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Gladiators put Sabres to the sword

Gloucestershire Gladiators made it five points from their first three Twenty20 games with an eight-wicket hammering of arch-rivals Somerset at Taunton.

The hapless Sabres could make only 104 all out after winning the toss, Peter Trego sparing their blushes with 35 after they had been 50 for six in the tenth over.

Anthony Ireland claimed three for 10 and Carl Greenidge three for 20.

Gloucestershire made light work of their target, reaching 109 for two in the 13th over. Kadeer Ali hit 47 not out, while Chris Taylor hit an undefeated 48 to top score.

For Somerset it was a fourth straight defeat in as many games, having started the competition among the favourites.

Their big-name batsmen failed again, with Marcus Trescothick, Cameron White and Justin Langer contributing just 17 runs between them.

All were out to poor shots and that also applied to James Hildreth (17) and Wes Durston (13), who both hit long hops straight to mid-wicket.

Opener Matt Wood was unlucky to be caught behind down the leg side to start the rot in the second over, but the rest of Somerset's batting was feeble, with the exception of Trego, who hit two sixes and two fours in his 28-ball knock.

Gloucestershire backed up some accurate bowling with good ground fielding and one excellent catch by Taylor, running in from long-on, to dismiss Steffan Jones.

Kadeer and Craig Spearman gave the Gladiators a brisk start to their reply before Spearman fell for 12, pulling a Charl Willoughby full toss straight to Wood at deep square.

It looked as though a game might be on when Alex Gidman was bowled by the next ball from Willoughby, but Kadeer and Taylor put the pitch in perspective with some clean hitting.

Both hit two sixes in an unbroken stand of 83, Taylor finishing the game by clearing the ropes over mid-wicket from a Hildreth delivery.

Taylor faced just 29 balls for his 48, while Kadeer faced 36 deliveries. It was sweet revenge for the Gladiators, who conceded a world record score of 250 in the corresponding game last season, played exactly a year ago.

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