Sabres ease through to finals day(28-Jul-2010)
Somerset reached the Friends Provident t20 Finals Day in comfortable fashion on Tuesday with a seven-wicket victory against Northamptonshire in Taunton.
Faced with an easy target of 113, the Sabres reached it with three overs to spare as Craig Kieswetter offered a timely return to form.
The England one-day wicketkeeper hit 33 off 28 balls, including a six and four fours. Peter Trego (30) and James Hildreth (25 not out) were the other main contributors for the home side.
Having won the toss, Northants struggled after three run-outs. Stephen Peters (40 not out) and Rob White (26) were the only batsmen to make a real contribution as left-arm spinners Murali Kartik (one for 15) and Arul Suppiah (one for 14) prospered on a turning pitch.
The Steelbacks upper order made some awful calls, with Chaminda Vaas dismissed without facing a ball after responding to White's bid for a third run off just the second ball.
Alex Wakely was then lucky to survive when a drive off Ben Phillips was put down by Mark Turner at mid-off. But he was run out for eight when White failed to respond to the call for a single, both batsmen ended up at the bowler's end and Turner threw to the wicketkeeper.
Northants stood on 31 for two at the end of the six power play overs and that became 32 for three when David Sales pulled Turner to Kartik at mid-wicket.
Kartik was then handed the ball and on a dry, used pitch he clean-bowled White with an arm ball to make it 42 for four.
Marcus Trescothick brought on Suppiah at the other end and his first delivery resulted in Elton Chigumbura being stumped by Kieswetter.
Finding it almost impossible to hit the spinners to the boundary, the Steelbacks struggled to 81 for five in the 18th over when Andrew Hall was run out by Hildreth.
Peters went on all-out attack in the penultimate over as Trego was hit for 18, with Turner then picking up an ankle injury as he tried to take a catch at deep mid-wicket.
Somerset's batsmen were not set any sort of challenge and after Kieswetter's bright start, Trego ensured an early finish with two big sixes off James Middlebrook.
Middlebrook did eventually dismiss him, but could not match the Somerset spinners or team-mate Jack Brooks - who bowled four overs for 11 - for economy.
Faced with an easy target of 113, the Sabres reached it with three overs to spare as Craig Kieswetter offered a timely return to form.
The England one-day wicketkeeper hit 33 off 28 balls, including a six and four fours. Peter Trego (30) and James Hildreth (25 not out) were the other main contributors for the home side.
Having won the toss, Northants struggled after three run-outs. Stephen Peters (40 not out) and Rob White (26) were the only batsmen to make a real contribution as left-arm spinners Murali Kartik (one for 15) and Arul Suppiah (one for 14) prospered on a turning pitch.
The Steelbacks upper order made some awful calls, with Chaminda Vaas dismissed without facing a ball after responding to White's bid for a third run off just the second ball.
Alex Wakely was then lucky to survive when a drive off Ben Phillips was put down by Mark Turner at mid-off. But he was run out for eight when White failed to respond to the call for a single, both batsmen ended up at the bowler's end and Turner threw to the wicketkeeper.
Northants stood on 31 for two at the end of the six power play overs and that became 32 for three when David Sales pulled Turner to Kartik at mid-wicket.
Kartik was then handed the ball and on a dry, used pitch he clean-bowled White with an arm ball to make it 42 for four.
Marcus Trescothick brought on Suppiah at the other end and his first delivery resulted in Elton Chigumbura being stumped by Kieswetter.
Finding it almost impossible to hit the spinners to the boundary, the Steelbacks struggled to 81 for five in the 18th over when Andrew Hall was run out by Hildreth.
Peters went on all-out attack in the penultimate over as Trego was hit for 18, with Turner then picking up an ankle injury as he tried to take a catch at deep mid-wicket.
Somerset's batsmen were not set any sort of challenge and after Kieswetter's bright start, Trego ensured an early finish with two big sixes off James Middlebrook.
Middlebrook did eventually dismiss him, but could not match the Somerset spinners or team-mate Jack Brooks - who bowled four overs for 11 - for economy.