Somerset hanging on at halfway stage
Somerset find themselves third in the Vitality Blast Central Group at the halfway stage following their highest ever away and third best T20 score to see off Worcestershire Rapids, before suffering defeat against Birmingham Bears.
Last Thursday, Steve Davies topscored with 60 as Somerset smashed 229-8 after being asked to bat, aided by 14 wides and three no balls from Worcestershire. Josh Davey then returned 4-41 to restrict Worcestershire to 213-7 to secure a victory that kept them in contention to qualify for the knock-out stage.
Somerset had welcomed back Babar Azam and captain Lewis Gregory following their featuring for Pakistan and England in the IT20 series at Old Trafford.
After the game Davies said: “I was thankful when I saw that short boundary when we rocked up today. I thought I might get a few.
“It was a really hard wicket to defend on and it was a tough day for the bowlers. It was nice to get a few today.
“I haven’t played T20 cricket or one-day cricket for over a year now so it was nice to get my opportunity today.
“Bants [Tom Banton] is away so I’m not sure how long I will be doing it for. My first couple of games didn’t go well. I was a little bit frantic. Today I was a little bit calmer and it was nice to bat with Babar Azam, a class act down the other end.
“I was a little bit worried we were scoring a little bit slowly early on and maybe could have made more use of the powerplay.
“Maybe we could have ended up with more than the 230 but it all worked out well today.”
Defeat then followed on Friday as Birmingham secured a four-run victory via the Duckworth/lewis method in a weather-hit affair. The match was interrupted for an hour and three-quarters by rain, which set in with the Bears 85-4 from 11 overs. When play became possible again at 9pm, the umpires ruled that it would be a 12-over match.
Birmingham added 22 in the final over and Somerset were set a revised target of 125 to win. They could manage only 120-7, Tom Lammonby top-scoring with 43 off 20 balls, and lost a game they seemed to have under control before the rain-break.
Somerset head coach Jason Kerr said: “We chose Ollie Sale to bowl the final over of the Bears innings because we are grooming him to be our death bowler in T20 and he needs to be put in pressure situations.
“Obviously we would have liked to concede less runs off it, but it’s a learning curve for Ollie and he will benefit from the experience. There were other things we got wrong in the game, including being too frantic with our batting early on.
“We will assess James Hildreth’s injury tomorrow. My gut feeling is that it is a hamstring strain, rather than a tear, but it is too early to say whether we will see him play again this season.”
Somerset next host Worcestershire tomorrow after facing them in the Bob Willis Trophy in a top of the table encounter which went to the final day yesterday. Somerset had set Worcestershire 245 to win at the end of day three after Lammonby carried his bat on 107 to become the youngest Somerset player to remain undefeated through an entire innings. Somerset had scored 251 in the first innings before bowling Worcestershire out for 200.
■ IN the Rachel Heyhoe Flint Trophy, skipper Sophie Luff’s elegant half century led Western Storm to a crushing 86-run victory over hosts Sunrisers at Chelmsford.
Luff stroked nine 4s in an innings of 85 from 115 balls, sharing stands of 80 – in just 61 deliveries - with Alex Griffiths and 55 with Claire Nicholas as Storm rattled up 265-6, despite ten excellent overs of offspin from Alice Macleod (1-34).
Lauren Filer then took wickets with her first two balls of the tournament, before Fi Morris (5-26) claimed a five-wicket haul as Sunrisers mustered 179 in reply, Jo Gardner top-scoring with 54.
After the game, Morris said: ““This was the first time I’ve got five wickets in a good few years and this was a good day to do it.
“I felt in a good rhythm today and I bowled at a better pace than I have in the last couple of games. Hopefully I can carry it on to the next game.
“We were feeling pretty confident with 265 on the board at halfway.
“The stand of 80 between Alex [Griffiths] and Sophie [Luff] was exactly what we needed at the time. Alex has been hitting it really well in the nets without quite coming off, so for her to bat like she did without fear made it the perfect partnership really - Sophie getting the ones and twos at one end and Alex teeing off at the other.
“We just asked Lauren [Filer] to bowl quick and attacking and that’s what she did, and Amara having got 90-odd the other day was a big wicket.
“The way we bowled up top set the tone and put them under pressure which made my life a bit easier.”