Conway’s efforts in vain as Somerset slip up against Essex
SOMERSET suffered a third Vitality Blast defeat of the season with an eight-wicket defeat to Essex Eagles under the Chelmsford floodlights last night.
Somerset went into the game on the back of a 10-wicket win against Kent at Canterbury, where centurymaker Tom Banton and Devon Conway had eased them to a target of 169 with almost five overs to spare.
Hopes of another major opening stand ended when Banton, who had cracked 19 off 10 balls, fell to Jack Plom with the score on 30 in the thrid over.
Conway, though, held the Somerset innings together as tthe New Zealand batsman progressed to a second half-century in two days.
Will Smeed (18) and Lewis Goldsworthy (27) gave good support to Conway for the second and third wickets, but both fell to Simon Harmer.
It was 107-3 when Goldsworthy was dismissed early in the 14th over and Somerset struggled to get any real momentum into the latter part of the inninigs.
Harmer also accounted for Tom Lammonby (4) and Lewis Gregory (0) as he finished with 4-24 from his four overs.
Somerset could only muster 46 off their final seven overs and Conway’s 47-ball innings of 53 ended in the 18th over when he was caught off Simon Cook.
Somerset were bowled out for 153 off the last ball of their 20 overs, but a slight rain delay meant essex were given a revised target of 148 from 19 overs.
Essex suffered a couple of early setbacks in their chase, as Will Buttleman (16) and Dan Lawrence (2) fell to Craig Overton and Jack Brooks, respectively, in the powerplay overs.
However, Adam Wheater and Michael Pepper then took control with a third-wicket stand of 80 in eight overs.
It looked like Essex were crusing to victory until Max Waller’s legspin accounted for Wheater (49) and Marchant de Lange removed Jimmy Neesham five balls later to make it 116-4 in the 15th over.
It remained tight but Pepper took successive boundaries off the last two balls of the 18th over, bowled by Gregory, to effectively seal the win.
Ten Doeschate sealed victory with a six off the first ball of the last over from Brooks, to finish on 15, while Pepper was unbeaten on 55. » Glamorgan kept their Vitality Blast qualification hopes alive with a thrilling one-run victory over Surrey, for whom England batsman Ollie Pope top-scored with 60
David Lloyd and Billy Root both made 41 in Glamorgan’s total of 153-6, but they should have reached at least 170 after making a strong start to their innings.
The Welsh county still did enough for victory, but only by the narrowest of margins. Pope could not find anyone to support him, but Kyle Jamieson nearly took Surrey home. The New Zealand bowler smashed 31 and with Surrey needing 13 from the last over, he looked like he would be the hero.
Jamieson needed two from the last ball, but Glamorgan’s Timm Van Der Gugten held his nerve and ran out the Surrey man off his own bowling.