Lees captaincy trial begins with defeat

Somerset 178 for 4 (Abell 80) beat Yorkshire 175 (Trego 4-29) by six wickets
Scorecard

Somerset kept alive their slim hopes of Royal London Cup quarter-final qualification with a convincing six-wicket victory over high-flying Yorkshire at Scarborough.

They won only their second Group A match in six having bowled the Vikings out for just 175, with the hosts failing to recover enough from 22 for 4 and later 97 for eight in front of a crowd of 4,967.

It was a disappointment for Alex Lees who before the match was awarded the captaincy in limited-overs cricket on a full-time basis until the end of the season following Andrew Gale's decision to resign from skippering in white ball cricket.

Peter Trego led the way with 4 for 29 from 8.5 overs before opener Tom Abell continued an eye-catching season as he anchored a visiting chase which lasted 38.1 overs with his maiden List A fifty.

The 21-year-old hit 80 off 112 balls with 10 fours and shared 71 inside 16 overs for the fourth wicket with James Hildreth, who finished 23 not out.

Somerset must win their last two matches to have any chance of progression. Matt Maynard, their director of cricket, said: "We've been threatening that. Craig Overton and Josh Davey getting early wickets helped a great deal. That was a terrific opening spell from Craig - eight overs, two for eight. I thought we were brilliant in the field, and it was a very polished innings by Tom Abell in the run chase.

There were only two significant partnerships in the Yorkshire innings played out on a pitch with good pace and carry.

Top-scorer Jack Leaning (40), and Will Rhodes (37) shared 70 for the fifth wicket before teenagers Karl Carver and Matt Fisher shared 67 for the tenth wicket to show some spirit and ensure Somerset's run chase was not quite a formality.

Yorkshire lost Andrew Hodd, Glenn Maxwell and Lees inside the first three overs as Davey struck twice. Davey's new ball partner Craig Overton had Maxwell caught at mid-wicket and later forced Gary Ballance to chop on in the eighth over.

Rhodes hit two sixes and Leaning one, but their good work was undone when Rhodes was bowled playing across the line to left-arm spinner Jack Leach in the 27th.

Trego then picked up three wickets in successive overs between the 28th and 30th, getting Tim Bresnan caught in the slips, Leaning caught at point and Rich Pyrah caught behind.

Carver and Fisher, who ramped Tim Groenewald for six, ensured Yorkshire had something to bowl with career-best scores before Trego ended the innings by bowling Fisher.

Bresnan and Fisher struck inside the first 13 overs of the Somerset chase, getting Adam Hose and Trego caught behind - the latter off a top-edged pull for 19 - as the score fell to 61 for 2.

Tom Cooper survived two dropped catches before he had reached two, but fell to Fisher in the 20th over when he chipped to short mid-wicket for 13.

Abell and Hildreth ensured there were no further alarms, although Abell was unable to see his side all the way home as he fell caught behind off Rhodes with 14 needed.

Yorkshire remain on course to qualify having won four of their seven group matches.