Somerset v Derbyshire T20

Somerset 265-5(Rossouw 93, Banton 73, Scrimshaw 2-16)

Derbyshire 74 (Siddle 3-10, Green 3-17)

Somerset won by 191 runs

Overawed and outclassed.

That was the reality at Taunton tonight, as a rampant, brilliant Somerset steamrollered Derbyshire with a batting blitz, led by Rilee Rossouw. It was a T20 record score, as you might expect. 

It is very easy to say, as some were doing on social media, that we were 'crap'. We didn't bowl brilliantly - Scrimshaw aside, more later - but we weren't allowed to. Any aberration in line or length ended up at or over the boundary.

Yet it can't be forgotten how far we have come this summer. It is essentially the same squad as last year, and shorn today of their talisman captain, Shan Masood and overseas bowling all-rounder, Hayden Kerr, we were up against it from the start.

Some of these players won't be a part of the longer-term plans, some very much will be. But you can't let one result define the season. Only learn from it and move on.

Yes, it was embarrassingly one-sided, but for us to win tonight they needed to be off colour and we all needed to play out of our skins. We didn't and they certainly didn't.

Rossouw is a fearsome batsman in his best form and I have seen him do that against far better attacks than ours. You hope he might play around one early, but tonight he was on a different plane. Banton did well too, but should have gone early when Aitchison, a good fielder, put down one he would hold 99 times in a hundred. 

It was noisy, boorish, intimidating and we simply didn't cope. George Scrimshaw did and he was brilliant, fast and hostile. Four overs two for sixteen in the context of the carnage around him was sensational. But let's not forget that George was twice recently on the end of fearful stick and that Mattie McKiernan, who went for a world record-equalling 82 off his four overs tonight, had bowled superbly in the group stages, our second most economical bowler 

That is the great game of cricket, the leveller. How often do you see batsmen get a duck after a century? How often does a fielder drop a dolly, then hold a blinder? If you have played the game, you have been there. 

We were slaughtered in the field, but didn't help ourselves with some average moments. With the bat we were pretty shambolic, but again were facing an attack with four international bowlers, four more than we had.

It was painful, it was not as we hoped for by some distance. But we mustn't forget the memorable afternoons and evenings that this team has given us in the competition.

They will be hurting right now, as will Mickey Arthur and his coaching team. They are better than they showed tonight and next time they get to such a stage will want to do much better.

We go again. Durham on Monday, let's get back to winning ways in the four-day game.