Match Centre

MATCH REPORT | SOMERSET V MIDDLESEX

Match report provided by the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay.

Sean Dickson marked his return to Somerset’s team with top score of 76 as they made it four wins from as many Vitality Blast group games with a five-wicket victory over Middlesex in a Taunton run-feast.

Middlesex ran up 229 for five – the highest ever Blast total by a visiting side at the Cooper Associates Ground – after losing the toss, Max Holden striking 87 not out off 47 balls and Ben Geddes a career-best 69 from 32 deliveries, including 7 sixes.

In reply, Somerset reached 235 for five with four balls to spare, Dickson, back after a broken finger, hitting 5 sixes and 6 fours in his 38-ball knock and Lewis Gregory making a rapid 58 not out.

Middlesex were given a brisk start by Stephen Eskinazi and Kane Williamson, who posted 39 in less than four overs before Eskinazi was bowled by Riley Meredith attempting a scoop.

Williamson was visibly frustrated to fall for 28 off 17 balls, caught at deep square off fellow Kiwi Matt Henry to make it 58 for two in the sixth over.

From then on, the innings was all about Holden and Geddes, both of whom greeted left-arm spinner Lewis Goldsworthy with sixes in taking the total to 103 for two at the halfway stage.

Craig Overton had impressed in his opening three overs before Geddes struck him for a straight six into the River Town and pulled another maximum at the end of his stint.

Geddes went to a majestic 25-ball half-century, clearing the ropes for a sixth time, off Gregory, and then sent another ball into the river off Ben Green before Holden moved to an equally impressive half-century off 30 deliveries.

Their partnership ended when Geddes was caught at long-off, Meredith striking again with his next ball as Leus du Plooy was brilliantly caught at long-on by Overton. A pulled four by Holden off Gregory brought up the 200 in the 18th over and Jack Davies hit the 12th six of the innings in the final over.

Somerset lost Will Smeed to the fifth delivery of their innings, bowled by Noah Cornwell. Tom Kohler-Cadmore cleared the ropes three times before Tom Banton fell to Ryan Higgins to make it 41 for two in the fourth over.

Kohler-Cadmore quickly followed to Cornwell and it was 88 for four in the ninth over when Tom Abell slog-swept a boundary catch off Luke Hollman to depart for 24.

But Dickson was starting to blossom, producing a wide range of attacking shots in moving to a 24-ball fifty, reached with a reverse-swept six off Zafar Gohar. Gregory was caught off a Hollman no-ball as 18 came off the 13th over and the home side still had hope.

Dickson smashed Cornwell for a straight six and Gregory rode his luck further when dropped on the boundary by du Plooy off Gohar, hitting 3 sixes in the same over. After Dixon holed out to long-off, the Somerset skipper hit his fifth maximum to reach a 21-ball half-century.

Ben Green was dropped in the closing overs, du Plooy again the guilty fielder, before another Gregory six completed a remarkable victory.