“Really fortunate with bowlers we’ve had”: Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory 

Birmingham [UK], July 16 (ANI): Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory heaped praise on his bowlers who played a crucial role in the T20 Vitality Blast final against Essex on Saturday.

The New Zealand duo of Matt Henry and Ish Sodhi guided Somerset to their first T20 Blast title since 2005.

Matt Henry ripped apart Essex with a scintillating spell of 4/24. His spell was crucial in deciding the fate of the game as the pacer brought an end to Daniel Sams’ heroic attempts to win the match on his own, with the help of a flying, one-handed catch from Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

While Sodhi used his experience and continued to keep pressure on the opposition by dismissing the middle-order set-up.

In the post-match presentation, Gregory said that he was fortunate to have such bowlers who contributed to Somerset’s overall success throughout the competition.

“Really fortunate with the bowlers we’ve had this competition. We made some great recruitment. Ish Sodhi coming in has been superb. We played on a pretty good surface down at Taunton and the guys have been superb. Can’t speak highly enough of the lads. Super happy for our head coach, absolutely fizzed up for everyone,” Gregory said.

Gregory further went on to reflect on the feeling of getting across the finishing line and lifting their first title since 2005.

“Feels pretty damn good. Been to finals day many times but it’s a special feeling to get over the line. It becomes harder each time you come back, sometimes teams have days where you just can’t stop them but credit to the guys today they played really well,” Gregory signed off.

Coming to the match, Somerset defended their total of 145, with New Zealand’s pacer Matt Henry ripping apart Essex with a scintillating spell of 4/24.

His spell was crucial in deciding the fate of the game as the pacer brought an end to Daniel Sams’ heroic attempts to win the match on his own, with the help of a flying, one-handed catch from Tom Kohler-Cadmore.

Essex had been the fastest-scoring side in the powerplay this season but they were also prone to early collapses. In the final, they initially showcased positive signs as they moved to 27 in the first 11 balls and then ended up losing four wickets from the next 17 deliveries.

This played a huge role as the rest of the batting order started to fall under the pressure of maintaining a reasonable gap between the run and ball ratio.

Australia all-rounder Daniel Sams tried to swing the momentum back into their favour but his 45 proved insufficient as Essex fell short by 14 runs.