White shatters record
Source -
sportinglife.com
Somerset Sabres captain Cameron White set new standards for the Twenty20 Cup with an unbeaten 141 from 70 balls at New Road.
The 22-year-old Australian hit 14 fours and six sixes but could not prevent a fifth consecutive defeat for the holders as Graeme Hick countered with 97 not out in a three-wicket win for Worcestershire Royals.
A match with nothing on it for either team turned into a head-to-head between two batsmen who shared the previous competition record score of 116 with former Glamorgan player Ian Thomas.
While White's century against Gloucestershire last month came out of a record total of 250, his destruction of Worcestershire's bowling was in a more challenging situation after Matt Mason had taken two wickets in four balls.
With Somerset wobbling at 21 for three, White seized control with a sure-footed surge to 50 from 26 balls and then to his hundred from 55.
There was not a sign of a chance until he had made 109 and even then it would have been a remarkable effort if the diving Stephen Moore had got a hand to the ball before it clattered first bounce into the fence at long-on.
Two partners scored at better than a run a ball but were completely overshadowed by White's clean hitting.
Keith Parsons (22) eventually became a third victim for Mason with a loose drive to cover and James Hildreth contributed 27 to an unbroken stand of 101 in the last nine overs.
The last six yielded 60 runs and yet a total of 198 for four was not enough to hold off Worcestershire's charge to a second victory after losing their first five games in the zonal group.
The initial damage was done in a flailing partnership of 51 in barely three overs between Hick and Vikram Solanki, who hit two sixes in a 12-ball dash to 33.
The England one-day international played on to give Gareth Andrew the first of three wickets and Keith Parsons followed up Andrew's breakthrough with a tight spell of two for 27.
Replacing Parsons was the problem for the Sabres. Arul Suppiah was carted for two sixes by Roger Sillence and though he was stumped at the end of the spinner's first over, Zaheer Khan helped Hick over the finishing line with a full over to spare.
The 40-year-old Hick faced only 49 balls - less than half of the strike in the innings - but clinically hit 10 fours and four sixes to snatch the man of the match award from White.
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