Eagles blow away Somerset

The second-round encounter itself started in front of a near-empty stadium,where the cheerleaders danced and waved to imaginary spectators and the voices of the cricketers in the middle were as audible as that of the tireless DJ. The Eagles may have felt like they were playing against a fellow South African unit,considering the number of players of South African descent in the opposition line-up. But there were no niceties exchanged as Cornelius de Villiers blew away Somerset’s top-order within a space of two overs.

Tricky De Villiers

The 24-year-old fast bowler,who was instrumental in the Eagles’s win against Sussex in the eliminator over,trapped Craig Kieswetter lbw with his fourth ball,before dismissing Arul Suppiah with the very next. De Villiers then got rid of the dangerous Zander de Bruyn in his next over to leave Somerset reeling at 18 for three as he finished his first spell with figures of three for three in two overs. Captain Langer was then bowled by Thandi Tshabalala’s first delivery for 12 and things just got worse for the English side.

It was not until Wesley Durston,who replaced Trescothick for this contest,decided to throw his bat at the ball and smashed a few boundaries — three on the trot in a Ryan McLaren over — that finally got Somerset back into the match. The 29-year-old all-rounder hit 10 boundaries in all,scoring a 32-ball 57 and shared a crucial 77-run stand with James Hildreth to resurrect his team’s innings as they finished with 132 for eight in their 20 overs. De Villiers returned to pick up his fourth wicket and also ended up bowling a maiden — the 19th over of the innings — and finished with figures of four for 17.

While the rest of his team mates sweated it out in the nets on Thursday evening,Morne van Wyk finished his session early and sat in the empty stands. The 30-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman,who was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders unit during the IPL this season,made easy work of the Somerset total with a 41-ball 47 at the top of the order.

Charl Willoughby did raise hopes for his team with two wickets early on,getting rid of Rilee Rossouw and Adrian McLaren. Van Wyk then stabilised the innings with important partnerships with Dippenaar and Ryan Bailey in the middle. Alfonso Thomas struck with two wickets towards the end but it wasn’t enough for Somerset as the Eagles won with eight balls to spare.