Olin Jones hammered 79 runs and was the dominant partner in a fourth-wicket stand with Jeff Richardson (25 not out) that helped Somerset CC to a six-wicket victory over Hyderabad Blues at Somerset Cricket Club yesterday.

Although it was their second straight tour loss, the visitors had their confidence restored with a very creditable performance after Sunday's demoralizing defeat against St. George's.

Thanks to an inspiring 55 from D.Vinay and a timely 33 not out from Timothy Kumar, Hyderabad were able to reach a respectable score to make a game out of it against the other Cup Match select.

As it was Somerset only squeezed out a victory with seven balls left after number six batsman Wayne Ball stroked Phanindeer Prakesh for six over mid-wicket.

Somerset had their innings reduced to 146 in 40 overs because of rain, and they wasted little time in going after their new winning target which called for a scoring rate of 3.65 per over.

Opening bat Jones set the tone from the beginning when he cracked Naresh Sharma's first ball of the game for four to the mid-wicket boundary. But before he was allowed to dominate the attack his opening partner Brian Williams (four) fell with the score on 10.

Jones partipated in useful stands with Andre Manders (13) and Shannon Warner (eight) before left-arm spinners Abhar Ahmed and R.Sridher slowed down the scoring with some tidy deliveries.

However at 72 for three and not too many reliable batsmen left, Jones and Richardson carried a lot of responsbility on their shoulders and in the end the 66 runs they contributed paved the way for the team's success.

James, who gave an easy catch to Khanna at mid-on off Ahmed, faced 109 balls and struck seven fours and three sixes.

Earlier Hyderabad pulled themselves out of a hole after struggling at 53 for five, thanks to number three batsman Vinay who managed to stay to the wicket for 178 minutes.

The right-hander put on 22 with Sridher (12) and then added 26 with Ahmed (12) for the seventh wicket.

With the score 101 for seven Vinay was then joined by Timothy (33 not out) and the pair put on 50 for the eight wicket before Vinay was caught by Perry Maybury off Shannon Warner. Timothy Kumar and Phaninder Prakash then added another 32 for the ninth wicket before rain ended the innings one delivery short of its 50 overs.

Maybury was the top bowler for Somerset with three for 28 while Quinton Burch took three for 47 and Warner two for 37.

Hyderabad Blue will today take on Western Stars at St. John's field at 12 noon today.