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Trego towers over faulty Middlesex

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Peter Trego entertained one of his comedy heroes with a second successive Royal London One-Day Cup hundred that steered Somerset to a comfortable six-wicket Group B win against Middlesex Panthers at Lord's.

Trego followed up Tuesday's 101 against Warwickshire with an impressively controlled 120 from 137 balls as Somerset hunted down Middlesex's 255 for seven with ten balls remaining.

With three wins a tie and only one defeat from their first five games in the competition, Somerset are in good shape to push on to qualification for the quarter-finals.

Colin Ingram joined Trego in a match-winning stand of 162 in 31 overs for the third wicket after Toby Roland-Jones had removed both Somerset openers, Nick Compton and Marcus Trescothick.

But Trego, who hit three sixes and nine fours, and Ingram, with three sixes and four fours in his 83-ball 68, then took command in the sunshine as a Middlesex attack missing Steven Finn and Ravi Patel, struggled to contain them.

And the all-rounder was delighted to excel before one particular famous face at HQ.

"It was one of the most special moments in my career, to score a hundred here at the home of cricket and then to celebrate it by raising my bat towards the pavilion and in front of all the people in the ground today,” he said afterwards.

"The audience included a very special person in John Cleese, a hero of mine and also a fellow Weston-super-Mare boy. I met him for the first time today when he came to our dressing room. I am on cloud nine at the moment.”

Peter Trego launches another mighty blow en route to a second successive Royal London One-Day Cup century

There were still 32 runs required when Trego lifted Harry Podmore to deep midwicket in the 45th over, but James Hildreth and Alex Barrow finished matters with a flurry of boundaries.

Barrow hit five fours in his 26 not out, ending the match with two in a row off Podmore, while Hildreth remained unbeaten on 14 in Somerset's 258 for four.

Earlier, openers Dawid Malan and Chris Rogers anchored the Middlesex effort, putting on 108 in almost 27 overs for the first wicket before Malan went on to score 82 from 116 balls, with eight fours.

Rogers and Malan built Middlesex's innings carefully, after being put in by Somerset captain Trescothick in early-morning conditions that offered some seam movement from a green-hued pitch and also more than a hint of swing.

It took Rogers until the 13th over to hit his first boundary and, after facing his first 28 balls, he had made only four. Nevertheless, he soon accelerated - once advancing down the pitch to thrash a short ball from Trego through the covers for four - and, when he was bowled swiping at Johann Myburgh's off-spin, the Australian Test opener had reached 52 from 74 balls.

Paul Stirling then helped Malan to add a further 55 in nine overs for the second wicket, striking four fours in a 31-ball 29 before missing a swing at Alfonso Thomas.

Middlesex captain Eoin Morgan took successive fours off Tim Groenewald, including a cheeky flip over his right shoulder to fine leg, but on eight he then holed out to deep cover off the same bowler.

Worse was to come for Middlesex, as three wickets fell for just 17 runs in just over four overs. Malan, Neil Dexter and John Simpson all followed Stirling and Morgan back to the pavilion as the innings threatened to fall apart just when Middlesex were planning to press on.

Dawid Malan impresses on his way to top scoring for Middlesex but he fell amid a cluster of wickets that undermined the hosts

Malan, sent back by his new partner Ryan Higgins, was run out by Trescothick's throw to wicketkeeper Barrow, and Dexter was also needlessly run out when he answered Higgins's call for a tight single and failed to beat Myburgh's direct hit from midwicket.

Simpson edged Groenewald behind and it took some bold late hitting from Ollie Rayner, who deposited a Thomas full toss over a short legside boundary into the Grandstand in a 32-ball unbeaten 37, to push Middlesex above 250.

Higgins also attempted to atone for his part in both run outs by driving Lewis Gregory over extra cover for six and four in 27 from 32 balls and joining in a spirited stand of 48 in seven overs with Rayner,  before being caught at deep midwicket off the same bowler.

Roland-Jones produced a beauty to have Compton caught at the wicket for two in his opening over, and Trescothick had 19 when he played at a ball from the Middlesex fast bowler that he could have left alone and also edged to keeper Simpson. 

But that was as good as it got for Middlesex, who have now lost three of their first four games in the competition.


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