Jimmy Adams can appear too technically correct, too rigid perhaps, to excel at the one-day game. He has played all too little of the shorter format and statistics bear out his suitability to the first-class game. In 17 List A innings spread over seven seasons his top score was just 40. Here, though, in partnership with Michael Carberry and then Chris Benham, he ensured that Hampshire were abreast of the run-rate required to reach a relatively low Somerset total.

Adams faced 98 balls and struck eight fours, mostly driven stylishly through the off side or pulled with gusto. Carberry went leg-before to a full toss from Charl Willoughby, but Benham sensibly gave Adams as much strike as he could in a partnership of 95 before he was taken by Craig Kieswetter off Omari Banks. Victory was achieved in the gloaming after a short shower had reduced Hampshire's target to 186 from 37 overs.

Somerset's innings began chirpily, continued solidly and ended pretty dismally. Marcus Trescothick struck 25 off 13 balls and Justin Langer 40 with five fours and a six. James Hildreth and Wes Durston then added 82 in the middle of the innings, running hard between the wickets and pulling Imran Tahir, the leg spinner, to the square leg boundary.

For once, Tahir did not bowl particularly well on this slow pitch, which necessitated the ball being tossed up. Dimitri Mascarenhas, the Hampshire captain, did not bring on Liam Dawson, his other spinner, until the 33rd over, which was too late to introduce him, but Dawson performed markedly well, bowling Hildreth round his legs and having Arul Suppiah caught attempting too uppish a drive. His left-arm spin has not been utilised much this season, a decision that might well have contributed to the departure of Paul Terry as coach.

Billy Taylor, the unsung medium-pacer, bowled intelligently at the end of the innings, mixing up full-length balls outside off stump with shorter ones that cramped the Somerset batsmen for room. From 169 for four, looking as if they might reach an adequate total of around 230, Somerset finished with 197 for eight, not enough even on a rain-affected day.

Scoreboard

Somerset
M E Trescothick c Taylor b Balcombe 25
*J L Langer c Pothas b Taylor 40
C Kieswetter c Balcombe b Riazuddin 5
Z de Bruyn c Pothas b Taylor 12
J C Hildreth b Dawson 47
W J Durston b Balcombe 42
A V Suppiah c Adams b Dawson 3
O A C Banks not out 14
P S Jones c Pothas b Taylor 2
A C Thomas not out 4
Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3

Total (8 wkts, 40 overs) 197

C M Willoughby did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-71, 3-76, 4-87, 5-169, 6-174, 7-179, 8-184.

Bowling: Mascarenhas 8-1-46-0; Balcombe 8-1-39-2; Taylor 7-0-23-3; Riazuddin 8-0-30-1; Imran Tahir 6-0-47-0; Dawson 3-0-10-2.

Hampshire
M J Lumb c Kieswetter b Jones 10
J H K Adams c Jones b Thomas 86
M A Carberry lbw b Willoughby 29
C C Benham st Kieswetter b Banks 35
L A Dawson c Kieswetter b Jones 17
N Pothas not out 0
*A D Mascarenhas not out 4
Extras (lb 1, w 3, nb 2) 6

Total (5 wkts, 35.5 overs) 187

H Riazuddin, D J Balcombe, Imran Tahir and B V Taylor did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-68, 3-163, 4-177, 5-183.

Bowling: Willoughby 8-0-26-1; Jones 6.5-0-54-2; Thomas 7-0-31-1; Banks 7-0-32-1; De Bruyn 2-0-9-0; Suppiah 3-0-20-0; Durston 2-0-14-0.

Umpires: G I Burgess and B Dudleston.

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