Carberry ton powers Hampshire to victory

Hampshire 216 for 1 (Carberry 103*) beat Somerset 212 for 9 (Compton 81, Buttler 71) by nine wickets
Scorecard

A Michael Carberry hundred and a fluent half-century from Jimmy Adams led Hampshire to a comfortable nine-wicket Clydesdale Bank 40 win over Somerset in front of a 4,000 Taunton crowd.

The two openers set their side on course to easily chase down a target of 213 with a stand of 103 in 14 overs before Adams fell for 56. Carberry went on to score an unbeaten 103 off 83 balls, with a six and 14 fours, as the visitors skated to victory with more than 11 overs to spare.

Somerset had posted 212 for 9 after losing the toss, Nick Compton (81) and Jos Buttler (71) sharing a fourth-wicket stand of 121 and Dimitri Mascarenhas taking 2 for 17, bowling his eight overs straight through with the new ball.

It never looked likely to be enough on a good batting pitch and Hampshire confidently made it three wins from as many Group B games with a convincing all-round performance.

Mascarenhas had Somerset under pressure from the start, bowling with superb control from the River End and uprooting the off stump with similar deliveries to remove Craig Kieswetter and Peter Trego. When James Hildreth was caught at slip skying a top-edged pull off Chris Wood, the home side were 25 for 3 in the eighth over.

Compton and Buttler were forced to show caution as they set about rebuilding the innings. But Buttler still produced some stunning boundaries all around the wicket to reach his half-century off 59 balls.

He averaged 137 in the competition last season and was looking set for another century when run out by Liam Dawson's direct hit at the bowler's end having called for a quick single to mid-off.

Compton was unable to break loose and hit only six fours in his 106-ball innings, but it was still a valuable knock as apart from him and Buttler, only Craig Overton (20) managed double figures in the face of some sharp Hampshire fielding.

Somerset's score looked 30 below par and they needed to take their catches to defend it. Instead the first chance went begging as Carberry, on 1, was spilled by Compton diving to his left at point off Trego. It proved an expensive miss as Carberry and Adams started scoring as they liked. Adams hit two towering sixes off Peter Trego, managing to hit his own car with one of them.

He was first to fifty off 42 balls before lofting a catch to mid-on off Craig Overton. Carberry reached his half-century off 40 deliveries, with seven fours, and the result was never in doubt. Just to make sure, James Vince cracked an effortless 44 not out after Adams' dismissal and Carberry won the game with the straight six that took him to his century.