\n<\/p>\n
Somerset can now proudly claim to be the team to beat in T20 cricket in England having made three finals in a row, winning two of them.<\/p>\n
Following their 2023 victory over Essex<\/a> it was a different story last season as they suffered an eight-wicket thrashing at the hands of Gloucestershire.<\/a><\/p>\n They appeared to be struggling to keep up with the required run-rate of almost 10 per over this time around before Smeed and Dickson turned the game on its head with a fourth-wicket stand of 88.<\/p>\n Smeed and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who made an outstanding 81 in their semi-final win over Lancashire, had got Somerset off to a lightning start, taking them to 46-0 in the fifth over when Kohler-Cadmore was bowled by Sonny Baker’s rapid yorker.<\/p>\n On a day where 44 sixes were struck, Kohler-Cadmore hit the biggest of them all when he swiped Chris Wood over the Eric Hollies Stand.<\/p>\n But a couple of overs later he was gone as young England paceman Baker yorked him with an 88mph beauty.<\/p>\n At 89-3 in the 10th over, the game was in the balance but Smeed continued to find boundaries, hitting 14 fours and a six in total.<\/p>\n Perhaps the crucial moment came in the 14th over when Scott Currie dropped Dickson on the boundary with the required run-rate above 12 an over.<\/p>\n Smeed chipped Currie to James Vince on the long-off boundary six short of a deserved century to give Hampshire hope before Gregory ended it in the same over with a four and a couple of leg-side sixes.<\/p>\n “The ball seems to fly here especially under the lights and the dew comes in so we always knew we had a chance,” Smeed told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.<\/p>\n “It was some proper hitting from Lewis [Gregory] at the end there as well.<\/p>\n “The guys have been unbelievable in the whole competition, different people have stood up in different games. <\/p>\n “I think that’s probably our strength, we’ve got match winners one to 11 and if it’s someone’s day they can get us over the line.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n