BIRMINGHAM Bears skipper Alex Davies admitted his side’s Vitality Blast quarter-final defeat at Somerset was ‘tough to take’.
Bears looked set to book their place at Finals Day with the hosts needing 19 off the final over.
But Sean Dickson saw them through to a dramatic win at Taunton.
Dickson struck 71 off 26 balls to clinch a thrilling four-wicket victory.
Bears posted 190 for six after winning the toss, Davies top-scoring with 71 off just 39 balls, with 13 fours.
Rob Yates provided a lightning start with 25 off 10 deliveries, but Ben Green’s two for 30 enabled Somerset to peg their opponents back.
Even so, it took a stupendous knock from Dickson, who blasted five fours and six sixes, to see the home side to victory with just one ball to spare of Ed Barnard’s bowling.
Tom Abell made 51, while Oliver Hannon-Dalby claimed three for 24.
Davies told Sky Sports: “It’s tough one to take, we’ve come up against, using his words, a silly knock there.
“He’s played wonderfully and you’ve got to credit the ball striking.
“The boys are thinking if there’s anything we could’ve done differently, but sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat.
“But we’re a tight-knit group and we’re very close, so we’ll stick together here.
“We’ve got a big game to shift our attention to now on Monday, in the Championship. So, hopefully we’re still in the running for one trophy anyway.
“We can hold our heads high. A lot of guys had a good night, Rob came in for the first time in the competition.
“He smacked six fours in an over. Olly Hannon-Dalby had his first game in the competition and bowled extremely well for his three wickets.
“It was just a tough gig to give Barney there at the end when someone’s striking the ball that well.”
Bears looked set for a mammoth total when scoring 82 off the six-over power play.
Yates hit every ball of Riley Meredith’s first over, the second of the match, for four, while Davies took five boundaries off the fifth over, sent down by Craig Overton.
Overton had broken the partnership with the score on 39, having Yates caught at fine leg. Davies then dominated a half-century stand with Dan Mousley, who fell for 12, bowled by Somerset captain Lewis Gregory.
At the halfway stage of their innings, Bears had 119 on the board, Davies having reached a 24-ball half-century after being dropped in the deep on 44 by Will Smeed off Jake Ball. But when he fell in the 12th over, bowled by Green attempting a ramp shot, which had served him well, it signalled a turning point.
Green and Gregory bowled economically, along with left-arm spinner Lewis Goldsworthy, as three more wickets fell and the innings ended without a single six having been hit. Kai Smith finished unbeaten on 28, but after the blistering start, the Bears’ final total looked no more than par on a typically bat-friendly Taunton pitch.
The first maximum of the game was struck by Tom Kohler-Cadmore off George Garton over mid-wicket in the third over of Somerset’s reply. The next over, bowled by Richard Gleeson, saw the dangerous Will Smeed caught off a top-edged pull with the score on 28.
The power play ended with Somerset 49 for one. That became 64 for two when Kohler-Cadmore, on 32, drove a straightforward catch to long-on off Oliver Hannon-Dalby and at the halfway stage of their innings, the hosts were 73 for two, needing more than 11 an over.
James Rew was dropped at short fine leg off Garton, but departed for 11, caught off the very next ball, before Abell brought the hundred up in the 13th over with a six over mid-wicket off Barnard. Dickson followed up by clearing the ropes off Briggs and Garton to raise Somerset hopes.
Abell went to fifty off 39 balls, with 5 fours and six, but perished soon afterwards, caught at long-off skying a ball from Briggs. Dickson replied with a six in the same over before another skyer accounted for Gregory off Hannon-Dalby, who then sent back Green in what seemed a decisive 18th over.
Despite Dickson’s 19-ball fifty, Somerset required 19 off the final over, bowled by Barnard. But he was far from finished, clearing the ropes twice and smashing a straight four to cap a memorable innings and win the game for his side.
• Additional reporting, Bears official website
