County cricket: Somerset lead the way with only 100% record in T20 Blast

Somerset hold the only 100% record in the Blast (played six, won six) and their two matches last week might illustrate why.

In T20 matches, one remembers the big chases, the last-over heaves over midwicket, the daddy hundreds that put a match out of sight before the opposition have strapped on a pad. But cricket, even with restrictions on where bowlers can deliver the ball, is as much a game for the fielding side as for the batting XI.

Last week, Somerset defended 154 against Kent at Canterbury and 150 against Essex at Taunton, both times taking all 10 wickets. Six bowlers shared the spoils in the away game and four in the home match, which speaks to a threat throughout the batting side’s chase.

Attacking with the ball is an underused tactic in shorter formats of the game, too often fields set for containment and lines and lengths intended to hinder attacking shots rather than induce fatal errors. Somerset skipper, Lewis Gregory, has plenty of the knowledge required to win matches from a variety of situations – and he is using it to good effect.

A good week can revive fortunes given the compact schedule in the Blast and Glamorgan have certainly enjoyed the last seven days, three comfortable wins their reward, enough to go third in the South Group.

There is no doubt as to who their stars were. Colin Ingram (92*, 63* and 48) and Chris Cooke (113*, 46* and 50) built partnerships of 187, 109 and 65, the kind of middle-order alliances that win matches.

Ingram will be 38 next month and Cooke is just a year his junior, the two South African-born players illustrating the fact that T20 may be harum-scarum stuff, but there’s plenty of room for old heads who can find the boundary when they need to. The pair have hit a remarkable 54