Somerset suffered their biggest setback before a single ball had been bowled when their star opening batsman Marcus Trescothick chose to fly back home on the recurrence of a stress related issue.
It was nonetheless an important clash for both, Somerset and Eagles as they’d entered the Super Eights without carrying any points and a defeat would have put them on the brink of elimination. Justin Langer won the toss and he chose to put runs on the board. The advantage of batting first was however not fully made use of as the side was restricted to 132/8 which the Eagles chased down losing only 5 wickets and with 8 balls to spare. Their strike bowler Cornelius de Villiers was named the ‘Man of the Match’ for his outstanding figures of 4-2-17-4. Fourteen of those runs came in one over when Wes Durston got stuck into him and him for three consecutive boundaries.
Nine runs came off the first two legitimate deliveries and Somerset seemed to be well on their way. But thereafter once the bowlers, especially de Villiers tightened the screws, run making was never easy.
Also, wickets then began to fall regularly and their captain and the most experienced player, Justin Langer was deprived of much of the strike. Till the end of 4 overs, he’d faced only six balls and his side was already 3 wickets down. It wasn’t long before Langer too got out and at the halfway stage, the score read a poor 55/5. A late order assault by Durston which included a phase wherein 37 runs came off 3 overs ensured that Somerset eventually scored at more than 6 runs per over. He was the highest scorer for them having made a 32 ball 57 that included 10 hits to the fence.
133 was never going to be a very tough ask and Eagles ensured that every partnership made decent contribution which meant that Somerset could never really sniff of a win.
Rilee Rossouw, Adrian McLaren and skipper Boeta Dippenaar all made useful contributions in the context of chasing a smallish total and by the time Dippenaar got out in the 12th over, Eagles had already scored 77 runs on the board. The 4th wicket pair of Morne van Wyk who was still there at the crease and Ryan Bailey then all but sealed the deal with a 49 run stand before both got dismissed when only a few were required for a win. Wyk was the top scorer for them with a 41 ball 47 while for the Eagles, Alfonso Thomas and Charl Willoughby claimed two wickets each.