(REUTERS) WEST Indian Twenty20 star Kieron Pollard marked his Somerset debut by single-handedly destroying Middlesex under the lights at Lord’s. Pollard smashed seven sixes and as many fours in an unbeaten 89 off 45 balls, having already taken three for 26 with his medium pace, as Somerset chased down Middlesex’s 155 for six to win the Friends Provident Twenty20 clash by five wickets with 13 balls to spare.
But it proved another unlucky night for Australian legend Adam Gilchrist, who fell to the 13th ball of the match for a duck after the Panthers won the toss and elected to bat first.
A tricky surface that assisted former Middlesex favourite Murali Kartik in particular made shot-making tough early on – as Gilchrist found. In aiming to push a drive straight past bowler Ben Phillips, he miscued to give a return catch.
A useful left-hand/right-hand partnership between Scott Newman (26) and Neil Dexter (29) took the hosts through to 46, some 20 of which came in one over of medium-pacers from Zander de Bruyn.
Dexter, who clubbed two fours and three sixes in his cameo 29, went in the ninth over to a looping catch at short mid-on by Marcus Trescothick off the bowling of another former Middlesex all-rounder, Peter Trego.
Newman followed him back to the pavilion two overs later when he drove on the up to Jos Buttler patrolling the extra cover boundary, bringing together Owais Shah and Eoin Morgan for an enterprising stand of 53.
Morgan raised the home 100 with a six into the Tavern Stand but Shah (24), having helped take 12 from Kartik’s final over, clipped to deep mid-wicket to make it 121 for four.
In the quest for late runs, Gareth Berg (five) went when making room to an Alfonso Thomas yorker and Dawid Malan (eight) skied to mid-on off Pollard, leaving Morgan to nudge the scoring rate above seven with an impish unbeaten 48 from 30 balls.
The Sabres made a dismal start to their pursuit when England’s Twenty20 World Cup winner Craig Kieswetter top-edged a towering catch to Gilchrist then Marcus Trescothick, with 20 from 15 balls, was run-out to make it 25 for two after only four overs.
James Hildreth had turned a ball from Tim Murtagh towards mid-wicket and set off for a single but Trescothick was slow to respond, allowing Murtagh to follow through and throw down the stumps.
Somerset starlet Buttler (one) walked across his stumps in aiming an audacious flick over short fine leg only to have his stumps re-arranged by Pedro Collins.
When Hildreth (five), cutting hard at Murtagh, picked out Tom Smith at backward point to make it 31 for four, Middlesex scented victory – but Pollard had other ideas.
Though Trego was run-out for 16, the all-rounder sacrificing his wicket when called through for a suicidal leg-bye to mid-wicket, Trinidad and Tobago star Pollard ensured the Sabres coasted home to their first win of this season’s campaign in style.