FRIENDS PROVIDENT t20, Beckenham:
Somerset 189-4 (20 ovs) beat Kent 105 (18.3 ovs) by 84 runs
Match scorecard

Kieron Pollard celebrates taking the wicket of Geraint Jones for 25

West Indian international Kieron Pollard took his best bowling figures in Twenty20 cricket as Somerset thrashed Kent by 84 runs at Beckenham.

Pollard (4-15) was assisted by South African Alfonso Thomas (3-15), while Ben Phillips took 2-24 against his old county as Kent were all out for 105.

Earlier, Somerset made 189-4 in their 20 overs, as James Hildreth (77no) ran up his highest-ever T20 score.

Teenager Jos Buttler smashed 48 off 22 balls in only his eighth T20 match.

Somerset were initially given a good start by Nick Compton (24), before he was run out thanks to a stunning piece of fielding by Martin van Jaarsveld.

After losing the wickets of Pollard and Zander de Bruyn cheaply, Hildreth and Buttler put on 80 in 6.2 overs.

The latter finished the innings in style, hoisting the final delivery for six in an expensive last over from Malinga Bandara that cost 17.

Despite 25 from Geraint Jones and 21 from Sam Northeast, the home side fell well short, losing their last five wickets for just 13 runs.

Kent coach Paul Farbrace told BBC Radio Kent:
"We were disappointing in all aspects. I thought we were out-bowled, out-batted and out-fielded. No complaints, Somerset were the much better side and we didn't play well enough.

"That's our worst performance in the competition by a long way. In the other games we've lost, at least we've fought hard all the way and made it into a close game, but today was a very one-sided defeat and that's hard to take.

"There's no point in us moaning and complaining that we've only got a small staff and only got one overseas player, because we could very quickly get into a downward spiral.

"We haven't got the resources some other counties have, but we've still got a very good team and for the standard of team we have, it wasn't a good enough performance. It just wasn't acceptable."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version