Roelof van der Merwe declared his match-winning innings as one of the greatest T20 knocks of his career as Somerset recovered from a shock start to win a rain-affected Vitality Blast clash against arch-rivals Gloucestershire by three-wickets (DLS) at Bristol.
After the visitors had won the toss, Miles Hammond struck four sixes off the opening over of the game, bowled by Tom Lammonby, on his way to making 29 off just 12 balls.
By the time rain interrupted play after five overs, Gloucestershire had raced to 61 for one. A resumption at 8.45pm saw the game reduced to ten overs per side and the hosts went on to post 101 for five.
Somerset’s revised target was 112. They slumped to 55 for seven before van der Merwe hammered an unbeaten 48 from 15 balls, with four sixes and four fours, to see them to an unlikely victory with three balls to spare.
"That has to be up there with my best T20 innings, particularly as it came against our arch-rivals in a match of great importance to our supporters," van der Merwe said.
"Even when the required run-rate got to 14 or 15 an over, I wasn't that concerned because the boundary was very short on one side and it wasn't easy for the bowlers working with a wet ball.
"At first I thought I might give Josh Davey the strike, the way he was timing the ball. Some deliveries stuck in the pitch, but in general the conditions caused the ball to skid on, which made batting easier."
It was an extraordinary end to a game Gloucestershire had dominated. With a very short boundary on one side of the ground, the last thing Somerset could afford was to bowl too straight from the Ashley Down Road End.
Left-arm seamer Lammonby erred in that respect and saw his second, third, fifth and sixth deliveries effortless lofted over leg side by left-hander Hammond to clear the ropes.
Hammond and James Bracey took the score to 46 off 3.5 overs before Josh Davey made a breakthrough, having Hammond caught at short third man off an edged drive.
Bracey was undeterred, taking a boundary off Siddle’s opening delivery of the fifth over, which also saw new batsman Ian Cockbain strike two fours.
When rain sent the players off, Bracey was unbeaten on 21 from 14 balls. He added only a single to his score before being caught at cover off a leading edge in the first over of the resumption, bowled by left-arm spinner van der Merwe.
Somerset opted for spin at both ends. Lewis Goldsworthy’s first ball was dispatched for a straight six by Cockbain, who fell to the second, caught at deep cover to leave Gloucestershire 72 for three.
Jack Taylor hoisted Goldsworthy for another straight six. But van der Merwe completed two canny overs for 14 and when Glenn Phillips skied a catch to wicketkeeper Tom Banton off Lewis Gregory, Gloucestershire were 90 for four.
Gregory’s over cost just five runs. The final one was delivered by Ben Green, who sent back Taylor, caught at deep mid-wicket in conceding only a further six.
Now it was Gloucestershire bowling with a wet ball. David Payne used it to good effect, having Tom Banton caught a short third-man off his second delivery in an opening over costing eight.
When Rilee Rossouw was caught in the deep attempting to pull Josh Shaw over the longer square boundary and Tom Abell tamely cut Zak Chappell to backward point, Somerset were 15 for three in the third over.
Will Smeed skied a Shaw full toss to be caught on the leg side and Lewis Gregory drove Benny Howell to long-on where Miles Hammond took a fine diving catch.
Lammonby had quickly cleared the ropes twice, the second time with an audacious reverse scoop off Shaw. But when he tried to reverse sweep Tom Smith and guided the ball straight to extra cover it was 50 for six.
Smith accounted for Green in the same over. But van der Merwe kept things interesting by hitting the left-arm spinner for 6,6,4, in the eight over. Somerset needed 27 off the final two. That became 12 off the last when van der Merwe hit Payne for a six and a four.
Ryan Higgins, bowling for the first time in the innings, saw his first ball swept for four by van der Merwe. The second, a slower delivery was dispatched over deep square for six and the third through the off-side for four.
Gloucestershire head coach Dale Benkenstein said: "Roelof van der Merwe played an outstanding innings. I know him to be the sort of character who relishes that type of situation and he took the game away from us.
"Somerset bowled well after the rain break and we didn't add as many runs as we hoped. When they lost wickets, we looked to be in control, but that is T20 cricket. You can never be sure of anything.
"We know we are going to lose matches during the group and now we have to bounce back quickly against Sussex (on Friday)."
