Buttler keeps Somerset's hopes alive
Somerset v Surrey, CB40 final, Lord's
Somerset 215 (Buttler 86, Dernbach 4-30) v Surrey
Jos Buttler saved Somerset from a complete collapse in the Clydesdale Bank 40 final at Lord's, but Surrey controlled the first half of the match with an impressive bowling to display to leave them chasing 215 for the trophy. All of Surrey's attack chipped in as Somerset, forging a reputation as the bridesmaids of county cricket, slid to 79 for 5 before Buttler produced a mature 86 off 72 balls to at least give the bowlers something to defend.
Buttler, along with Craig Kieswetter and Jade Dernbach, arrived back in London during the early hours of the morning following England's final one-day international at Cardiff. Dernbach, who was expensive yesterday, took 4 for 30 but Kieswetter struggled during his 23-ball stay. Somerset's innings was a story of wasted starts as five batsmen fell between 10 and 16. The honourable exception was Buttler who restrained his normal flamboyant instincts when the innings was at its worst yet still finished at far better than a run-a-ball to push Somerset across the 200 barrier.
Having been forced to field first, not their preferred method, Surrey stuck to their plan of opening with spin as Matthew Spriegel bowled the first over. Marcus Trescothick, playing with an injured ankle, managed a couple of boundaries but then ran past a delivery and was comfortably stumped. Somerset's talisman was gone.
Kieswetter, meanwhile, never looked settled - with the effort going into the strokes not represented by the results - and his stay was ended with a huge top edge that was comfortably taken by his opposite number Steven Davies. The short ball worked again when Peter Trego top-edged a flick to long leg and the power-hitting top order had been dispatched.
James Hildreth, who like Trego scored a fine century against Lancashire earlier in the week, will want to forget his ugly drive at Chris Schofield and the slide continued when Arul Suppiah was lbw to Gareth Batty. It was a miserable position for Somerset as Nick Compton, on his former home ground, and Buttler - another arrival from Cardiff - were left with the task of trying to give their team a total to defend.
For a while they provided some calmness to the situation by adding 45 for the sixth wicket but Compton then tried to reverse sweep Zafar Ansari and made a mess of the shot. Batty became the first bowler in the innings to take two wickets when he snaffled Craig Meschede's leading edge to leave Somerset 146 for 7 and struggling to bat out their overs.
Buttler, though, enhanced is already formidable reputation to push his case for a spot on the one-day tour to India. His fifty came off 48 balls and as the innings drew to a close - and the batting Powerplay was taken - he started to expand his strokeplay as he uppercut Dernbach over third man for the first six of the innings.
Another 10 came in two balls of the penultimate over when an inside edge to fine leg off Yasir Arafat was followed by a blow over midwicket which just cleared Spriegel on the boundary. Some sensible blocking from Steve Kirby ensured Buttler could face the final over, but he couldn't use all six deliveries when he gave himself room against Dernbach and was bowled.
Somerset 1 Marcus Trescothick (capt), 2 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 3 Peter Trego, 4 James Hildreth, 5 Nick Compton, 6 Jos Buttler, 7 Arul Suppiah, 8 Craig Meschede, 9 Alfonso Thomas, 10 Murali Kartik, 11 Steve Kirby
Surrey 1 Rory Hamilton-Brown, 2 Steven Davies (wk), 3 Jason Roy, 4 Tom Maynard, 5 Zander de Bruyn, 6 Chris Schofield, 7 Matthew Spriegel, 8 Zafar Ansari, 9 Gareth Batty, 10 Yasir Arafat, 11 Jade Dernbach
Published by Unknown
on 09:32.
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