Marcus Trescothick and Pete Trego delivered an extraordinarily explosive batting masterclass as Somerset ruthlessly blasted their way to an eight-wicket YB40 win over Unicorns – their first competitive victory of the season.
After being set 184 to win, Somerset reached their total for the loss of only two wickets – and needed only 15.3 of their 40 overs to do so.
Captain Trescothick went on something of a rampage, scoring 87 from 49 balls – hitting seven fours and eight sixes, including four successive maximums off Josh Poysden and three in a row off Garry Park.
The skipper was given excellent support by Trego, with whom he put on 159 for the first wicket in only 81 balls. Trego, who went into the match at Taunton averaging 3.80 in the LV= County Championship this season, blitzed his way to 75 not out from 38 balls, which included 10 fours and four sixes. In one outrageous spell, Trego scored 32 from eight balls.
Somerset will face much more difficult challenges in the near future – and it is questionable whether a young Unicorns side will have gained much from this brutal hammering – but after two draws and a defeat in the Championship, this is exactly what the hosts needed.
Sluggish starters in the 40-over competition last season, Trescothick's men have raced out of the blocks this term, and this victory was as comprehensive as any you are ever likely to see at any level.
Somerset won the toss and put the Unicorns in on what Trescothick felt was a "soft" and spongy" pitch. They were set 184 to win after their visitors posted 183-8 in their 40 overs, with Scott Elstone top-scoring with 75 not out. The former Nottinghamshire man, best known for taking two catches for England in a Test against India in 2011 – and dropping one in between – scored his runs from 79 balls that included seven fours and a six.
Craig Meschede was the pick of Somerset's bowlers, taking 2-15 from his eight overs – having been 2-8 after seven – as he removed dangerman Tom Lancefield for 38 and then had former Somerset favourite Keith Parsons dismissed for a duck.
Trego had made the initial breakthrough, tempting Lewis Hill to balloon one up to Max Waller for five, before having Michael O'Shea lbw for two as he played across a straight one.
Lancefield posed a threat, though, and he scored 38 from 42 balls, before being caught behind off Meschede as he came down the wicket. That brought Elstone to the middle – but Park soon departed for 22, caught by Alfonso Thomas close to the midwicket boundary as he top-edged while trying to slog-sweep Waller.
Unicorns' 99-4 became 99-5 when Parsons – who received a warm welcome from the Somerset faithful but a hostile one from the hosts' bowlers – was caught behind without scoring as he tried to cut Meschede.
Elstone and Aneurin Norman then put on 50 for the sixth wicket in 12.4 overs, before the latter was run out for 23 by bowler Thomas when there was not even a hint of a run on offer. Rob Woolley fell for two as he picked out Trego at wide mid-on off Lewis Gregory, before Paul Hindmarsh holed out to Alviro Petersen off Thomas in the final over.
Unicorns' tally always looked light – and, with Trescothick and Trego in such a clinical mood, so it proved. However, surely not even the most optimistic Somerset supporter could have predicted the ease with which their side would chase down their target.
At 5-0 after two overs, there was little hint of the carnage that lay ahead, but Trescothick opened up when he hit Luke Beaven into the Sir Ian Botham Stand, before Trego joined in the fun.
After 8.2 overs, Somerset had only hit one maximum – by 15.3, the end of the match, they had managed 12. In fact, the only chance Trego offered was to a man in a cow costume in the Somerset Stand – and even he managed to put it down.
Trescothick launched Poysden for four successive sixes as the young leg-spinner sent down his first over in List A cricket, the captain bringing up his fifty in the process. Trego quickly followed him to a half-century as the openers entertained the sun-drenched Taunton crowd.
Trescothick, having hit Park for three consecutive sixes, then holed out to Poysden off Hindmarsh, with Jos Buttler following him next ball as he pulled to deep square leg. But Nick Compton (12 not out from five balls) played a tidy cameo as Trego smashed Somerset across the line with 24.3 overs to spare.
