T20 Blast: Will Smeed blasts Somerset to easy win over Glamorgan

Somerset delighted a packed home crowd with an easy win

Somerset raced to a breathless win over Glamorgan by nine wickets with 35 balls to spare as they reached 174-1.

Will Smeed led the way with a rocket-fuelled unbeaten 94 off 41 balls while Tom Banton hit 45 and Rilee Roussouw 30 not out.

Glamorgan's 173 for seven was restricted by seamer Ben Green with a career-best five for 29.

Eddie Byrom's 37 was the top score against his former side.

Somerset now have four wins out of five to go second in the South Group while Glamorgan have two from five.

David Lloyd looked to have launched Glamorgan off to a flying start with 31 off 20 balls before he was caught off Craig Overton, who was released from the England squad to play.

But despite a superb cameo from Kiran Carlson, who hit 28 off 15, Glamorgan struggled to put any partnerships together.

Byrom, who went to the same Taunton school as Banton and Smeed, accelerated nicely on his T20 debut for Glamorgan after fitness problems in early season.

But Green kept on inducing catches and his final over saw him york Byrom and James Weighell in successive deliveries.

Dan Douthwaite smashed the last two balls of the innings from Josh Davey for six to give Glamorgan something to defend.

But Somerset openers Smeed and Banton soon got into their stride with a stand of 100 in 9.2 overs as Glamorgan struggled to hit consistent lengths.

Banton, who had been short of runs, reached his 45 off 30 including three sixes before chipping a return catch to Prem Sisodiya.

Somerset peppered the ropes with incredible regularity as seven balls in a row disappeared to the boundary with no-one able to exert control for the visitors.

Roussouw joined in the fun with his 30 coming off 15 balls while Smeed finished with eight sixes and seven fours to his credit after some remarkable striking, as Somerset finished with 14 sixes is as many overs to Glamorgan's 10.

Glamorgan next host Surrey on Sunday, 5 June while Somerset make the trip to Gloucestershire on Thursday, 9 June.

Somerset all-rounder Ben Green told BBC Radio Somerset:

"It was an excellent all-round performance from us and I'm really pleased to contribute to that win. The way T20 goes, sometimes you execute your plans and it goes well (in his final over) but on another day they could scoop me for a few fours.

"That was some pretty incredible ball-striking from Will, also Bants and Rilee, there was no respite for Glamorgan."

Batter Will Smeed added:

"It was good fun but the bowlers don't give themselves enough credit here and the way they set it up was awesome, we were always ahead of the game after that first innings.

"We know that if we bat well we can chase down big targets here, if one of the top four could do well there was a lot of confidence we could do it.

"It's a great atmosphere (in the Somerset stand) and weirdly the ball kept going that way, I was targeting it because the boundary's a bit smaller, we want to entertain and hopefully we did that."

Glamorgan batter Eddie Byrom told BBC Sport Wales:

"That's a very special innings by Will Smeed, batting first here and trying to defend is really tough, and with an innings like that he was unstoppable.

"I thought we were really in the game at half-way, it wasn't the 200-plus pitch they made it look like, but it shows how well Smeed played.

"It was nice for me to chip in but not good enough on the night, I would have liked to push on but Green bowled really well at the death.

"It's been particularly frustrating not being able to play (with a minor op and a hip injury) and being on the sidelines watching, so I'm really happy to be back on the field and I really enjoyed it."