Blast Game 1 v Hampshire at Taunton
By Grockle
May 22 2026
Lewis Goldsworthy returns to the season after a hamstring injury during the CC1 games. He is named and joined in the squad by Thomas Rew, working around his A levels, Tom Banton who returned to the seconds last week and took Worcestershire apart with the younger Rew. James Rew is also included despite the England call up (despite rumours that Sonny Baker is not available) - Alfie Ogborne is away presently playing for the Lions against his team mate Jordan Hermann who has turned out for South Africa. Let's see if they can go one better than the women who have just tied with the Hampshire women.
Blast Game 1 - Hampshire @ Taunton Friday 22 May 2026
A very pleasant early summer's evening at Taunton and a sold out crowd to watch the men's team start their efforts to keep the trophy they won last year. A group huddle before the start of play with 2 periods of clapping suggests that Danial Sams and Thomas Rew will both be playing T20 for Somerset tonight as I assume it was two cap ceremonies takng place. I could be wrong, we'll have to wait for the toss and team news.
Somerset have won the toss and will bowl first. The side is;
Smeed, Banton (wk), Rew T, Abell, Lammonby, Rew J, Gregory (c), Sams, Goldsworthy, Overton, Ball
So we have a bat with two first class centuries this season batting at number 10!!! No Pretorius which is a little surprising - they must be hoping for the frugal Jake to be present tonight.
Here we go with Tom Lammonby opening the bowling from the River end. Albert and Vince will face. His first ball is a wide. Daniel Sams shows early commitment saving a certain four with an excellent diving save of a four in fronf of the Gimblett. Tom L goes for 16 off his first.
Overton takes the first at the MT and his loosener is swept down to the CA for four. 23 after 2. Jake Ball takes the third. In the fourth Albert edges one from Cove to Thomas Rew in front of the Hildreth. He goes for 23 at 32 for 1. In comes Weatherley as Vince decides to take over the majority of scoring. Hampshire have moved to 47 for 1 after 5. They pass 50 before the end of the 'Powerplay' with Vince on 20 and Weatherley on 5 and end the first 6 on 52 for 1.
On comes Daniel Sams and they move to 57 which is followed by a double change as Lewis Gregory takes over at the MT end. His first is pace off and Weatherley simply drives it into the waiting hands of Tom Abell at mid off to leave for 8 at 58 for 2. In comes Cartwright and while he scores 1 in the next couple of overs, Vince takes the score to 74 for 2 and moves to 41.
Lewis Goldsworthy comes on to take us to the halfway point in the innings. He gets a bit of slap but then takes some pace off and bowls Cartwright for 15 from 9 balls. It's 90 for 3 with a ball of the 10th to come and Prest at the crease. He takes a single and it is 91 for 3 at the turnaround.
Gregory changes ends and Prest b rings up the 100 with a six into the Somerset Stand to take Hampshire to 105 for 3 with 9 to go. Vince then goes to 50 from 30 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Then Craig will bowl out at the River with the 13th starting at 110 for 3. His first is a long hop which is sixed by Vince into the Somerset where it deserves to land.
Prest tries the same but top edges it to Lewis Gregory running in from a wide mid off. He goes for 11 at 117 for 4. Potgieter replaces him but Vince then also drives the ball to the Somerset captain at extra cover and he he pouches it to send the man on his way at 118 for 5 with 58 to his name. Craig takes two in the 13th and finishes with 3 for 27
Potgeiter and Fuller are now at the crease with 2 runs between them and the game has swung a little. Gregory will bowl the 15th - 5 after this one. 131 for 5 with 5 to go and Sams changes ends for the 16th. He takes his first as Fuller skies the ball straight down Lammonby's throat for 7. 133 for 6 as Dawson comes out for his 346th game for his county!!
The skipper will now bowl out with the 17th having gone for 37 for his 1 wicket. Hampshire eye 150 plus with 18 balls to come as Ball takes the 18th over from the Pavilion. He has Dawson absolutely plumb stopping a ball going straight for the middle stump with his boot after missing the ramp. He goes for 8 at 143 for 7. In comes Tom Currie and is off the mark with a single. Ball then bowls Currie with the last ball for 1 to take 2 in the over. So at 149 for 8 things are looking better though the 150 cannot be stopped in the 19th from Sams as Potgieter looks to farm the strike from Lumsden. But he does not save him as he pops the next ball to Smeed giving Daniel his second and taking Hampshire to 150 for 9 with 8 balls left and Wood in as last man.
Wood defends the last two to give Sams 2 for 28 in his first outing for the county. Ball takes the last over with 2 for 20 presently. Potgieter puts him into the Gimblett for six to spoil the figures a bit. Buty he gets the last as he tries again and is caught for a fighting 24 by Overton. Ball finishes with 3 for 28 and we need 159 to win.
The Reply
Will Smeed and Tom Banton come out and Chris Wood takes the first opportunity to take wickets from the River end. We field in Black and we bat in Pink it seems this year to help the umpires feel less confused by it all. Banton is off the mark with a rare three. Will joins him with a single. 6 off the first one.
The MT end opener for Hampshire is Delano Potgieter who gets 2 consecutive fours taken off him by Will at the start of the second. We have 19 by the end of it. Then Smeed puts Wood near the Rose gates without bouncing ad we finish the third on 32. The young man Lumsden comes on for the fourth. He bowls a no ball. Smeed puts the free hit over the CA scoreboard and he's bowled another no ball. Well when they get the ball back. He puts the second one into the car park over the NT stand. A hard debut over for the lad but you come to learn your trade. The fouth goes to 53 with a four off the last one. So he went for 21 off the over while Smeed has moved to 34 after scoring all the boundaries in that one - some 16 runs.
Wood takes the 5th, Banton takes a single and Smeed continues with a solid straight four. After the 5th we finish the 'Powerplay' 6 overs with Currie taking the next. It can't be fun coming on for an over when the two men in front of you are scoring at over 10 an over. After 6 we have 74 for no wicket. Bants has 27 and Smeedy has moved on 42. On comes James Fuller who is their 5th bowler in 7 overs. He drops one short and Smeed hits a building with it. He then drives for 4 to go to a 22 ball 50 with 5 fours and 4 sixes. 86 for 0 halfway through the 7th.
They turn to their only other weapon in Liam Dawson. He bowls Banton for 30 at 90 for 1. This is what he's there for. In comes James Rew. He surviveds a very very good over from the Hampshire spinner and the game may now calm down a bit. Currie changes ends for the 9th. But Will doesn't stop and just before the halfway is reached he skies one into the stratosphere and is caught by Potgeiter (who had to ait an age to catch it) for 59 from 29 balls at 96 for 2. In comes Tom Abell at number 4. That was mayhem for a while. Now it will calm down one would imagine as the adults arrive at the crease.
We pass 100 in the 10th and move to 104 with a pretty poor reverse sweep from the man I hate seeing sweep, James Rew. They need 54 from 60 in the second part as Currie starts the 11th and he bowls Tom Abell as he plays across the line of one at 108 with Tom A going for 2. In comes Thomas to join James needing 51 for victory with 7 wickets left.
Wood takes the 13th and meets Thomas who picks him up and deposits him into the Somerset Stand with little to no effort for six. We finish it on 130 for 3 with the older Rew on 20 and his younger brother on 10. Dawson is bowling his last and one has to say once that is done this game is almost over because he is the only one who has been able to keep the Somerset attack in any kind of consistent check. He has bowled 4 for 25 with one wicket.
Currie will bowl out with 3 overs 2 for 22 at the moment. He finishes with 2 for 27 and we start the 16th on 140 for 3 as Fuller changes ends to the MT. He is greeted by a James Rew boundary and we go under 20 needed wth 27 balls to go. James puts the Hapshire bowler on the penthouse balcony to bring up the 150 (153 for 3) and we need 6. He tries to do it again with the next and bottom edges a single. With 4 overs to go we need 5 and Potgeiter has what might be the last over. They take 2 off the first and he hooks the next past the keeper to go to 160. We win by 7 wickets. James finishes with 47 of 29 balls and his bro has 14 from 15 - a 52 run partnership. Pretty convincing dismantling of a moderately strong target. They got there with 22 balls left in the game thanks mostly to controlled mayhem from Will Smeed and Tom Banton in the first 25% of the innings.
A pretty convincing start. The message to other counties in our group. If you are coming to Taunton then plan to score 200 plus or go home pointless.
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Match Report thread closed as usual until the end of the game. I'll merge it with the other one once the game is concluded.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:24:15:51:06 by Grockle.
Banton, Smeed, Lammonby, Abell, Rew J, Rew T, Gregory, Pretorius, Overton, Sams, Goldsworthyt, Thomas, Ball
It will be interesting to see which 2 miss out. Good to see Lewis Goldsworthy back, though it might be as a return to the squad rather than ready for first team exposure.
No place yet for Josh Shaw even with Riley Meredith not available. What is Josh expected to fo for the next 3 years on this basis? Is this an injury issue?
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:22:10:43:09 by Grockle.
Very good batting depth (if not experience in the case of Rew junior) and six bowling options...
I'm assuming Banton, Smeed, J Rew, Sams, Abell, Gregory, Overton and Pretorius are givens; so if they're playing a spinner it's between Thomas and Goldsworthy (I'm surprised super Jack Leach isn't in the squad). And I'm guessing it's between Ball and Lammonby for the final pace option.
We'll see (as in we'll see why I'm a retired sub-editor rather than a cricket selector!).
Banton, Smeed, Thomas Rew, Abell, Lammonby, James Rew, Gregory, Goldsworthy, Sams, Overton, Ball
We are bowling first after winning the toss.
Grizzers
If you come to Taunton, bring your big boy pants and plan to score 200 plus if you want to beat us here.
And I love Grockle's 'Bring your big boy's pants' comment!
Flippant, yes, but at Taunton the Hants score looked a very long way under par. If Somerset win the toss at Taunton, let's face it, they're always going to bowl, and that target won't frighten Smeed, Banton et al. And it didn't.
I watched a little bit of the action on YouTube, on an Asian channel that I guess got kiboshed for legal reasons.
Early days, obviously, but a good start for Somerset how ever you look at it.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:23:00:08:58 by sfwithers.
Quote:Devonboy70
With the exception of Lammers over , an excellent all round team performance with good contributions all round . Thought Jake bowled particularly well .
That was oddly stress-free but none the less enjoyable as a result.
Jake Ball has been getting better and better. He looked rusty when first signed and I feared it was another Jack Brooks situation but he is now showing his worth in white and red ball cricket.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:22:23:15:25 by Wiltshire55.
It was also nice to see James taking the leading role in the Rew partnership. With the media tending to portray James as the stolid red-ball player and Thomas as a white-ball musketeer with a flashing blade, the elder brother demonstrated he has big shots in his locker too.
Will goes BIG effectively a lot! He"s looking to add subtlety to his game. They"ll both expand their individual games if they get the new stuff right
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:05:23:10:47:18 by Grockle.
"Firstly for those interested in these things, my seat was in the 27th row of the Hollies Stand more or less in line with the centre of the pitch.
I was not late in picking up the flight of the ball involved in Mr Rew's mountainous six. Indeed, I picked it up early, watched it intently, determined that it was headed for the seat immediately across the aisle from me, did a full risk assessment, concluded I was quite safe, and so retained my seat and prepared to make my note after which I intended to retrieve the ball and return it to its rightful owner. At that point the ball landed on the concrete in front of the seat I had identified, and bounced further up the stand.
At that point, I observed a Warwickshire fielder climb the boundary board and start running up the stairs towards me. I therefore deferred making my note, put my bag down and tripped over it. It was of course a perfectly managed trip, for I tripped in the direction of the ball, fell up another three rows of steps and retrieved it. By this time the fielder had run virtually the whole height of the stand looking as if he were on a mercy mission. Not wishing to put him to any further inconvenience, I threw the ball to him for he was still at least five yards from me and beginning to look rather wary. I also asked him if he could ask Mr Rew if he could see his way clear to hitting his next six a yard or so squarer so that it would come straight to me and enable me to avoid the inconvenience of my getting out of my seat.
At this point, the fielder turned and ran."
Farmer
Grizzers