Babar, bowlers keep Somerset motoring against winless Glamorgan

Only one county, Derbyshire, has ever gone through a T20 season in England without a victory and Glamorgan now have two matches left to avoid the same outcome. They came to Taunton in the nick of time for Somerset's quarter-final ambitions and obliged by conceding a 25-run victory that never looked in doubt.

Somerset's defeat against Gloucestershire in the West Country derby in Bristol on Friday night had undermined their prospects of a top-four finish, and with it a quarter-final place, but thanks to Middlesex's defeat against the leaders Sussex at Uxbridge earlier on Saturday, Somerset sneaked ahead of them on run rate and returned to the top four with two matches remaining.

They owed much once again to their opening pair of Babar Azam and Tom Banton, who front loaded their innings with a stand of 61 in 5.4 overs. Babar, the leading scorer in the tournament, led the way with 63 from 42 balls. He now has 541 runs at 60.11 and few, if any, players anywhere in the world approach T20 with such a combination of ambition and security.

Glamorgan deserve sympathy for the four washouts that have afflicted their season, and understandably they are now blooding youngsters in what skipper Colin Ingram termed "a hostile environment", but they have been poor for all that and any prospect they had of nailing Somerset's 177 for 8 perished for within nine balls with the departure of their two gun batsmen, Shaun Marsh and Ingram himself.

Marsh, playing only his second match for Glamorgan after breaking his arm, damaging his shoulder and then being called up for Australia's World Cup squad, edged Jerome Taylor's ball to first slip as it left him off the seam.

As for Ingram, his demise for 1 from the only ball he faced owed everything to Nick Selman's accident-prone first T20 match of the season. His run out of Ingram was the accidental saw-off the summer as he pushed the ball to extra cover where Tom Abell, tight in the circle, threw down the wicket, Ingram having long abandoned all hope. Soon afterwards, Selman had to dive for the crease to avoid being run out himself and was clanked on the helmet by the throw. He needed to go through concussion protocols, although he appeared more in need of them when he ran out Ingram.

As Glamorgan collapsed in front of a capacity crowd, confounded by Max Waller's googly (oh, the irony that Cardiff is a venue for The Hundred when Taunton is not), and as David Lloyd put up single-handed resistance with a plucky 63 from 37 balls, discussion also turned to the performance of the experimental hybrid pitch, interwoven by up to 5% polyethylene yarn.

This was the third hybrid pitch that has been openly revealed in the Blast this season, but that does not necessarily mean there have not been others, or whether they have all been identical, such is the ECB's habitual secrecy, especially when something untested is the order of the day. This one appeared to have less natural grass than the one at Old Trafford and may have been all the worse for it.

But over-analysis of Glamorgan's second-innings crawl is best avoided. Lancashire also made 189 for 3 against Durham at Old Trafford earlier in the tournament, with Durham collapsing to 117 in reply, but in both cases the inferior side batted second.

It is also true that, from 86 for 1 at midway, Somerset would have had designs on 200, which encourages the suspicion that the pitch died somewhat, but that start was courtesy of Banton and Babar. Tom Abell, Somerset's captain, identified their partners hip as the place where the match was won - and he will hope the same is true of the tournament.

Come to Taunton these days and a spectator yearns to be assured by Babar and electrified by Banton, the next England T20 batsman off the rank, most probably against New Zealand later this year. Banton plays contemptuously, strikingly so for one so young, whether he intends to or not. Babar's talent, which has him ranked as the No. 1 T20 batsman in international cricket, is more understated and as yet much less susceptible.

Banton's imperious innings was halted by T20 debutant Roman Walker, an England under-19 from Wrexham, who had him dropped first ball at 45 attempting a reverse lap and dismissed him with his fourth as he holed out to deep square.

That signalled a loss of momentum for Somerset as the next six overs yielded just 28 runs. Unable to break loose against spinners Andrew Salter and Callum Taylor, the seasoned campaigner James Hildreth scored at less than a run a ball in contributing a clarty 22 before he was run out by Ingram's direct hit from mid-off.

At 114 for 2 with six overs remaining there was work to do, but Glamorgan were inhibited by an intercostal injury for their seamer Dan Douthwaite which ended his stint after two overs.

Babar's perfect straight six as he hit Ruaidri Smith into the Sir Ian Botham Stand signalled a change of pace. By the time he holed out at deep square, Somerset were up and running again. Marchant de Lange, hitting speeds above 90mph, struck the stumps three times in the final over as a trio of batsmen made room without effect, but even allowing for Taunton's short boundaries, the late rush of wickets already felt like a consolation.