Derbyshire 298 (Hudson-Prentice 93, Guest 74)
Somerset 299-4 (Hildreth 110, Davies 94, Goldsworthy 57* Thomson 2-48, Hudson-Prentice 2-52)
Somerset won by 6 wickets with two overs to spare
Being fair, that we got close was due to superb knocks by Fynn Hudson-Prentice, who looked set for a maiden List A ton before getting one that popped off the surface, and Brooke Guest, who looks an increasingly assured presence at the crease.
Both batted splendidly, but had to. Came never looked at home and quickly went, Godleman played an inexplicable shot with such a short batting line up, only to be outdone by Wood, who must have thought there were only ten overs to go, rather than forty.
It was car crash cricket, redeemed by the two above. Fynn highlighted what a talent we will miss next year with some wonderful strokes, his lofted cover drives a joy. Guest was less flamboyant but equally impressive and they batted beautifully together, occasional dodgy calling apart.
Thomson and Rampaul played little cameos that took us close to 300, the latter breaking a pavilion window in the process, but in these days when ten an over is chased with ease in T20, six barely seemed a challenge.
Thomson got a wicket with his first ball, but thereafter Davies batted with style and class, while Hildreth simply did what he has done for years. Dal held one very good and one routine catch in the deep, but the Derbyshire attack rarely threatened and it became an exercise in perfectly pacing a run chase.
Hildreth completed an excellent century, cramp being his biggest threat to the landmark, as the home side eased to victory.
Competitive then, but I struggle to see where a win is coming from.
I doubt I am alone in that.
Came and went. I suspect you've been waiting to use that for a while!
ReplyDeleteLike the Leicestershire came: disappointing. I thought we did well enough getting close to 300, especially after at one point looking that we might get skittled out for 150. FHP and Guest applied themselves, kept the scoreboard ticking over, and gave us a platform. Sadly, we, again, failed to accelerate when necessary and didn't get the 320 - 330 we probably needed. Ravi showed the kind of aggressive batting that was required - and left Somerset with a bill for a new window.
ReplyDeleteSomerset paced their innings well and didn't look in much trouble from our bowling attack. Davies, Hildreth and Goldworthy went calmly about the job of getting the runs and found the boundary frequently. Even Ravi received some punishment.
Like you, Steve, I'm not sure how we are going to win. We always seem to lack that something that gets you over the line.
I said it after the first game that this bowling outfit wouldn't threaten any county side, and it's proven that way again. Most are probably minor county standard and sadly that's where we're at with this current squad, how many of our squad would other counties want? Can't see us winning one game in this Royal London Cup, shocking state of affairs at Derbyshire
ReplyDeleteFantastic stream from Somerset today. Knowledgeable stuff from their commentary team and very interesting to hear from Steve Kirby.
ReplyDelete