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Umeed into the record books as Somerset end campaign on high
Andy Umeed signed off a prolific Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign with a List A career-best unbeaten 172 from 147 balls as Somerset beat Derbyshire by 72 runs in the Group B match at Derby.
Umeed hammered his third century in the tournament, Somerset’s 4th highest ever List-A score, sharing a fourth wicket stand of 167 from 125 balls with skipper Sean Dickson who scored 67 from 52.
The pair plundered 111 off the last 10 overs to take Somerset to 333 for 5 with Umeed registering the highest one-day score against Derbyshire at Derby.
The Group B game was over as a contest when Derbyshire collapsed to 14 for 4 in the fourth over and although Anuj Dal scored 110, his maiden white ball century , the home side were dismissed for 261 with Josh Davey taking 3 for 18 and Ned Leonard 3 for 40.
It had earlier looked promising for Derbyshire when George Thomas aimed a firm footed drive at the third ball of the innings from Sam Conners and was well caught low to his right at first slip by Harry Came.
Both Conners and the impressive 16-year-old Harry Moore got early some movement with the latter unlucky to have Lewis Goldsworthy dropped on six by Came in his second over.
Umeed began to assert himself, twice driving Conners down the ground for boundaries and pulling Dal to the ropes before swatting Luis Reece back over his head for six.
Goldsworthy hoisted off-spinner Alex Thomson over the wide long on boundary and the stand had reached 90 from 110 balls when he drove back a return catch to Reece.
James Rew showed his intent with consecutive fours off Reece and a reverse sweep to the ropes against Thomson so Derbyshire were relieved to see the back of the 19-year-old.
Rew had scored a run-a-ball 31 when he launched a big drive at Conners and got an inside edge which Brooke Guest did well to hold diving to his right.
But Umeed was playing with the assurance of a man who had already scored two hundreds in the tournament and after driving Conners over long off for six, he reached three figures off 106 balls.
After passing his previous List A best of 119, he pulled Moore for a four and two sixes with 23 coming off the 43rd over.
Although Dickson’s 50 contained only three fours, it had come off 43 balls which showed how good his placement had been on both sides of the wicket with Derbyshire unable to prevent the pair accelerating towards a formidable total.
Umeed brought up his 150 with a straight six off Mark Watt and Dickson drove Conners for six before he was lbw to Reece.
Reece was pulled by Umeed for another six but the all-rounder at least restricted Somerset to five off the last over although the damage had already been done.
Faced with pulling off their highest ever one-day run chase, the home side stumbled from the outset, losing Reece in the first over, given out caught behind by Sue Redfern, the first female umpire to stand in a Derbyshire match.
Tom Wood miscued a pull at Ned Leonard, Came drove Davey to extra cover and Matt Lamb skied a pull in the fourth over.
Guest was bowled by one that kept low and after pulling Goldsworthy for six, Haider Ali swept the left-arm spinner to deep midwicket.
Somerset looked set to wrap up victory early but Dal had other ideas, reaching his hundred from 103 balls, and sharing stands of 81 from 79 balls with Thomson (42) and 88 for the last wicket with Conners to at least restore some Derbyshire pride.
Somerset captain Sean Dickson said: “I had a conversation after the Gloucestershire game which we lost by over 200 runs and with three games remaining I said ‘look we need to go back and reassess’ and I’m happy with two (wins) from three which is what we did.
“We put ourselves in a good position to compete in most games in this competition but obviously with the inexperience we just couldn’t get over the line but from this we can take confidence moving forward.
“He’s (Andy Umeed) has been fantastic, I’m so happy for him, he’s a great guy who works really hard and he’s shown what he’s all about. We have quite a young team and for me as captain I’ve been trying to play the best I can and today I thought the situation required me to take us as deep as we possibly could. Luckily Andy was going really well which took a lot of pressure off me.
“It’s been a great experience for the younger players. They’ve been able to see what this level is all about and what this competition is all about. They might see it as a negative now but when they get the opportunity they will know what to do, where to bowl. That experience is locked in and hopefully they can come back as better cricketers for it.”
