicket between Neil Smith (29) and Dougie Brown (42) swung the balance and laid the foundation for Carter's heroics.

Chapple and Peter Martin struck early blows for Lancashire, Chapple reducing Warwickshire to three for one when snaring Nick Knight for nought, caught behind by Hegg.

The dismissal brought Pollock to the crease, and he and Mike Powell (12) took Warwickshire to 25 before the skipper lofted a short-pitched Martin ball to Chilton at fine leg.

Pollock was in good touch in making 22, and it took an excellent piece of stumping by skipper Warren Hegg off Kyle Hogg's bowling to remove him.

Ominous-looking

Warwickshire then fought back to move swiftly to 114 for three before an ominous-looking Jim Troughton (38 off 39 balls) was trapped in front by Chris Schofield.

It was a crucial wicket for Lancashire to take, and it also served to slow the run-rate appreciably.

John Wood and Andrew Flintoff bowled tightly in tandem, both gaining reward when Ian Bell (46) fell to Wood and Trevor Penney (three) to Flintoff in the space of one run.

But that only brought Smith and Brown together - and no one was prepared for the gripping climax after Brown was run out by Flintoff at deep mid-wicket on the second-last ball.

Chilton was the star of Lancashire's innings, staying at the crease for every ball of the 50 overs bar one and accounting for almost half of the team total.

Chilton kept Lancashire in the game

He was chanceless in a 146-ball knock, guiding Lancashire through a rocky opening period before playing with control to ensure Lancashire would bat out their allotted overs.

He watched on as Neil Carter removed Neil Fairbrother for one and Chapple for a duck, reducing Lancashire to 18 for two.

That became 36 for three when Stuart Law, whose former club Essex secured a final berth at the expense of Worcestershire, fell for 11 to a blinding catch in the gully by Powell off Pollock, the pick of Warwickshire's bowlers with four for 27.

Lancashire then enjoyed their most fruitful spell, Chilton and Flintoff (40) putting on 86 before Dougie Brown had the England all-rounder caught by Knight at mid-wicket.

Chilton then lost Graham Lloyd and Chris Schofield before attempting to reverse sweep Pollock and falling lbw.

Pollock bowled Kyle Hogg on the last ball of the 50th over, and will be on a unique hat-trick when he bowls in the final.

Lancashire: M J Chilton, N H Fairbrother, G Chapple, A Flintoff, S G Law, G D Lloyd, W K Hegg (Capt, Wkt), C P Schofield, K W Hogg, P J Martin, J Wood.

Warwickshire: M J Powell (Capt), N V Knight, I R Bell, J O Troughton, T L Penney, S M Pollock, D R Brown, N M K Smith, A F Giles, T Frost (Wkt), N M Carter.

Umpires: K E Palmer and G Sharp