Smeed sweeps poor Essex aside

SOMERSET POWERHOUSE HITS 81 OFF 54 IN VITALITY BLAST MATCH

- By ALEX SMITH

WILL Smeed made light work of Essex's meagre total as 2024 runners-up Somerset made it two wins from two to begin their Men's Vitality Blast campaign.

T20 powerhouse Smeed whacked 81 in 54 balls to canter to an eight-wicket victory, as they chased 148 with 25 balls to spare.

Tom Lammonby also chipped in with 36, in a 96-run opening stand, as Somerset's men avenged the defeat their club-mates suffered in the Women's Vitality Blast earlier in the day.

Matt Critchley and Dean Elgar's half-centuries merely sugar-coated a second successive heavy defeat for Essex - having lost their opener at Hampshire by 106 runs.

Essex chose to bat - it started badly and ended horrendously, but in the middle Elgar and Critchley fashioned an 83-run partnership.

Adam Rossington edged a Craig Overton nip-inner behind to the first ball of the innings before Michael Pepper top-edged a hook and Paul Walter was incredibly caught one-handed by Thomas Rew on the deep midwicket boundary edge.

But having been 36-3 at the end of the powerplay, the Eagles recovered to 119-3 in the 14th over, though a mixture of smart placement and innovative hitting.