Patel stars as Notts conquer Somerset

In the third of the T20 quarterfinals, and the first with a close finish, Nottinghamshire beat Somerset by five wickets to join Hampshire and Glamorgan in reaching Finals Day at Edgbaston on Sept 2. Nottinghamshire are also the holders of the 50-over trophy, the Royal London One-day Cup.

It was a match of thrills, nervous spills and unenforced batting errors. Far from being a highscoring game, as it normally is at Trent Bridge with its short boundaries, Somerset, who were sent in, made only 151, and Nottinghamshire lost five wickets in knocking their target off with nine balls to spare.

Nottinghamshire owed victory to the variety of their bowling and to a fine fifth-wicket stand between Samit Patel, who harbours ambitions of returning to the England red and white-ball teams, and Dan Christian, their Australian captain who has become one of the stalwarts of the T20 circuit.

Patel, who finished with 45 off 28 balls, had set the tone for the hosts at the outset by opening the bowling and conceding only three singles in the first over – a complete contrast to the first quarter-final when Derbyshire opened with a spinner, Wayne Madsen, who was hit for 16 by Shahid Afridi.

Somerset never recovered from this standing start and posted more than 50 runs fewer than the par total at Trent Bridge this season.

Patel was one of two left-arm bowlers employed by Nottinghamshire, but the pick of their attack was Jake Ball, who took two wickets in two deliveries, and delivered 12 dot-balls in his allotment of four overs. Only Steve Davies, with 59 off 41 balls, found any fluency.

In Nottinghamshire’s reply, after a similarly shaky start, Patel launched the acceleration until he was run out with a left-foot kick by Lewis Gregory, who had to take on the captaincy for the first time as Jim Allenby had a hand injury. But Nottinghamshire at that stage needed only 32 from the last 29 balls, and Christian kept his cool, hitting 36 off 26 balls.

Surrey meet the Birmingham Bears in tonight’s fourth quarterfinal at the Kia Oval.