Hampshire beat Somerset to finish second
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division One, Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton (day three)
Somerset 136: Abbott 4-37 & 180: Gregory 59; Abbott 5-37
Hampshire 196: Leach 5-52 & 121-5: Vince 54; Gregory 3-30
Hampshire (19 pts) beat Somerset (3 pts) by five wickets
Skipper James Vince led from the front as Hampshire clinched runners-up spot in County Championship Division One with a five-wicket victory over third-placed Somerset at Taunton.
The home side added 120 to their overnight second-innings score of 60-4 before being bowled out for 180, skipper Lewis Gregory top-scoring with 59 and Jack Leach making 33 not out, the pair sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 55.
Kyle Abbott finished with 5-37 from 18 overs.
Set 121 to win, Hampshire lost wickets to the first two balls of their second innings, bowled by Gregory, who was denied a hat-trick when Kasey Aldridge spilled a low chance at second slip offered by Vince.
It proved an expensive miss as Vince went on to hit 54 and Liam Dawson 44 not out, helping the visitors to reach their target on the third afternoon from 27 overs.
Hampshire took 19 points from the game to guarantee second place behind Surrey and Somerset only three, having seen their concerted challenge for all three trophies end without winning one in a desperately disappointing end to the campaign.
Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.