10:21pm Tuesday 27th July 2010
By Will Topps
SOMERSET cruised to a seven wicket win over visiting Northamptonshire in the t20 Cup quarter-final last night.
In front of a capacity County Ground crowd Somerset had their visitors two wickets down within ten balls of the start.
Two run outs accounted for the first two wickets and from there on in wickets tumbled regularly and Northants found themselves on 43-5 with 13 overs gone.
Murali Kartik and Arul Suppiah bowled together and strangled the innings, neither of them going for more than four an over.
With the slow scoring rate Northants struggled to 112-6, Suppiah, Kartik and Mark turner claiming a wicket each.
Somerset have chased far bigger targets down at home before and accomplished this chase with ease. Skipper Marcus Trescothick had an early hiccup when he went for nine but Craig Kieswetter, 33, and Pete Trego, 30, got Somerset close to the finishing post before both falling to James Middlebrook.
James Hildreth's 25 not out and Zander de Bruyn's unbeaten 15 got Somerset over the line with three overs to spare, and they now go on to finals day at the Rose Bowl on August 14.
Late last night, they were drawn to play against Nottinghamshire in the semi-finals with the winners taking on Essex or Hampshire in the final.
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