Kent ride on Bell-Drummond century to end Somerset's unbeaten start

Daniel Bell-Drummond scored a brilliant hundred as Kent won narrowly in a high-scoring game at the Cooper Associates Ground to end Somerset's six-match winning start to the Vitality Blast T20 South Group campaign.

The 31-year-old registered a high-octane innings of 100 from 49 balls, smashing 12 fours and four sixes and dominating a record-breaking opening stand of 158 with Tawanda Muyeye as the visitors posted a formidable 228 for 5 after losing the toss and being put in. Muyeye weighed in with a 40-ball 70, helping himself to six fours and three sixes in the process, while Harry Finch finished unbeaten on 22 from 13 balls. It was a chastening experience for the Somerset bowlers, Riley Meredith having the best of it with a return of 3 for 44 from four overs.

Tom Banton smashed 68 off 33 balls and dominated an opening stand of 91 with Will Smeed to give the Somerset reply the perfect start. But they were unable to maintain the onslaught and Nathan Gilchrist and Joey Evison claimed two wickets apiece as Kent held their nerve to inflict a first defeat of the tournament upon last season's runners-up.

Kent boast a decent record in matches at Taunton in recent years and Muyeye and Bell-Drummond showed no signs of being intimidated by Somerset's 100% winning start to the campaign, striking the ball cleanly in a progressive opening partnership of 158 in 13.2 overs. These two initially matched one another blow for blow, the powerplay yielding 69 runs and the hundred coming up in 8.5 overs as Somerset's bowlers were forced onto the back foot.

Leading by example, Bell-Drummond was first to 50, reaching that landmark via 29 balls with five fours and two sixes, while Muyeye faced two deliveries more to attain his half-century as the partnership went from strength to strength.

Especially severe on Matt Henry, Bell-Drummond took the New Zealander for a six and a four off successive balls in the tenth as Spitfires raced to 118 without loss at the halfway stage to dampen the spirits of a sell-out crowd of 7000. Bell-Drummond took centre stage thereafter, the former Millfield Schoolboy facing a mere 19 deliveries more to go to a magnificent hundred amid a blaze of boundaries.

When the veteran batter drove Lewis Goldsworthy to the cover boundary in the 13th to advance the score to 151, he and Muyeye had established a new highest opening partnership for Kent in matches against Somerset, eclipsing the 150 amassed by Bell-Drummond and Joe Denly in a game at Canterbury in 2016.

No sooner had Bell-Drummond raised his third century in domestic T20 cricket, than he got out, flashing at a ball from Meredith and offering a catch behind, much to the relief of the Somerset camp. Green then had the dangerous Sam Billings held in the deep before he could inflict damage, while Lewis Gregory bowled Muyeye in the 17th to further check Kent progress.

But big-hitting Finch and Jack Leaning ensured there was to be little respite for the home side, staging a fourth wicket stand of 25 at the death.

Somerset chased 230 to defeat Middlesex in their last appearance at Taunton three days earlier, and Tom Banton and Will Smeed opened up in a manner that suggested they believed another successful pursuit was within their capabilities. Dropped by Gilchrist in the deep off the bowling of Fred Klaassen when he had scored 2, Banton clubbed three sixes and a four in one Stewart over to rub salt into the wound and state West Country intentions.

Making the most of his escape, Banton went to 50 from 22 balls and Somerset's opening pair put Kent's seamers under the pump to raise 81 from the powerplay and bring the required rate down to 10.6. Kent earned themselves temporary respite, Gilchrist pinning Banton lbw for 68 with the score 91 for 1 in the seventh. Smeed then departed for 24, top-edging a short-pitched Klaassen delivery to third man as the reply faltered.

The onus was now on Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Tom Abell to play expansively and the third wicket pair plundered three boundaries in one Gilchrist over to keep the asking rate below 12. Kohler-Cadmore hit Wes Agar for an effortless straight six, followed up with a pull shot for four and then admired an Abell swish that went to the fine leg boundary as the stand realised 50 from 24 balls.

Kent breathed a sigh of relief when Kohler-Cadmore, having plundered 38 from 20 balls, tried to hit Evison over the top and holed out on the long-off boundary. Gilchrist removed Abell for 22 in the next over, at which point Somerset needed a further 70 to win from 34 balls. Evison then accounted for Gregory, caught at long-on, as he visitors regained the upper hand.

Somerset needed 50 off three overs and Sean Dickson and Ben Green gave it their best shot, trading in sixes to heap pressure back onto the bowlers. Green cleared the rope on three occasions at the expense of Gilchrist in the 18th and Dickson helped himself to another six off Klaassen to leave Somerset to chase 19 off the final over, bowled by Tom Rogers. Green holed out in the deep off the first ball, departing for a 12-ball 25, while Dickson finished unbeaten on 31 as Somerset fell just short in a tense finale.