3rd Double Header Somerset v Hants - back to winning mindset
By Grockle
June 19 2025
Shock Horro!! Lewis loses a toss and we will bat first for a change. Can we set a target without getting lost in the middle? Matt Henry is resting and Josh Davey is in for a bowl before the CC1.
Vitality Blast Game 7 v Hampshire Taunton Thursday 19 June 2025
Hampshire won the toss and will field first so for the first time this season Somerset will come out to bat first.
The Somerset team is;
Banton, Smeed, TKC, Abell, Dickson, Green, Gregory, Goldsworthy, Overton, Davey, Meredith
So Josh gets a run out before the CC1 returns and Matt Henry gets a rest after not really being 'in it' during periods of the last couple of games.
James Vince will hope his side have the 'cajones' to give us a run for our money tonight after we nearly pulled of the second steal of the week against Kent last Sunday. We have been known to not gauge the score needed quite as well when we bat first. It's a good test of our ability to pace an innings and we probably could do with the practice.
Gorgeous evening so let's get down to the business of the evening.
Wood takes the first of the evening from the River facing our usual opening pair of Banton and Smeed. Their job is the same tonight as all the other times... set the speed of the innings. The only difference is that they don't have a run rate to relate it to except the one in their heads this evening. 3 after the first and Eddie Jack to bowl the second. Banton takes the first ball to the boundary with a one bounce four to the Ondaatje.
Banton looks to flip it behind square and is brilliantly caught by Tom Webley diving in front of the CA scoreboard for 4 at 11 for 1. In comes TKC who says he bats right handed but holds his right at the bottom of the bat and faces like a left handed bat... you work it out!!! The second ends at 12 for 1. Fuller takes the third and TKC straight drives him for four. He then half gets one that goes for six. He then cloths another which is saved from going got four but at the end of the over it is 26 for 1 with 14 off 6 to the new man in.
Smeed hits 3 fours in the over, two at least simple square "power swats" to the Somerset boundary to move himself on to 20 from 14 and Somerset on to 40 at the end of the fourth. These two are looking to put Hampshire to the sword in the 'powerplay' as they bring up 50 with 3 fours on the bounce all from TKC after a dot ball first. 52 for 1 before the end of the 5th.
TKC takes a single to go to 6000 runs in T20 cricket and the next shot from Smeed brings up the 50 partnership in 23 balls. 10 of those were boundaries!!
The 'powerplay' ends with 68 to the home side and Fuller returns to move towards the attempted Hampshire 'press' in the middle overs. This is helped by TKC (who had just asked for a new bat) playing a straight one on. He goes for 29 off 15 (4 fours and a six) at 70 for 2. In comes Tom Abell who has a reputation of making runs against the Hawks. At 75 for 2 we see the spin of Dawson for the first time and this might be a significant over in the path of this game. He goes for 5 with both bats giving him some respect... for now. Fuller... not so much as Smeed sixes him into the Somerset and then straight skies him into the Botham to go to 50. 52 with 9 fours and 1 six off 28 at 91 for 2. The rate of 10 plus continues as we move to 94 for 2 from 9 overs.
Dawson continues as we move to halfway with things going mostly to plan so far. The 100 arrives just before the end of the 10th with Smeed on 55(32) and Abell 10(9). Jack tries to keep them from hitting it and bowls 3 wides before getting Will to smack on to a fielder for 68 off (37). He is caught by Currie at long on going for another one. In comes Sean Dickson and the question is now can he keep the pressure going at 116 for 3 with 9 overs to go?
Bennie Howell starts his four from the MT with the 12th and he bowls Tom Abell with his first ball. He plays across the line and drags it on for 10 off 10 at the same score of 116. In comes Lewis Gregory and this game is not setup yet so there is work required with the new pair without a run between them.
They then double the spin attack as Dawson moves to the River for the 13th at 121 for 4. They are obviously looking to press the Somerset pair before the last 5 overs if possible. It works as Dawson bowls Dickson for 3 from 4 at 122 for 5. Ben Green strides out and Lewis Goldsworthy probably pads up in expectation for the first time this Blast?
Green throws the bat at Howell and goes to Jacks caught on the MT boundary for 4 at 127 for 6. The second half of this is't going to plan and that 200 score is looking a little too far away now as the RR goes to 9. Gregory says goodbye to Dawson with a Hildreth 6 to finish him at 1 for 29 from his 4. A good spell and a good end to it for the home side. The first for quite a while. However Howell at the other end is still bowling and he presently has 2 for 9 from his 2 overs with one to go he has only given away 12 as Wood returns for the 17th.
The skipper straight sixes Wood into the Botham and we pass 150 moving to 153 for 6 and taking him to 25 from 16. The other LG is acting as support bat at the moment with a run a ball 5. Meanwhile the skipper hits 3 consecutive boundaries as we take 25 from that over and move to 170 for 6 with Gregory now having 41 from 20!! He does like this 'captain's innings' role doesn't he?
Currie takes the 18th and Goldsworthy finds the boundary with his first. The 50 partnership arrives at 177 for 6 from 25 balls as Jack takes the 19th and Golders puts him into the Somerset without a bounce. They take a single and then Gregory tells his partnerto stay there while he pouts it into the Botham without bouncing himself. We move into the 190s with 8 balls to go and he takes a glanced four to move us to 196 and take 19 off 5 balls of the over. We are 3 short of 200 with 6 balls to come from Currie as Jack ends with 2 for 58. The first goes high for a single which gets the skipper on strike. Lewis goes to 50 from 25 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes and it is now the highest Somerset T20 7th wicket partnership EVER!! (Previous was 67 between Omari Banks and Ben Phillips at Northants in 2008)
They move to 203 off ball 3. 204 off ball 4 208 with a ramp off ball 5 and 209 off 6 as the skipper is run out off the last ball for 55 from 27. Lewis Goldsworthy gets 29 from 16. Hampshire need 210
The Reply
Vince and Pretorius walk out to get this chaase going and Overton takes the ball from the River tonigh for a change. It's four balls before Pretorius gets bat on ball but he gets a four with that one and the one after it to finish with 8. Josh takes the first from the MT and Vince sends him to the boundary consecutively after a dot first. 19 off the first 2.
Riley Meredith starts with our third and they go to 31 by the end of it as the Aussie goes for 12. Craig changes ends and goes for 6. Davey also changes ends (so why did they start bowling from the different ones) He goes for 10 off his first 2 and then Pretorius is nearly caught by Smeed diving from the boundary in front of the Ondaatje. Davey comes back and keeps them under 50 at the end of the 5th at 48. But they are still there and far too close. Pretorius takes them over 50 to 55 with a straight six from Craig's second ball of the 6th. He comes back and they have 56 in the 'Powerplay' against our 68. Round 1 to us.
Green starts his evening's work with the 7th from the River - this will be the planned start of the Someret 'press' with the two Lewis's coming on to try and hold them through overs 8 to 13 at a minimum. His first for 6 is what we need. The skipper predictably comes on for the next. He'll want to do better than he did last game when he went for 45 from 15 balls. A wicket would be nice to break this partnership as he has Pretorius swinging and missing twice. He flashes the last hard and gets a top edge four behind him so he goes for 10 from his first and Hampshire move to 73 from 8.
Somerset don't choose Goldsworthy for the next but return to Green who has Pretorius caught in front of the CA scoreboard by Abell for 37 at 74 for 1. This brings in Albert and more importantly breaks the dangerous partnership. 14 for 1 off 2 is fine Greener.
Lewis G Jr takes the next and could decied the nature of the game from here. Will he get a spell or not? He goes for 6 and that was good. He will probably get another. At 10 the visitors are 86 for 1 and behind where they would like to be one would imagine as the skipper continues from the pavilion end. Tom Abell produces some boundary fielding magic to save four runs and we keep them down to 94 after 11. Lewis G Jr gets another as predicted and He rewards us with an excellent wicket as TKC takes an brilliant diving catch in front of the Gimblett. It's 95 for 2 as Albert goes for 10 and Brevis replaces him. 2 overs 1 for 10 is superb from Golders and it is 98 for 2.
The 100 arrives in the next from Ben but the run rate is going up as they are presently hitting at about 8 and need 14. Vince goes to 54 from 29 at 107 for 2. But that is all she wrote as Cove takes a blinder on the CA boundary to send him on his way for 54 and it is 107 for 3. The Hampshire guys were not so sure and the video suggests it might have been looked at if we had the technology. But the umpire gave him. Brevis was really not sure to be fair though he's almost as far from it as we are.
After 13 109 is defintely NOT where Hampshire would like to be as Goldsworthy gets a third. His first goes for a massive six into the car park near the Ondaatje. His second goes for four as Brevis goes after him and he is going to have to work this one hard. He comes back well and finishes with 23 to his name. So although it was heavy it may not have done them enough good to change it that much as they move to 123 for 3 and face Meredith in the 15th.
The rate passes 15 an over with Riley's 3rd. They need 85 from 33 though Wetherley gets one into the Somerset stand to bring it back to 14.8 per over. He gets a four from the next as it bisects two straining fielders in front of the Hildreth. The bowler nearly gets Wetherley LBW, appeals, the Hampshire bat stands there and Meredith just runs through, picks the ball up and runs him out as he stands out of his ground. 135 for 4 with 5 to go 75 needed from 30 balls as Josh Davey returns from the MT.
Fuller is the new man as Brevis sixes Josh's first ball of the new over. He hits another to take the score to 149 and then moves it over 150 with a four to the CA. Josh has gone for 40 from his 3 and will have to bowlk another one before we finish I believe. This game is not over yet. 154 for 4 as Meredith takes the 17th. They need 56 from 23. They still need it after the yorker sends Fuller on his way for 11 as his middle stump goes backwards to the 87 mile an hour ball. 154 for 5 and in comes Howell to try and take this one home. Howell gets off strike as quickly as possible. He takes a wicket and goes for 3 at a vital time to give Ben Green some protection at 157 for 5 leaving Hampshire needing 53 from 18 - about 3 a ball and a run rate of over 18.
However, Brevis still goes for this as he puts one over a leaping TKC into the Gimblett, followed by another as they move to 170. But his 36 from 16 ends with 1 four and 4 sixes as he skies one to Gregory and it is 170 for 6. Dawson arrives to partner Howell and moves it 173 as Meredith takes the next one. 37 off 11 becomes 36 off 10. Green finishes with 3 for 40 and Riley finishes with 1 for 34 as they move to 181 for 6 with the skiper taking the last one . Hampshire need 29 from 6. The first ball is a dot so they need 29 from 5. They run two frm the second and need 27 from 4. It's 25 from 3 and then 24 from 2. Dawson flips one for six to the Somerset and then skies one out to Goldsworthy and goes for 12 at 192 for 7 and we win by 17 runs. Howell finished on 11 off 10 and it was a decent fight but we had it most of the second half thanks to Goldsworthy and then Meredith.
Six from Seven and off we go to Wales tomorrow!!
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:06:20:18:57:16 by Grockle.
The men's game will find us with roughly the same team from the the same squad which has been announced as;
Banton, Smeed, TKC, Lammonby, Abell, Dickson, Gregory, Green, Goldsworthy, Overton, Davey, Henry, Meredith, Leach (straight off an excellent four day 2nd XI win v Northants)
With the 4 day game starting against Warwickshire on Sunday at Edgbaston, if there are going to be any changes they will happen now. Tom Lammonby may play to get his eye in. It will be doubtful that Jack will as he was bowled in the 2nds game but did not bat it seems.
Riley Meredith is available for the four day games in the middle but we also have Migael Pretorius ready tyo go for the CC1 game.
Thursday and Glamorgan on Friday in Cardiff will probably see the same side except for the possible change mentioned in one of the games. If may be Friday's game IF tomorrow goes well and may not be at all if it doesn't. The batting is certainly firing if the bowling is not as accurate as we possible would like.
That said, I'd have dropped Goldsworthy before his 4-for, so what would I know?
Over 200 is a decent total, but as Somerset have shown, it's not always enough at Taunton.
Fingers crossed...
Very good.
I was a bit surprised that Lewis Jnr. came in ahead of Craig, but he batted well anyway, as did most definitely Lewis Major, alongside his astute captaincy.
Tom A. does look in need of a break, perhaps a switch with Tom L. would be a good idea for the next couple of Blast games.
Good atmosphere at the ground, aided by three hot air balloons flying gracefully overhead.
And is it just me, or has Mr Blackwell developed a new semi-svelte appearance ? I wasn’t even sure it was him !
Grizzers
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025:06:19:22:36:09 by Grizzers.