Royal London One-Day Cup Semi-final 2, Nottinghamshire vs Somerset: Preview, likely XIs, predictions

Nottinghamshire will host Somerset for the second semi-final of the Royal London One Day Cup, at Trent Bridge, on May 12. Somerset have won the title only once, back in 1979, though they have lifted the Gillette Cup thrice and the Benson & Hedges Cup twice.

Nottinghamshire, on the other hand, have won the Royal London One-Day Cup thrice (including in 2013 and 2017) and the other two tournaments once each.

Nottinghamshire have crossed 400 twice in the tournament, against Lancashire and Leicestershire, both at Trent Bridge. They have also chased down targets of 298 and 326. They have collapsed only once, against Worcestershire – and that remains the only time they lost.

Somerset started the tournament in spectacular fashion, piling up 358/4 and bowling out Kent for 94. They had rounded off the league stage by beating Surrey, and won the Playoff by 147 runs. Tom Banton scored a 103-ball 112 that day before Azhar Ali – of all people – ran through Worcestershire with 5/34.

Head to head

Somerset lead the head-to-head numbers 31-22. The teams last met in the 2017 quarter-final at Taunton, were Nottinghamshire piled up 429/9 thanks largely to Brendan Taylor’s 97-ball 154 and Riki Wessels’ 62-ball 81. Lewis Gregory took 4/60.

Somerset kept up with the asking rate after Johann Myburgh (44 in 19 balls) got them to a flying start. Dean Elgar (91 in 63), Peter Trego (66 in 47), and Roelof van der Merwe (43 in 31) kept them in the hunt. Jamie Overton (40 in 26) fought hard, helping add 41 for the last wicket, but Somerset were bowled out 24 short – with 12 balls to spare. Harry Gurney took 3/71.

Key players

Luke Fletcher (Nottinghamshire): Not only has Fletcher been Notts’s leading wicket-taker this season (16 wickets), he has also conceded 5.98 an over, bowling mostly on flat pitches. Fletcher’s last 5 innings have fetched him 15 wickets; he has also struck at 179 off the 53 balls he has faced.

Lewis Gregory (Somerset): Gregory has not made any one significant contribution in the tournament, but his consistency has made him stand out as Somerset’s unsung hero. For example, he has scored 250 runs in the tournament at a strike rate of 145. To add to that, his 8 wickets have been expensive, but his economy of 6.04 has not been too bad.

Likely XIs

Nottinghamshire: Chris Nash, Joe Clarke, Alex Hales, Ben Duckett, Samit Patel, Steven Mullaney (c), Tom Moores (wk), Luke Fletcher, James Pattinson, Matthew Carter, Jake Ball.

Somerset: Tom Banton (wk), Azhar Ali, Peter Trego, James Hildreth, Tom Abell (c), George Bartlett, Lewis Gregory, Roelof van der Merwe, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Josh Davey.

Prediction

Nottinghamshire to win another potential Trent Bridge runfest.