NCL2: Somerset gain Revenge

It all looked a horribly familiar story in the early overs at Taunton as the Scottish top order put the Somerset bowlers to the sword after electing to bat after winning the toss.

Douglas Lockhart (30) started the onslaught and despite a duck from Greig Williamson, Ryan Watson (77) continued where he left off at Edinburgh in the two sides' previous NCL meeting - see ball, hit ball. A 117-run stand with Indian star Rahul Dravid built an exceptional foundation for the Scots innings and South African John Kent helped build on this with a 45-ball 48 in another century stand. James Brinkley hit a quickfire 10 at then end, but the star of the show was Dravid, whose 120* came off just 97 balls and included 10 fours and three sixes, as the Scots racked up a huge 296/4 off their 45 overs.

In reply, Peter Bowler was removed in the second over for one, bowled by Paul Hoffman, and it seemed like a rapid defeat was again on the cards. Carl Gazzard and Jamie Cox had different ideas, however. Both hit 80s at over a run a ball, Gazzard striking eleven fours and two sixes, as they put on 160 for the second wicket. Majid Haq then removed both, and bowled Keith Parsons without scoring, and at 202-4 the game was once more in the balance. It was now the turn of Ian Blackwell and skipper Michael Burns to up the scoring rate and put the hosts back in command again, but after Blackwell reached 27 (3x4, 1x6) he holed out off James Brinkley, who then bowled Rob Turner, and when Aaron Laraman was run out, it was 260/8. Steffan Jones, who nearly guided Wales home against England the previous day, again batted maturely with skipper Burns to take the score to 290/8 before Brinkley struck again, leaving it to the last pair of Burns and Simon Francis to finish the job, with two boundaries from the number 11 guiding the hosts home to end a thrilling match. Who needs the Twenty20?

Meanwhile, across the rest of the country, there was nothing like as many runs but equal levels of tension as the other three matches were decided by a total of 28 runs between them.

Lancashire seemed to be cruising after Mal Loye top-scored with 63 in their 251/6 against Derbyshire at the County Ground, and after two wickets each for Kyle Hogg and Glenn Chapple reduced the hosts to 61/5 it seemed to be a matter of when rather than if the victory would come. A 114-run sixth wicket stand between skipper Dominic Cork (49) and wicketkeeper Luke Sutton (83) brought the game back alive as a contest, but when Graeme Welch was bowled by Peter Martin, the home side's hopes faded and not even Tom Lungley (12* off 6 balls) could win it, as Derbyshire ended on 246/9, five behind.

At Northampton, Northamptonshire and Sussex contested a game with less runs than a single innings at Taunton. Bottom-of-the-table Sussex's bowlers contained the hosts and leaders to a less-than-imposing 148 all out, Gerard Brophy the only batsman passing thirty, and Michael Cawdron hitting a crucial 22 at the end. In reply, Cawdron took 3/33 in a fine all-round display as alongside Andre Nel and Ben Phillips, he helped reduce Sussex to 98/8 before Mark Davis and Paul Hutchison engineered a mini-recovery to 134/8 before Hutchison was run out, and Jeff Cook bowled Jason Lewry for a duck to leave Davis stranded on 26*, and Sussex 135 all out.

At Trent Bridge, Australian Martin Love hit 55 to anchor Durham to a barely defendable 183 all out against Nottinghamshire. Barely defendable until Neil Killeen was given the new ball, that was. First Ian Hunter removed the dangerous Usman Afzaal for 2, and then Killeen sent Jason Gallian, Kevin Pietersen and Bilal Shafayat back to the pavilion to reduce Nottinghamshire to a precarious 40/4. Guy Welton (39) and Paul Franks (23) took the score to 84, but both were out in quick succession and when Wayne Noon was run out, 116/7 looked game, set and match to Durham. Gareth Clough (42*) did his best, but once that man Killeen (5/22) returned to remove Greg Smith and Stuart MacGill (who both took three wickets it Durham's innings), Durham had won it by eight runs with one possible ball remaining in the hosts' innings.

CricketWeb Player of the Round
Rahul Dravid (Scotland) - 120*

Honourable Mentions
Carl Gazzard (Somerset) - 81
Luke Sutton (Derbyshire) - 83
Michael Cawdron (Northamptonshire) - 22 and 3/33
Neil Killeen (Durham) - 5/22
Glenn Chapple (Lancashire) - 4/37

Posted by Neil