2:00 AM IST, 9:30 PM local time: Gloucestershire have given the defending champions a thrashing. They win by 7 wickets with a whopping 35 balls to spare. This is Somerset's third defeat in a row.
The wind blew in only one direction tonight. Right from the coin flip, till the very end of the game, everything seemed to have gone Gloucestershire's way. After they put the visitors in, Matt Taylor got them off to a fairy-tale start — a pin-point yorker up front to get Tom Banton out bowled for a golden duck. Then, Duan Jansen and Marchant de Lange followed up the good work with probing overs in the powerplay. Somerset were reduced to 33/4.
The squeeze continued through the middle overs too as Craig Miles and Jack Taylor chipped in too. The visitors were 79/7 in the 14th over when Craig Overton joined skipper Lewis Gregory. The duo put on a pugnacious 49 run partnership which propelled them to a respectable total of 137/6.
However, D'Arcy Short broke the back of the run-chase within the powerplay itself. He swung his bat fearlessly, pummelling anything even remotely in his zone to different corners of the ground. The score after 6 overs read 61/1. Short eventually finished with 63 (34) to his name. Post his dismissal captain Jack Taylor and Ben Charlesworth shepherd the ship over the finish line. Craig Overton and Daniel Sams were the only wicket-takers for Somerset.
This is now Gloucestershire's 4th win in 5 games. Remember, Dawid Malan and Liam Scott are yet to play.