Vitality Blast - South Group

Someset 170-7 beat Sussex 169-5 by 3 wkts

ROELOF van der Merwe struck an unbeaten 34 from just 19 balls as Somerset won a thriller at Sussex to move to the top of the South Group.

Success looked unlikely when van der Merwe and Jamie Overton came together with 36 needed from 3.2 overs, but the pair batted superbly against a strong home attack to secure Somerset's fourth win on the spin.

Max Waller and Jerome Taylor had earlier impressed with the ball as Sussex posted 169-5, Laurie Evans making 96.

Somerset skipper Lewis Gregory won just his second toss in 10 matches and opted to bowl, a decision which paid off in the first over as Waller clean bowled Phillip Salt.

The captain then claimed the key wicket of Luke Wright, caught by van der Merwe, as the hosts slipped to 32-2 in the fourth over.

Waller returned to have Delroy Rawlins neatly stumped by Tom Banton as the spinner continued his economical campaign with the ball, finishing with 2-24 in his four overs.

Laurie Evans and Tom Bruce led a recovery and the former moved to a 36-ball half-century in the 11th over, but Jamie Overton broke the partnership with the score on 120 as Bruce lofted to Tom Abell.

Overton later dropped Evans as he moved towards three figures, though he was dismissed four short of the landmark as van der Merwe took his second catch of the day to hand Jerome Taylor his first wicket.

The West Indian seamer was brought in to improve Somerset's fortunes at the death and he did that once again at Hove, conceding just 13 from his final two overs - six of which came from the final delivery of the innings to take te hosts to 169-5.

Somerset's openers Johann Myburgh and Tom Banton got the chase off to a steady start, taking the score to 36 before the latter was bowled by Jorfa Archer for nine from the final ball of the fourth over.

Peter Trego hit three of his first deliveries for four but he lost the company of Myburgh when, having been dropped by Salt from the first ball of the sixth over, wasn't as fortunate from the next legal delivery and was caught by Rawlins at deep square-leg.

Trego soon followed Friday's centurion back to the pavilion as he edged Afghan spinner Rashid Khan's first ball of the match to Evans at backward point to leave the visitors 58-3.

Tom Abell played some fine shots in his 30 as he and James Hildreth added 54 for for the fourth wicket, but the return of Archer spelt the end for Abell as he was clean bowled by a fine yorker.

That was the first of three wicketes to fall in as many overs, as Hildreth (25) was stumped from the bowling of Danny Briggs before Rashid Khan cleaned up Gregory for a single.

From looking well set at 112-3, Somerset had limped to 122-6 as the run rate rose to 10 an over and the situation worsened when Corey Anderson (12) became Rashid's third victim.

Van der Merwe was not to be overawed and smashed the spinner's next ball out the ground before taking 13 from the critical 18th over.

Jamie Overton proved a willing partner, picking up a useful boundary off Archer in the penultimate over, and van der Merwe completed the job by needing just three balls of the final over to score the six runs required for victory.

As good as the three successive home wins were last week, this victory is the best of the lot against a Sussex side with some genuinely world-class bowlers - Somerset will now be full of confidence going into Wednesday evening's televised clash at Hampshire (6.30pm).

Afterwards, Max Waller said: "It was a real team effort. We weren’t quite at our best but managed to scrape over the line which is quite pleasing.

"We’ve got a deep batting line up and to have someone like Roelof van der Merwe coming in at No.8 is very handy. In the context of the game he played a really good innings to get us over the line. It would have been nice to have won it with a few less wickets down so I didn’t need to get my pads on!

"I’m not sure how many more wins we’ll need to get to the quarter-finals, we just take each game as it comes. Sussex are a top side with a really good bowling attack so to chase down 170 against them was very encouraging.

"Personally, I feel I still have a lot to offer in T20. I think my experience is very useful to the side and I’m pleased with how I’m bowling this summer in the tournament."