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Somerset sweep Middlesex aside to maintain 100% record
A typically destructive innings from Tom Kohler-Cadmore saw Somerset make it five out of five in this years Vitality Blast as they swept aside Middlesex by nine wickets in front of a sold outCooper Associates County Ground.
A packed house and a beautiful sunny evening made for the perfect backdrop as the visitors were bowled out for a modest 136 in 18.4 overs after losing the toss. Ben Green was the pick of the bowlers, claiming four for 20 whilst Josh Davey bagged three for 34. Wicketkeeper Jack Davies top scored for Middlesex with 32.
In reply, Somerset cruised to 142 for one off just 13.3 overs. Kohler-Cadmore, playing his 150th career T20 match, led the way with 64 off 31 balls, with seven fours and four sixes. Tom Banton once again looked in good touch as he made 27 before retiring hurt.
The victory was as emphatic as the form book suggested it would be and left Middlesex without a point from their first five group matches.
Having been rested for the previous game against Kent, a refreshed Craig Overton steamed in from the River End at the start of the game, bowling four fiery overs for just 15 in a single spell. It was a spell of menace and control and deserved greater reward.
The accurate Davey profited at the other end, scattering the stumps of Joe Cracknell and Pieter Malan in his first two overs to leave Middlesex 14 for two.
Max Holden threatened briefly, hitting a straight six and two fours in the sixth over, bowled by Davey, but despite his efforts the powerplay ended with his side on 40 for two.
Holden also pulled a six off Peter Siddle, who ended his nine-ball frenzy by bowling him for 22, attempting a big shot through the off side.
It was 59 for four when Roelof van der Merwe’s second delivery of left-arm spin saw Stephen Eskinazi, on 18, loft a catch to long-off and 68 for five when Green struck in the following over, the 11th of the innings, Ryan Higgins being caught at long-on for six.
Five runs later, Luke Hollman chipped a catch to mid-off to give Lewis Gregory his first wicket. Davies and Martin Andersson then produced the most substantial stand of the innings, adding 43 before Andersson, who had struck a six and two fours in his 25, aimed a reverse pull off Davey and guided the ball straight to Tom Abell at backward point.
Davies hit sweetly-timed sixes off van der Merwe and Siddle, as well as three fours, before departing in the 19th over, caught at deep mid-wicket off Green.
Toby Roland-Jones fell to the next delivery and Green wrapped up the innings by dismissing Nathan Fernandes via a boundary catch by Kohler-Cadmore.
A target of 137 never looked likely to test a Somerset team brimming with confidence. So it proved, as Banton and Will Smeed set about the task in typically positive fashion.
Smeed survived a loud lbw appeal from Roland-Jones with his score on five, and the response was a straight six and pulled four in the same over from the talented 21-year-old, who had another scare in Roland-Jones’ next over when dropped by Hollman, a low chance running in from deep mid-wicket.
Smeed’s luck ran out at the start of the fifth over when bowled by Tom Helm for 26 off 14 balls. By then the scoreboard read 39 for one and he was replaced by Kohler-Cadmore.
Another catch went down when Banton, on 18, top-edged a pull shot off Helm and Roland-Jones spilled a skyer.
At the end of six overs, Somerset were 58 for one and in command. Kohler-Cadmore audaciously uppercut Helm for six and also hit two fours as 17 came off the seventh.
At 75 for one, Banton had to hobble off with a suspected side strain, but by then the outcome was almost beyond doubt. Kohler-Cadmore signalled as much with a straight six off Roland-Jones as Somerset reached the halfway stage of their innings needing only a further 31.
The former Yorkshire player reached his half-century off 28 balls before ending the game with a huge six off Roland-Jones. Tom Abell (25) provided solid support in an unbroken stand of 67.
