Warwickshire defeated Somerset by seven wickets
Warwickshire produced their best limited overs performance of the season yesterday to keep their Twenty20 campaign alive.
It would be wrong to read too much into one victory. Much hard work lies ahead before Warwickshire can start thinking about the knock-out stages of this competition and another loss could still prove terminal.
Yet by crushing the Twenty20 champions on their own patch, Warwickshire's confidence should receive quite a boost. To win with 22 deliveries remaining is, in this form of the game, a rout, and there were many positives Warwickshire can take from this game.
As an absence of self-belief has been the chief problem in recent weeks, this victory could prove to be a pivotal moment in their season.
Central to the win was a much-improved performance in the field. On the same pitch on which Somerset made 250 in this competition last week, Warwickshire performed superbly in the field to restrict their hosts to just 167.
Perhaps the pitch was not quite so batsman friendly as previous Taunton wickets, but anything under 200 is short of par at a ground with such short boundaries.
Alex Loudon's return made an immense difference. In previous games Warwickshire's part-time spinners have conceded 122 runs from just 12 overs, but Loudon bowled with intelligence and control on a ground which has often proved to be a spinner's graveyard.
Using his 'doosra' liberally, Loudon pushed the ball through, mixed it up cunningly and would have had three wickets had Tony Frost completed a tricky leg-side stumping. The batsmen were never able to predict his next delivery and lost momentum in mid-innings just as they were hoping to accelerate.
Sadly for Warwickshire, England A duty means Loudon will not be available for next week's two games. His absence could prove to be crucial, though it is possible that Warwickshire will have completed negotiations with potential Kolpak signing, Paul Harris, by Wednesday.
Somerset started well. A stand of 81 in just over nine overs for the first wicket appeared to have provided the platform for a daunting total, but Warwickshire's bowlers kept their heads, sustained a much tighter line and length than has been the case of late and were well supported by a disciplined display of fielding.
Warwickshire's catching, distinctly fallible of late, was flawless.
Indeed, Ian Westwood's superb diving effort at long on to remove the dangerous Justin Langer was a key moment, and precipitated a decline that saw six wickets fall for the addition of just 45 runs in the next 38 deliveries.
There were moments in the Somerset innings when Warwickshire might have crumbled. Langer, pulling with power, took 18 off one Jimmy Anyon over, while Cameron White thumped two successive sixes of Dougie Brown in a 20-ball cameo.
The addition of a fifth specialist bowler allowed Heath Streak much greater flexibility, however, and he was able to switch his bowlers often enough to ensure Somerset could never settle.
There is still room for improvement. Warwickshire conceded ten extras from a combination of byes and wides which, against sterner opposition, could prove fatal.
Yet the victory was well deserved and sets up Wednesday night's floodlit game in Cardiff as a crucial encounter.
Neil Carter and Mark Wagh soon made deep inroads into their target. Man of the match Carter (11 balls) took full toll of some poorly directed bowling to thrash 18 from Andy Caddick's first over.
Wagh (11 balls) was no more restrained. He plundered 23 from Caddick's second over, easing the first two over-pitched deliveries for four before advancing down the pitch and heaving a 'free-hit' delivery over long on for six.
Though both men perished relatively early, Warwickshire had posted 57 by the end of the third over. That took all the pressure off the middle-order and allowed them to pace the remainder of the reply with relative ease.
Jonathan Trott, hitting the ball murderously hard, raced to 45 from 33 deliveries, while Michael Powell (27 deliveries) again unveiled his remarkably powerful reverse sweep and continued his fine form in the competition.
Trott looks a much better player when he concentrates on his natural game. Eschewing the pre-meditated delicate sweeps that have brought him little success in the competition so far, he drove White's leg-spin for six over extra cover and carved six more boundaries in a muscular innings. ..SUPL:
