NatWest T20 Blast
Somerset 158-6 beat Surrey 157-6 by four wickets

SOMERSET bounced back from defeat to Gloucestershire on Friday night with a four-wicket win over Surrey that keeps them right in contention for the T20 Blast quarter-finals.

It didn't look likely when the hosts stumbled to 47-5 chasing 158 to win, but big knocks from James Hildreth, Roelof van der Merwe and Craig Overton won the match with 10 balls to spare.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bat first at the Cooper Associates County Ground, and made a fast start as openers Jason Roy and Aaron Finch raced to 30 off the first three overs.

Both fell in rapid fashion, however, Finch caught by Overton off Tim Groenewald for 26, and Roy clean bowled by Overton for 11.

Mark Stoneman did not last much longer, bowled by Max Waller for nine, and suddenly Surrey were stumbling at 53-3.

Moises Henriques and Ollie Pope constructed a vital fourth-wicket partnership, however, to take Surrey past the 100 mark.

Pope eventually departed for 46 (off 31 balls, with six 4s), stumped by Steve Davies off the bowling of Van der Merwe, and Henriques followed for 26 (caught by Van der Merwe off Lewis Gregory).

Rikki Clarke added an unbeaten 16 and Tom Curran 15no, but still the total of 157-6 did not look too imposing for the hosts.

The standout bowler for Somerset was Groenewald with 2-26 from four overs, with Van der Merwe and Waller both finishing with 1-28 off four.

The reply got off to a dreadful start, as Davies was caught by Tom Curran off Jade Dernbach in the first over, and Johann Myburgh could only add four before he too departed (caught by Gareth Batty off Dernbach), leaving the hosts 20-2.

Jim Allenby (5), Gregory (17) and Tom Abell (5) also fell inside the first nine overs, and at 47-5 Surrey were looking like the favourites.

Hildreth survived an early dropped catch by Roy at point, and he and Van der Merwe steadily worked their way into a decisive stand - Hildreth keeping it steady with the odd boundary, and Van der Merwe playing a more aggressive game with some huge sixes.

They brought up a 50 partnership, before Van der Merwe eventually fell to Dernbach for 36 (off 19 balls, with three 4s and three 6s).

That came at 116-6, but Overton picked up the mantle with some brutal hits to keep the score motoring upwards.

The win came in the 19th over, Overton launching his second six and poaching a single to claim victory with 10 balls to spare.

Hildreth ended with an unbeaten 45 (from 33 balls, with four 4s) and Overton 35 (off 19 balls, with two 4s and two 6s).

Dernbach ended with 3-29 off 3.2 overs, while Tom Curran ended up on 1-14 off three and Clarke 2-31 off four.

The result leaves Somerset with 12 points and in second place in the South Group table, just two points off leaders Glamorgan, having both played 11 matches.

Attention now turns to the County Championship, as Somerset again host Surrey over four days at the County Ground, starting from tomorrow (Monday, 11am start).

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Afterwards James Hildreth said: "It wasn't an ideal start, coming in at number five with wickets falling around you.

"But it just evolved, I set myself, and once Roelof [van der Merwe] came in to bat it was clear what my role was going to be, with him as the aggressor, while getting some boundaries myself.

"Craig [Overton] is aggressive and he wants to hit boundaries; I think that once he's [learned] to build an innings, not going every ball, he'll be playing for England.

"We were really happy with our fielding, and our bowlers adapted well.

"I've gone in [to the T20s] with a fresh outlook, not knowing how much white ball cricket I would play.

"I'm thinking 'this could be my last T20 game', so I want to go out and enjoy myself.

"We played really well in our last [County Championship] game at Scarborough, and now I think we need to win half of our remaining games to survive."