Somerset Remain Well Placed Despite Defeat
Somerset remain well placed to progress in the Vitality Blast despite suffering defeat to Gloucestershire in the most recent round of fixtures.
The Vertu Motors-backed side headed into the game at Taunton having seen the trip to Essex result in a no contest, after poor weather conditions prevented a single ball being bowled.
Somerset lost the toss and were put in to bat first, with Will Smeed and Tom Kohler-Cadmore both departing in the opening five overs of the match.
The home side were struggling to get into their rhythm with the bat and reached just 87 by the half-way stage of the innings had also lost Tom Abell cheaply, and when Sean Dickson and Lewis Gregory also failed to make it into double figures, Somerset were reduced to 105-5 in the 14th over.
It looked like the victory target would be well below par, but that all changed in the final four overs as Tom Banton and Ben Green suddenly went on the attack.
Matt Taylor went for 15 runs from the 17th, before the next two – bowled by Marchant de Lange and David Payne – both went for 14 to take the score from 119-5 through to 162-5.
It was the final over however that allowed Somerset to post a challenging total, with Josh Shaw smashed for 20 off the first four balls before he was removed from the attack by the umpires for two waist high no balls.
Oliver Price therefore came in and although he removed Green for 47, a further twelve runs were added to make it 32 from the over and leave Gloucestershire needing to reach 195 for victory.
Cameron Bancroft fell for a five-ball duck to Lewis Gregory when Gloucestershire went in to bat and the game was very much in the balance by the half-way stage of the innings, with the visitors having reached 89-3 by the end of the tenth after Miles Hammond and James Bracey were both dismissed.
Beau Webster and Jack Taylor were able to keep the runs ticking over however as Gloucestershire moved closer to the winning target, before the pair fell in relatively quick succession to leave the score on 164-5 and the visitors eventually required 21 from the final two overs.
Jake Ball conceded eight of those from the penultimate over and Ollie Price and Ben Charlesworth were both then able to hit Ben Green for six in the final over as Gloucestershire took victory with a ball to spare by five wickets.
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