SOMERSET’S four-wicket victory over Birmingham Bears in the quarter final of the Vitality Blast at Taunton will go down as one of the most exciting ever hosted at the club’s headquarters and will be one of those ‘were you there’ moments.

However, several times during the match, a place at Finals Day this coming Saturday seemed a very long way off as Riley Meredith’s first over went for 24 and the Bears batters plundered nine 4s from the first 14 deliveries.

By the end of the first six over power play, the visitors had helped themselves to 82 runs. The 100 came up in the ninth over, and the Cidermen were thinking they’d be chasing over 220. However,  in the introduction, Lewis Goldsworthy and Ben Green slowly reined the Bears in, and they ended on 190 for six.

Facing what looked like a modest target, the Somerset reply was far from convincing as they were restricted to 49 for one in their first six overs, which became 73 without further loss after,10 compared to the Bears' 119 for two. When James Rew was out at the end of the 11th over with the total on 80 for three, the game looked to be drifting away from Somerset, and someone needed to stand up and be counted if there was to be any hope of a place at Edgbaston.
 

Thankfully, the Cidermen had just the man in Sean Dicks, who stepped out into the red-hot atmosphere with just one thing on his mind - seeing his team across the line, which is exactly what he did. Firstt, along with Tom Abel, he added 54 in just under five overs to see the total onto 134 for four before the former skipper went for 51, which he scored off 31 balls with five 4s and one 6.

By this time, however, Dickson was flying, and there was no stopping him. Going into the last 244 balls, 48 runs were needed, which became 39 off three, before a Danny Briggs over only yielded six runs, and 33 were needed from 12 balls. A tall order indeed and one that lesser mortals might have jibbed at, but not Sean Dickson. He loves the challenge of a T20 target and took 14 off the penultimate over, during which he went to his half-century in just 19 balls.

Somerset required 19 off the last over, which became 18 when the first delivery was a wide. Craig Overton squeezed a single off the first legal ball, which brought Dickson to the crease. Not fazed at all by the situation, he blasted two huge 6s. The next ball went for,  levelling the score before Dickson calmly smote the fifth ball straight down the ground and ran the single to win the game, at which point the Cooper Associates County Ground erupted.

Somerset were on their way back to Edgbaston for their fifth successive T20 finals, and the man responsible was Sean Di,ckso,n who two years ago helped the Cidermen to lift the trophy. If he continues in this, then this is to say that we won’t all be singing Somerset La La La on Saturday. Dickson ended unbeaten on 71, which he scored from 26 balls with five 4s and six 6s, Somerset winning by four wickets with a ball to spare.