Somerset Cricket Club (Flatts won toss): Somerset beat Flatts by ten wickets

Alex Dore and captain Dominic Sabir both scored half centuries as Somerset produced a comprehensive victory over Flatts on Sunday.

A day after Flatts had lost a thrilling Eastern Counties Cup first-round match against Bailey’s Bay by ten runs, they won the toss at Somerset Cricket Club and elected to bat.

Somerset opening bowler Isaiah Richardson started the match with a maiden over but Flatts captain Dajon Carey got his side on the board with a boundary, but Flatts’ innings never took off after he was bowled by a quicker delivery from Richardson with the fourth ball of the third over.

Regular T20 captain Keegan Jones then arrived at the crease to bat with his brother Logan and he pushed the score along with consecutive boundaries immediately upon his arrival. However, a combination of poor timing and aggressive Somerset fielding meant two maiden overs ensued, one each from Richardson and Sabir.

Keegan Jones then tried to loft a ball to the square leg boundary but mistimed his shot right into the hands of Jerez Eve, leaving Flatts at 17 for two at the end of the batting powerplay.

Logan Jones would follow his brother back to the pavilion when he was run out by a direct hit from Sabir and JJ Nel was caught at short cover off the first ball of youngster Jahniko Francis to leave Flatts in a precarious position at 49 for four.

Alex Dore came into the attack and Paul Carr flicked into the gloves of wicketkeeper Amari Ebbin for his first scalp. Xavier James and Shane Robinson put on 28 runs for the sixth wicket. However, this coincided with Alex Dore failing to find his line, which meant he conceded 17 runs in 16 balls immediately after the wicket of Carr.

Sabir then took an easy catch when Xavier James got a bottom edge on his attempted straight drive before Nelson Bascome also played straight back to the bowler, with Isaiah Richardson the beneficiary.

Angus Betts gave wicketkeeper Ebbin his second catch of the innings before Sai Kumar was caught by Jerez Eve to complete a dominant Somerset fielding performance.

Somerset opening batters Dore and Sabir knew their side faced a straightforward task to chase the Flatts total of 127 and they started solidly without any major flashes of aggression through the first two overs.

But they then opened up, each hitting one four with Sabir adding a six in the third over of Sai Kumar that went for 15 runs. Flatts’ fielding also left a lot to be desired as James collected a cut shot by Dore for a single only for his poor throw to evade Keegan Jones and speed to the boundary for four.

Harvey's first over was smashed for 27 runs as Sabir and Dore each cracked one six over long off. hit the century partnership off just 74 balls and Dore smashed consecutive sixes off Keegan Jones to clinch victory in just 15.3 overs.