Hampshire 143 for 7 (Carberry 57, Waller 3-17) beat Somerset 137 for 8 (Arafat 4-37) by six runs
Scorecard

Four wickets from Yasir Arafat helped Hampshire as good as clinch a NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final place with victory over Somerset.

Hampshire looked out of the match after posting a well below par 143 for 7 but excellent death bowling from Arafat and spin duo Will Smith and Danny Briggs eased fears of a rare early exit.

Barring a truly remarkable win for Glamorgan over Gloucestershire on Friday, and wins for Essex and Sussex, the south coast side will be in the last eight for the seventh year in a row.

After electing to bat, Hampshire set off at breakneck speed, with a sumptuous straight drive four from James Vince to get the ball rolling.

Michael Carberry continued the onslaught from the other end, pulling six to the short square leg boundary before ferociously landing one into hot water - as he struck the coffee stand.

Opener Carberry continued his thumping with a six over the covers as he peppered the minuscule perimeter - reaching his fourth format fifty of the season off 29 balls.

It all seemed to be going swimmingly for the hosts before Jamie Overton wonderfully ran out James Vince off his own bowling to end an opening stand of 80.

Adam Wheater was out reverse sweeping to short third-man first ball and then Carberry holed out to long-on for 57.

Owais Shah and Smith were both bowled by the impressive Max Waller who ended with figures of 3 for 17 from his four overs.

And the Hampshire collapse continued with a calamity run out as Joe Gatting took on a Jim Allenby misfield with Hampshire going from 80 without loss to 112 for 6.

Chris Wood gave a temporary respite with a six down the ground but was bowled five balls later by Lewis Gregory.

Gareth Berg prodded the last ball over point for four to end on a positive as Hampshire posted 143.

After a sprightly start to the chase by the visitors, Arafat found a leading edge from Allenby and Briggs took the catch in the covers. Two balls later captain Vince plucked a catch on the edge of the circle to see off Isle of Wight-born debutant Adam Hose for 20.

Hampshire's nemesis Peter Trego - who has smacked them for 317 in 10 T20 innings - departed cheaply, chipping Smith to Arafat at short fine leg. Tom Cooper made 27 but played on off Smith before Briggs bowled Hildreth.

Arafat bowled Gregory with the final ball of the 18th over and Jamie Overton departed for a duck in the next to end the contest.

The other Overton brother, Craig, was cleaned up by Arafat - who ended with 4 for 37 - in the final over as Hampshire won by six runs.