Nottinghamshire fightback earns a tie

Nottinghamshire and Somerset fought out a tie in a dramatic Royal London Cup game at Trent Bridge.

The hosts posted 261 for 8 after being put in and Somerset finished on exactly the same score after Tim Groenewald and Alfonso Thomas scrambled a single from the final ball of the match.

Thomas was then run out going for a cheeky second run but the umpires confirmed they had called time as the ball had gone dead.

Somerset looked to be well on course for the win after an opening stand of 125 in 25.2 overs between Marcus Trescothick and Nick Compton.

However, once both had departed the Outlaws began to make regular inroads with Jake Ball taking 3 wickets for 57 runs in the fightback and Harry Gurney finishing with 3 for 62.

Seven runs were needed from the final over but Luke Fletcher held his nerve to earn his side a point.

``We thought north of 280 was probably par but our batsmen can't get 300 every week so us bowlers need to stand up," Gurney said. "I was beginning to wonder where my first wicket was going to come from but the yorkers started to come out right towards the end and I was always confident that Fletch would do the business in the final over.''

Trescothick, who went past 12,000 one-day runs during his innings, eventually fell for 61 and he was quickly followed back to the pavilion by Compton, who scored 68.

Colin Ingram then scored 50 from 51 balls but a late collapse denied the visitors the opportunity of building on their opening day victory.

Earlier, Notts had been indebted to a stand of 90 between Samit Patel and Riki Wessels after they had been reduced to 42 for 3.

Alex Hales, who scored a century in Nottinghamshire's opening match on Sunday, began in the same imperious manner, hitting his first three deliveries, from Lewis Gregory, to the point boundary.

Hales had blazed his way to 23 from 15 balls, with five sparkling boundaries, before nibbling at a ball he should have left to give Alex Barrow a routine catch off Thomas' bowling.

Michael Lumb and James Taylor fell to slip catches by Trescothick, who could also have had a third but spilled Patel before he had scored.

Wessels hit Groenewald for two huge maximums in the same over but the then followed Patel back to the pavilion as the hosts were reduced to 142 for 5.

Franklin's knock for the home side was as out of character, as it was necessary. Having plundered three sixes from only six deliveries in Friday's NatWest T20 Blast match at Headingley, he elected to show greater restraint and common sense this time.

The New Zealand international batted for almost two hours, faced 66 deliveries and hit only five fours, content to play second fiddle as Chris Read scored 42 from 48 balls.

Both Steven Mullaney and Fletcher fell to Gregory in the late pursuit of runs, leaving the bowler with figures of 3 for 54.

There were not too many concerns, bar the odd chancy single, for Trescothick and Compton as they remained together until the 26th over.

In the 31st over Trescothick ran Mullaney to third man for the single that brought up his 50 (from 52 balls, including four fours and a six) and also took the total into three figures.

The same over produced further drama. Compton reached his own 50 (from 66 balls including six fours), then Trescothick skied towards long off but Lumb - running round from the other side of the wicket - could not get a hand on it.

A succession of yorkers accounted for James Hildreth, Craig Overton and Alex Barrow but, despite a mighty six from Groenewald in the penultimate over, the spoils were shared.

The Outlaws have little time to reflect on the result as they travel to Cardiff to face Glamorgan on Wednesday.