Right then. Somerset qualify for yet another finals day in the T20 Blast. It was a real pleasure bringing you all the updates from this exciting clash. Keep joining us for more cricketing action all around the globe. It's time now for us to take your leave. This is Akshay Bhide, signing off, on behalf of scorer Chandan Kumar Singh. Until next time, cheers and good bye.
Tom Banton (Player of the Match):"When we started, it was our aim to get to the finals day. It was a challenge as it was a tough fixture and glad to finish on the winning side.
When I came back from the winter, I worked hard on my technical things. I just want to win games for Somerset and want to win trophies.
There was a lot of noise around the wicket. There was seam movement early on. We tried to minimize the damage early on. We talked about that and it luckily, paid off for us.
They (Northamptonshire) are a dangerous team. To get David Willey in the end, it was good. Hopefully, another trophy for us.
On paper, Surrey are the best team in the country. But if we play our best cricket, we will be able to beat them. We are really excited for that contest."
Player of the Match: Tom Banton
2:03 PM IST, 9:33 PM Local Time: That will be it. Somerset emerge victorious in the quarter-final and make it to the finals day for the fourth time in a row. They beat the Northamptonshire Steelbacks by 17 runs. Somerset join Surrey and Sussex at the finals day at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
Chasing a mammoth 216, Northamptonshire lost George Bartlett on a three-ball duck. Ricardo Vasconcelos was joined by skipper David Willey as both played some lovely strokes and kept scoring at a brisk rate. Both put 67 between them before Vasconcelos fell on 30. Justin Broad came out all guns blazing and scored a 18-ball 29 before falling in the 13th over.
Willey kept going strong from the other end and brought up his fifty. He scored 57 off 39 balls before holing out in the deep in the 17th over. There were contributions from Saif Zaib (32) and Ashton Agar (28) but it was too much to do in the end for the Northamptonshire Steelbacks as they fell short by 17 runs after finishing their innings on 198/5.
Lewis Gregory led Somerset from the front with the ball in hand. He picked up three crucial wickets, giving away 35 runs in his four overs. Craig Overton and Jake Ball also chipped in with a scalp each as they defended the total successfully to qualify for the finals day at Edgbaston.
Earlier, Tom Banton led the charge with the bat at the top of the order after Somerset were asked to bat first. He played some lovely strokes and brought up a quickfire fifty. He scored a 43-ball 75, hitting six boundaries and five maximums. He was well-supported by Tom Kohler-Cadmore who scored 63 off 43 balls.
The partnership between Banton and Kohler-Cadmore laid the foundation for a strong finish. Sean Dickson (33* off 17 balls) and Lewis Gregory (20* off 12 balls) played fantastic cameos at the back end of the innings to power Somerset to 215/3. Their bowlers then stepped up and defended the total to reach the finals day for the fourth time in a row.
OVER 20
Northamptonshire
198/5
Lewis McManus
11(9)
Ashton Agar
28(11)
Ben Green
0-48(3.0)
19.6 B Green to A Agar
1 High in the night sky and dropped by Gregory. Full on the stumps, Agar shuffles and looks to whip it into the leg side but ends up getting a leading edge high in the night sky. Gregory at covers settles under this swirling ball but puts it down after getting both hands to it.