Match Centre

MATCH RESULT - MIDDLESEX WIN BY 6 WICKETS

Somerset 226/5

Middlesex 227/4

Eoin Morgan led from the front as Middlesex produced the biggest successful run-chase in Vitality Blast history to clinch a six-wicket victory over Somerset in an extraordinary game at Taunton.

The hosts posted a massive 226 for five on a hybrid pitch after winning the toss, captain Tom Abell contributing a magnificent 101 not out, with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Tom Banton smashed 62 off 39 balls and Eddie Byrom 44 from just 20.

But a star-studded Middlesex batting line-up made light of their task, reaching 227 for four with an incredible three overs to spare, skipper Morgan smiting 83 not out off only 29 deliveries, while Dawid Malan blasted a rapid 41 and AB de Villiers 32.

There was little sign of the carnage ahead when Somerset lost Babar Azam for a first ball duck to the fourth delivery of the match from Toby Roland-Jones.

But by the time James Hildreth was run out for 18 in the sixth over, Banton was in full cry and Somerset ended the six-over power-play on 51 for two.

Middlesex paid for giving Abell and Banton lives. Nathan Sowter fumbled the ball at the bowlers’ end with Abell well out of his ground in the eighth over, while Tom Helm dropped a skyer from Banton off Steve Finn with the batsman’s total on 49.

Banton fell to Mohammad Hafeez in the 12^th over, having hit 7 fours and 3 sixes. The previous one from Finn had seen Abell accelerate with 4,6,4,4 as he swept moved towards his best T20 score.

Byrom hit 4 sixes in his brilliant cameo and when Abell reached his ton off the penultimate ball of the innings a packed crowd at the Cooper Associates County Ground rose to acclaim one of the finest T20 hundreds they could ever hope to see.

Soon Malan was showing his liking for the hybrid pitch, taking 3 fours and a six off the second over bowled by Jerome Taylor. It cost 21 and when Stirling and Malan plundered 23 off the next over from Tom Lammonby, Middlesex had raced to 54 at only the halfway point of the powerplay.

Malan tried one big shot too many to be caught at long-on off Tim Groenewald. But by then the visitors were 67 for one off 3.5 overs and although Stirling fell to the next ball for 25, de Villiers and the rest of the Middlesex batsmen had a great start to build on.

The South African walked out to strike his first two balls, from Roelof van der Merwe, for four and six as the run feast continued. By the end of the power-play, the scoreboard read 94 for two, a Middlesex record, de Villiers narrowly avoiding being run out by Lammonby off the last ball.

Hafeez cleverly run out by van der Merwe, backing up as de Villiers drove straight back to the bowler. And a bigger moment seemed to come in the 11^th over when Max Waller held a stunning one-handed catch at full-stretch at deep mid-wicket off Lammonby to send back de Villiers.

But now Morgan took up the cudgels, striking three consecutive sixes off Lammonby, the second when Babar stood on the rope taking a catch. It left his team needing 63 from seven overs.

Morgan made sure it was over a lot quicker than that, striking the ball superbly to clear the ropes eight times in his memorable knock.

THE TURNING POINT: Three sixes off consecutive balls by Eoin Morgan off Tom Lammonby in the 13^th over of the Middlesex reply, which cost 24 runs, and made up for the loss of AB de Villiers.

SHOT OF THE DAY: Tom Banton’s six over deep backward square off Tom Helm in the fourth over of Somerset’s innings. A short back-lift and immensely strong bottom hand made it look effortless.

UNSUNG HERO: Toby Roland-Jones … Two for 32 from his four overs on a night to forget for every other bowler on both sides in a match that produced 24 sixes and 45 fours.

Match report provided by ECB Reporters Network.