Vitality Blast Finals Day First Semi Final: Somerset v Surrey

14/09/2024 15:04

Somerset fight back to beat Surrey

In the first Vitality Blast semi-final, Somerset overcame an appalling start to their chase of 154. A stand of 144 off 98 balls between Sean Dickson and James Rew enabled them to get home by six wickets with eight balls to spare. A disappointed Chris Jordan reflected that batting first put his team at a disadvantage and Somerset's Josh Davey felt that Surrey's 153 was fractionally below par.

Somerset were reeling at 7-3. Tom Kohler-Cadmore was palpably lbw to Dan Worrall first ball and then Tom Currran dismissed Tom Abell, caught at short extra cover. He was followed by Will Smeed caught behind. Both bowlers were getting some movement in the air and off the pitch and in the first few overs there were more wild misses than at a seaside hen party.

The first boundary of the innings only came in the fourth over and despite two ramped fours by Sean Dickson, the six over powerplay produced only 29 runs compared with Surrey's 62.

Gradually Dickson and Rew eased Somerset back into the game. After ten overs, they were 71-3 needing 83 more. Twice Dickson had just cleared a boundary fielder and when he struck sixes in consecutive balls off Cameron Steel, Somerset actually looked to be on top. The 11th over from Steel cost 18 runs.

Dickson continued to display a range of shots that few suspected he possessed and went past his previous highest T20 score of 65. As the partnership stretched well over 100, Rew also reached a half century, his first in just his second T20 outing.

The assault slowed as Somerset approached their target, giving temporary hope to the Surrey bowlers, but a pulled six by Rew off Chris Jordan in the 18th over and a mis-field on the boundary that brought another boundary took Somerset to the brink and they duly got home.

Having been put into bat at the start of the day, Surrey set off in lively fashion They reached 67-1 after the six over powerplay, just losing Dan Lawrence who skied an offside catch off Josh Davey to fall for 19.

Some of the Somerset fielding was a little scrappy, a couple of boundaries evading a dive (or in the case of Lewis Greogory, a non-dive), whilst James Rew had a fumble or two behind the stumps. Gregory more than made up for his lapse when he took two key wickets in his first over – Pope and Jamie Smith both bowled, the former for 19 and the latter for a first ball duck. Rory Burns averted the hat trick with an edge to third man.

In the meantime, Dom Sibley was showing a range of shots that he kept well hidden during the years that he played at Edgbaston. They included a ramp for four and a six over wide mid-wicket. Burns put on useful runs with Sibley before he was called for a suicidal single to cover and was run out for 14. Then Sibley, in sight of a half century, holed out to deep mid-wicket off Lewis Gregory for 48 – Surrey 111-5.

Roelof van der Merwe's four steady overs went for 27 runs and Somerset were exerting a grip on the Surrey batters when Jake Ball bowled Tom Curran for one. Whilst starring with the ball, Lewis Gregory continued to struggle slightly in the field, failing to hold a tough chance off Chris Jordan above his head at extra cover, but his figures of 3-15 from his four overs were outstanding.

Laurie Evans looked well out of touch but survived a chance to Gandalf in the Hollies stand. As if released from a spell, he then pulled Ball for another boundary, but in Josh Davey's next over, Chris Jordan picked out Craig Overton on the long on boundary to depart for seven. Evans, too, skied a catch off Davey who finished with 3-34. The skied catches continued when Jordan Clark was caught at long off by Craig Overton.

Surrey finished on 153-9 which proved to be just about within the reach of the Somerset batters.