Royal London One-Day Cup - South Group

Somerset (354-6) beat Kent (352-6) by four wickets

PETER Trego rolled back the years with a terrific 135 to help Somerset on their way to their highest ever successful List A run chase as they defeated Kent by four wickets in another thrilling Royal London One-Day Cup encounter at Taunton.

Chasing 353 to win after Daniel Bell-Drummond and Alex Blake had both hit centuries for the visitors, Trego's hundred was backed up by useful contributions from James Hidreth (64), Dean Elgar (55) and Adam Hose (39) as history was made in front of nearly 3,000 spectators.

Having lost the toss and been asked to field, Somerset made an ideal start when Josh Davey produced a peach with just his third delivery to comprehensively bowl Joe Denly and leave just one of the opener’s stumps still standing.

Captain Sam Northeast came out to join Daniel Bell-Drummond, and the pair combined delicate stroke play with quick running between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking over without undue risk.

Both reached their half centuries in successive overs before Northeast departed for 51, caught at cover by Max Waller from the bowling of Roelof van der Merwe.

Darren Stevens added a couple of trademark lusty blows before he too was out to a soft dismissal, guiding a short Craig Overton ball straight to Jim Allenby at slip, and at 146/3 the innings could have swung either way.

The stage was set for Alex Blake to take the game by the scruff of the neck and the 28-year-old did just that, settling in immediately and hit the first six of the day – and the first of seven in his innings – into the Colin Atkinson Pavilion in the 35th over.

Bell-Drummond, who had been dropped by Peter Trego at mid-wicket with his score on 79, reached his century off 113 balls before Blake took over, dominating the stand of 120 that propelled Kent towards an imposing total.

The majority of Blake’s most damaging hits were straight, though he delivered some devastating blows all around the wicket and found the middle of the bat with alarming regularity from a Somerset point of view; it must be said, however, the home side’s bowlers did not help themselves with some wayward deliveries that were deservedly punished.

Josh Davey returned to the attack to claim the wicket of Bell-Drummond, expertly caught by a backpedalling James Hildreth at mid-off, but that failed to stem the tide of runs as Sean Dickson joined the rampant Blake in the middle and produced some inventive shots of his own to keep the score rattling along.

Blake reached his 50 in 25 balls with a powerful cover drive off Josh Davey and went on to bring up his first ever List A century just 21 balls later – it was an innings of raw power that had taken Kent’s score from good to excellent.

The 28-year-old’s career best knock eventually ended when he holed out to Peter Trego at long off from the bowling of Craig Overton after an excellent innings which included 10 fours and seven huge sixes.

A Wayne Parnell six in the last over helped the visitors end on 352-6, a remarkable effort given they had been 229-3 with just 10 overs left in the innings.

Somerset's top order have been frail in all formats so far this season, and that theme continued at the start of a daunting run chase as both openers departed in the first four overs.

Steve Davies fell for his third consecutive duck after being clean bowled by Wayne Parnell and, having hit some crisp boundaries through the off side, Jim Allenby followed for 16 when he was caught by Joe Denly at backward point to give James Harris his first wicket and leave Somerset languishing at 19-2.

At this point 353 looked a long way off, but Dean Elgar and Peter Trego began the process of rebuilding the innings in a similar fashion to Bell-Drummond and Northeast's earlier partnership for the visitors.

Quick running and the occasional big hit saw the pair add 108 for the third wicket before Elgar went on the attack once too often against James Tredwell and was caught at deep mid-wicket.

Trego continued the attack and was ably supported by James Hildreth, with the experienced pair using all their knowhow to find the gaps and put away the bad balls to keep the run rate on course.

After reverse sweeping Tredwell for six, Hildreth reached his half century in more orthodox fashion with a single into the off side before, in the following over, Trego dived home to complete the second run that took him to his eighth List A hundred - an innings which included four 4s and four 6s.

With the milestone reached, Trego then launched an almighty maximum into the top balcony of the Somerset Stand flats, but he lost the company of Hildreth when the 32-year-old tried one reverse sweep too many and picked out Daniel Bell-Drummond.

That left Somerset on 258-4, which became 294-5 when Trego holed out to Tredwell's penultimate ball and left the field to a standing ovation with 135 to his name from 119 deliveries.

Adam Hose, full of confidence after Sunday's crucial 76 at Hove, displayed his range of shots and scored some inventive boundaries on his way to an invaluable 39, but when he was clean bowled by a Harris yorker Somerset still required 16.

Just as against Surrey on Friday, it was left to Roelof van der Merwe and Lewis Gregory to finish the job, but this time it was van der Merwe who hits the winning runs as he drove Harris for four through the off side to complete a superb victory and maintain the side's 100% record in this year's competition.