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Vitality Blast Quarter Final Preview: Somerset v Bears
THE MATCH
Somerset welcome Bears to the Cooper Associates County Ground in the quarter final of the Vitality Blast tomorrow (Saturday September 6th).
The winners will qualify for Vitality Blast Finals Day which will be held at Edgbaston on Saturday September 13th.
This match is officially sold out, but tickets may become available via the Official Ticket Resale Platform.
MEMBERS ARE REMINDED THAT 2025 MEMBERSHIP CARDS WILL NOT GIVE YOU ACCESS TO THIS FIXTURE
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Gates open at 4:30pm, with play due to get underway at 6:30pm.
Please note that there will be no re-admittance once you have entered the venue.
Information on everything that you will need for a matchday at SCCC, including how to download your e-tickets and how to use the SCCC Ticket App can all be found in our Visiting Guide.
Bag searches will be in operation and spectators are reminded that no glass or sharp implements will be permitted within the Cooper Associates County Ground.
For full Ground Regulations please visit the link below:
Ticket buyers can download their online tickets via their SCCC account. All ticket or Membership collections or queries will be managed at the Jack White Gates (St James Street).
The Club Reception Desk is now permanently based in the Reception of the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion and not in the Andrew Caddick Pavilion.
Due to the busy nature of a matchday, our telephone lines will be closed.
Scorecards will be available from Reception in the Marcus Trescothick Pavilion. Completed scorecards can be downloaded after the match via the Membership section of this website.
FAN VILLAGE & CATERING
We will once again be hosting our fan village in the St James Street side of the Cooper Associates County Ground.
The fan village features a wide range of food and drink plus live music from Voodoo Seven before the match and during the interval.
Matchday food and drink will also be available from the SCCC concessions and bars around the ground.
There will be 20% off food and drink at SCCC owned concessions from 4:30pm to 5:30pm.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
The match is being broadcast live on Sky Sports and therefore SCCC will not be providing a live stream
You can also keep up to date by using our dedicated matchday blog via this website’s Match Centre and on our X feed.
A report on the day’s play will also be posted on this website.
THE OPPOSITION
BEARS
Captain: Alex Davies
Overseas players: Tom Latham (New Zealand, full competition), Hasan Ali (Pakistan, availability tbc)
Finals Day appearances: Four (2003, 2014, 2015, 2017)
Titles: One (2014)
2024 finish: Quarter-finals
2025 leading run scorer: Sam Hain (439)
2025 leading wicket taker: Hasan Ali (25)
The big question: After four successive quarter final defeats, the big question among the Bears’ fans is can they overcome the nerves of big knockout games? Clearing the memory of last year’s quarter final implosion against Gloucestershire at Edgbaston, when they failed to chase 138, will surely be a driving force.
Final thought: There is much talk of the quarter-final hoodoo but a lot of hard work remains ahead before that even becomes an issue, The Bears have scintillated at times in the group stage in recent years only to then falter. Reaching a fifth successful quarter final is a notable effort in itself.
TEAM NEWS
Somerset will be without Matt Henry (unavailable) and Tom Banton (international duty).
The Club have named the following squad for the match:
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the match, Somerset Head Coach, Jason Kerr said: “Everyone’s really excited and it seems like a long time ago that we qualified for the quarter finals. The confidence in the group is really high on the back of a good Metro Bank One Day Cup competition and we can’t wait for tomorrow. There’s a great energy within the group, everyone is in great spirits and they’re in a good space mentally.
“Bears are an incredibly talented white ball side but we’ve done our homework and we’ll give them the respect that they deserve. We’ll be looking to put them under as much pressure as we can and hopefully we can execute our skills better than they do on the day.
“In sport there’s a lot of talk about home advantage, and that’s absolutely true when it comes to playing games here. We’re incredibly fortunate to get the support that we do and we will never take that for granted. To know that our support is 100% behind the players is incredible and we’re all really looking forward to the game.”
TRADE NATION STAT
CLASSIC MATCH
We go back to 2012 for the classic T20 match between the two sides at Taunton.
It was a game that Somerset won by 63 runs thanks to a blistering innings from Richard Levi and career best figures for Max Waller.
Varun Chopra won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first.
Somerset slipped to 77 for three in the 10th over but Levi and Albie Morkel (38) shared a fourth wicket partnership of 67 to get their side back on track.
Levi went on to make 69 from just 34 balls in an innings that included six fours and four sixes as Somerset posted a total of 191 for six from their 20 overs.
Chopra (37) and Laurie Evans shared an opening stand of 40, but only two batters passed the 20-run mark as Warwickshire were all out for 128 from 18.5 overs. Waller was the pick of the bowlers, claiming four for 16.
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NEXT MATCH
Somerset’s next match begins on Monday when we take on Yorkshire at the Cooper Associates County Ground in the Rothesay County Championship.
Tickets for this four day match are available now.
