Trego century steers Somerset home

Peter Trego hit his second successive Royal London One-Day Cup hundred to steer Somerset to a comfortable six-wicket Group B win against Middlesex at Lord's - in front of actor John Cleese.

Trego followed up Tuesday's 101 against Warwickshire with an impressively-controlled 120 from 137 balls as Somerset hunted down Middlesex's 255 for 7 with ten balls remaining. Cleese, of Faulty Towers fame, was in the stands and came into the Somerset dressing room after the match.

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.

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.

Dawid Malan and Chris Rogers earlier 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 they had been 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 4. 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 offspin, 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. Eoin Morgan, Middlesex's captain took successive fours off Tim Groenewald, including a cheeky flip over his right shoulder to fine leg, but on 8 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, for 5, and John Simpson, 4, all followed Stirling and Morgan back into the pavilion as the innings threatened to fall apart just when Middlesex were planning to press on.

Malan, sent back by his new partner Ryan Higgins, was run out by Trescothick's throw to keeper 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, before being caught at deep midwicket off the same bowler, and joining in a spirited stand of 48 in 7 overs with Rayner.

Roland-Jones produced a beauty to have Compton caught at the wicket for 2 in his opening over, and Trescothick had made only 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 this competition.

"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," Trego said. "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.

"We are very well-drilled and organised in 50-over cricket, and that is another good win towards hopefully qualifying for the quarter-finals. When there's a little bit in the pitch our bowlers are as good as anyone's and we're confident of doing well in this competition."