Blast Game 7 - The Derby Part 2 - Glos on the Tone
By Grockle
June 26 2026
A side that looks like a Somerset T20 side again with a number of returnees under the captaincy of TKC ( Lewis Gregory is not one of them) We welcome the blokes from up the M5 to this part of the West Country. We win or we don't retain I think is the situatioin. unless we come out swinging then the Finals day will NOT see us in 2026.
Blast Game 7 - v Gloucestershire @ Taunton Friday 26 June 2026
Glos have won the toss and have chosen to bowl first. The side is;
Tom Banton (wk), Will Smeed, TKC (c), James Rew, Thomas Rew, Goldsworthy, Sams, Overton, Shaw, Meredith, Ball
There are four returnees though no Gregory so TKC will captain - a surprise I have to admit, I thought they would keep with Overton as skipper.
Will Willimas opens for Glos and is faced by Tom Banton who puts the second ball to the boundary. He's then dropped - an easy chance by MdL (welcome back dude) and we get a lifeline at 4 for 0. At 5 for 0 Liam Scott takes the second from the MT and Banton sends him to the Gimblett boundary. He then skies one striaght to MdL again and he doesn't miss that one and it is 9 for 1 and out comes the skipper.
He also gets one that moves away at speed. It also beats the keeper and flies to the Botham rope. 17 for 1 after 2 with TKC on 8. Smeed finally gets a ball and is off the mark with a single. Marchant takes the 4th at 20 for 1. He gets his distance and length and Will just clips one at speed into the hands of D'Arcy Short and he goes for 3 at 22 for 2. In comes James Rew and opens with a six to the Hildreth stand. He seems to be a man on a mission tonight as he moves to 15 from 7.
They are not finding this easy and they try to go past 50 in the powerplay but don't get the ball past MdL who takes good catch to send TKC back for 17 and we finish the 'Powerplay' on 47 for 3 as the Rews come together with 14 overs to do something. They move the score past 50.
MdL takes the 8th and Thomas is strangled down the legside trying to flip it around and is caught behind for 5 at 63 for 4. James skies one and is dropped in the Somerset stand - Daz Ahmed on debut. Then he has to bowl the 9th. James then flashes hard to the MT boundary. He goes for 12 off his first. 78 for 4 after 9. Jack Taylor takes this one.
James is on one tonight, going for everything as if his life depends on it. He goes to a 23 ball 50 with a six into the graveyard. He has hit 6 four and 2 sixes as he moves to 54 at 98 for 4 at the halfway point. Meanwhile Lewis gets a leading edge trying to sweep Short and he is caught and bowled for 8 at 98 for 5. In comes Daniel Sams.
The 100 arrives with another James Rew reverse sweep followed by a classic on drive for four. Sams has worked out that the best thing dfor him to do is to get Rew on strike so he takes the singles and James provides the fours. He has moved on to 69 from 30. When Sams goes BIG he does not get enough and is caught on the CA boundary for 3 by Dhariwal off Short at 116 for 6. Overton takes 1
Scott takes the 14th at 120 for 6. Her is hooked for six to the Hildreth as Rew moves to 79 and then to 85 in the Somerset from 36 balls. 136 for 6. Then the 'batting allrounder' gets in on the act and straight sixes Short to the Botham.
With 5 to go we have 147 on the board as Ahmed changes ends. After tapping back the first he sends the second to the Botham to take Somerset past 150 and himself into the 90s off 40 balls. 91 becomes 95 with a swept cut. 95 t0 101 with a six off 43 balls. 12 fours and 5 sixes - his highest T20 score (pervious 93) and a real 'stuff you' to England after last week. 163 for 6 as Overton is stumped for 14 in the 17th off the bowling of Short.
In comes Josh Shaw who must see his job as primarily to get James on strike. Williams takes the 18th and James just continues going for everything. With 12 balls to go Josh has 2 and James has 108. Somerset have 175 for 7 Marchant has the ball he finishes with 3 for 32. We have 180 and 6 balls to go.
He continues devastating the bowling and ends up with a score of 194 for 7 and James is not out 116 with 14 fours and 5 sixes. What a devastaing inings that was and it will probably be in a losing effort.
It isn't our fastest T20 100. Johann Myburgh hit a 42 ball 100 against Essex in 2018. Cameron White hit a 44 ball one against Gloucestershire in 2006. James sits between them with his 43 ball one.
The Reply
Hammond and Short open with Overton taking the first an Thomas Rew keeping. The visitors need 195 to win. That's par here as they take 3 off the first. The second is taken by Riley Meredith (welcome back sir). Hammond takes a bit of a shine and takes him for 8 as the visitors move to 11 after 2. Sams drops one from Short he seems to have lost in the sun. His hands are not where the ball goes over the rope for six. Craig will NOT be overjoyed.
After 5 overs they have moved to 46 with no loss. The 50 arrives with a straight four off Meredith and another is dropped in front of the Somerset by Will Smeed in and out. The 'Powerplay' ends with Glos on 61 for 0 with Short on his third life at 45 from 26. Shaw went for 14 off his first. Ball takes the 7th and produces a good over for 4. Sams takes his first in the 8th and Short gets to 50 with a weird punch to the Hildreth off 31 balls - he moves to 53.
Lewis Goldsworthy breaks through taking Short out for 59 caught by Shaw at 79 for 1 In comes Phillips as Josh Shaw takes the 10th and Phillips decides very early to ramp straight up in the air. He is caught on the boundary in from of the Botham floodlight by Ball for 6. 89 for 2 after the 10th.
Lewis continues with the 11th with Scott the new partner for Hammond. Who goes in the same area to Tom Banton for 23 at 90 for 3. Taylor joins Scott who has 2 to his name. Meredith gets the speed out and Taylor is totalled after 5 balls of the 12th by an absolute 87mph rocket.
Dhariwal is in to face the 'speed' of Jake Ball at the River for the 13th. He helps them go past the 100 mark but they don't get far past it as he produces another very frugal six balls that go for 5. Riley is replaced by Lewis for the 14th. His third takes his figures to 2 for 15. Sams takes the 15th from the River and it doesn't go all that well. with 5 overs to go it is 117 for 4 and Dan Sams has 23 from 2. Lewis will bowl out at the MT but he is getting some tap and has gone for 16 from 3 of his balls. He finishes with 2 for 32 and Gos need 60 off 24 balls.
Ball takes the first and it is a mixture, a couple of wides, a Dhariwal six and some good length. The six hurt us but the rest was fairly good. They need 47 off 18 balls with Daniel Sams taking his third as the 18th. The Glos 50 partnership comes off 30 balls at 152 with a four to the Ondaatje. The third ball sees the back of Scott caught behind. 152 for 5 with Bracey arriving in the middle and he ends the over with a massive six into the Somerset to take the score to 160 leaving 335 from 12. Meredith takes the 19th and has a wicket via the buckets of Craig Overton and it's bye bye Bracey for 7 at 161 for 7. In comes van Buuren with Dhariwal on 37 from 18. They need 33 from 9. They get a single and need 32 from 8. They get another single and they need 31 from 7. Dhariwal skies it and Jake take was an excellent diving catch. 166 for 7 becomes 168 for 7 and Riley returns with 3 for 30.
Sams takes the last, they need 26. His first is a dot. His second is nearly a phenomenal catch from Meredith but in the end Daniel defends the total and take the point. He finishes on 1 for 47 and Glos reach 176 for 7 and come up short by 18 runs. Meredith returns and suddenly we can defend a score below 200. Who'd have thunk it.
The Man of the Match and the bat playing in a parallel universe to everyone else James Rew. Jake Ball and Lewis Goldsworthy were in dispatches for their frugal bowling. But the batting of James was so far ahead of anything else as to be almost unreal.
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We'll leave the 20/20 thread open for comments and keep this one closed until the end of the game
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2026:06:30:10:59:42 by Grockle.
With Lewis Gregory nursing a hammy, TKC gets the captain's armband.
Preview/teams [somersetcountycc.co.uk]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:06:25:15:52:34 by Grockle.
Tom Banton (wk), Will Smeed, TKC (c), Josh Thomas, James Rew, Thomas Rew, Lewis Goldsworthy, Daniel Sams, Craig Overton, Riley Meredith, Alfie Ogborne, Josh Shaw, Jake Ball
13 men but only one place up for grabs one would assume if everyone is fit. The last seam option? I'd choose Ogborne but I think he's got an issue withhis delivery so my second choice would be Ball
Quote:Nailsea_Fizz
Then again maybe we might win
Devonboy only posts to criticise the team. Never has anything positive to say.
Great win tonight. James Rew was class. Although I must admit I didnt think we had enough runs we bowled and fielded superbly. Maybe qualification to the knockout is possible now we have our batsmen coming back and Riley is now here ?
Not all predictions come true!
A good bowling and fielding performance all round, apart from Sams who has shown little so far. Special mentions for Goldsworthy and Meredith.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:06:26:23:16:29 by Wiltshire55.
Nailsea - critics come & critics go. Only we few remain πππ
Glo`shire were 79 without loss after eight overs (well within the asking rate), and Australian D`Arcy Short leading the charge with 59 from 34 balls. Significantly, he is the world record holder for sixes in One Day cricket, hitting 23 for Western Australia against Queensland in 2018-19, as part of the fourth highest-ever individual score of 257 in the format in world cricket.
Inspired move by the stand-in skipper to introduce the slow left-armer into the attack, with Short completely misjudging Goldsworthy`s second ball and his fellow opener Miles Hammond (who almost always does well against Somerset ) then holing out in Lewis`s second over.
He rarely performs poorly and operates as part of the 'press' effectively most of the time. He also takes important wickets at important times and is probably more effective as a bowler than he is as a bat as he rarely gets the chance to shine there in our white ball team. They probably gave him one over too many last night and even then his figures were still decent.
We also got the useful Jake Ball last night as well
Riley at the death is what this team has been missing.
Tough to find sufficient superlatives to describe Mr J Rew. As has been highlighted above, he wasn't even a regular in our T20 team a year or so ago.
Would be good to see some non-Rew players join the party for the next few games.
Grizzers
His first being May 22.