Meredith wreaks havoc at Lord's
Not for the first time this season, Middlesex felt the full force of Somerset’s very own ‘Tasmanian Devil’.
Not for the first time this season, Middlesex felt the full force of Somerset’s very own ‘Tasmanian Devil’.
Having wreaked havoc when the two sides met in June in the Vitality T20 Blast, Austalian paceman Riley Meredith produced another four-wicket haul to ensure his side booked their place in the knockout stages of the Metro Bank One Day Cup
Meredith’s figures of four 27 at Lord’s helped his side dismiss the hosts for just 135 runs.
Together with new-ball partner Josh Davey (1-20), the duo had Middlesex in no end of bother with the score on 39 for four by the end of the power play.
Martin Anderson 34, together with Luke Hollman, who was left stranded on an unbeaten 38, provided some resistance to the Somerset surge. However, England spinner Jack Leach was on hand to mop things up at the end, picking up a brace of wickets.
Although Somerset lost George Thomas (110 and Andy Umeed (22) with the score on 57 for two in their chase, an unbroken third wicket partnership between James Rew (53no) and Lewis Goldsworthy (41no) saw the visitors romp home with 23 overs to spare.
Post-game, Somerset skipper Sean Dickson praised his side’s performance, saying: “It’s always nice to come to a place like this and put in a performance like we did today. It’s also good to have Riley as a little bit of a weapon. So, you know, all credit to him, he did really well to us today.”
Meredith, quite rightly, took the headlines for his efforts, but Dickson was quick to praise the collective effort shown by his team-mates, including Rew and Goldsworthy, who showed some lovely stroke-play in the visiting chase.
They're just showing how they're just growing in the game and growing with experience,” said Dickson. “For us it's just great to see. James is going on to play for the Lions now; Goldie's a great player whose put in another good performance and Andy Umeed is another one up front, whose been a real rock for us this year. Right now, we’re dovetailing really well as a batting unit which is handy.”
With qualification now assured for the knockout stages, Dickson says Somerset should set their sights higher within the competition.
“I think every game is a big game to be honest,” he added. “This one was important for us because we wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to get a home semi, which hopefully we've done enough for that. As I said, I'm over the moon for the guys. They’ve played really well over this campaign and hopefully we can put two good performances in, a semi and a final, and get some silverware.”