By Ashley Williams
LONDON
(TheSportsNext) July 25, 2012: Somerset and Sussex won their respective
quarter-final matches of the 2012 Friends Life T20 tournament with comfortable margins
on Tuesday.
In the first quarter-final, Somerset, which ended as
runners-up in the 2011 Friends Life T20, defeated Essex by 27 runs at Taunton while
Sussex ended Gloucestershire’s campaign with a 39-run victory in the second
quarter-final played at Hove.
James Hildreth (58 from 36 – 10 fours) was the hero for
Somerset as the last year’s runners-up scored 175 runs for the loss of six
wickets in the 20 overs.
Their innings started with a disaster as the in-form Craig
Kieswetter (Duck) but South African Richard Levi (20 from 15 – 2 fours, 1 six)
and skipper Marcus Trescothick (19 from 13 – 3 fours) scored 39 runs for the
second wicket before both of them fell in a quick succession.
However, James Hildreth and Jos Buttler (33 from 23 – 6 fours)
added 35 valuable runs for the fourth wicket before James used long handle to
good effect and inspired his side to a good total of 175 runs.
For Essex, Reece Topley was the most successful bowler has
he grabbed three wickets for just 27 runs for his four overs.
Chasing 176 runs target to stay in the Friends Life T20,
Essex got off to a worst possible start as they lost Mark Pettini (2 from 7)
and Ravi Bopara (Duck) in the third over at total of nine runs.
However, England’s ODI captain Alastair Cook (28 from 27 – 2
fours) joined hands with T20 specialist Owais Shah (13 from 9 – 1 four, 1 six) but
Albie Morkel got rid of Shah before James Franklin was run out for four runs.
Things went from bad to worse when Cook was removed in the 10th over
as the Essex were reeling at five down for only 53 runs on the board.
Essex skipper James Foster (26 from 16 – 4 fours) and Ryan
ten Doeschate (47 from 24 – 4 fours, 3 sixes) tried to resurrect the innings with
31-run partnership for the sixth wicket but enough damage was done already as
the whole team was all out on 148 runs on third delivery of the 19th
over, thus falling 27 runs short of the target.
Lewis Gregory took four wickets for 39 runs to lead the
bowling effort for the Somerset.
James Hildreth was declared Man of the Match for his superb
show with the bat.
In the second quarterfinal, a brilliant unbeaten century by
New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris helped Sussex defeat Gloucestershire by 37
runs to join Somerset in the semi-final line-up of the Friends Life T20.
Scott Styris hit five boundaries and nine maximums during
his 37-ball unbeaten century that propelled the Sussex to a huge total of 230
runs for the loss of four wickets from their 20 overs.
The Sussex innings started badly with both opening batsmen,
i.e. Chris Nash (1 from 3) and Luke Wright (1 from 3) were back in the pavilion
with total at three runs.
However, England’s national wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior
(60 from 39 – 5 fours, 3 sixes) joined hands with former Zimbabwean star Murray
Goodwin (55 from 42 – 7 fours) in a 98-run third wicket partnership which
allowed them an entry back into the contention.
When Matt Prior was run out by Young, the Sussex had scored
101 runs from 11.2 overs and still a lot of work to be done to save the match.
Scott Styris then stole the show with ferocious hitting as
he brought up his 100 from just 37 balls to lead Sussex into a match-winning
position.
Gloucestershire never looked like chasing down the target as
apart from good innings by skipper Hamish Marshall (42 from 29 – 3 fours, 1
six), Dan Housego (47 from 24 – 6 fours, 2 sixes), Alex Gidman (44 from 22 – 2 fours,
3 sixes), and James Fuller (26 from 12 – 2 fours, 2 sixes), they fell 37 runs
short of the mammoth total posted by the Sussex.
Will Beer and Amjad Khan both grabbed two wickets for Sussex
for 47 and 38 runs respectively.
As expected, Scott Styris was selected Man of the Match for
his brilliant show with the bat and ball.
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