Somerset stay alive

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

English County Somerset captalised on a limp display from Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) to carve out a 42-run win and remain in contention for the semi-finals of the Caribbean Twenty20 Championship on Thursday.

Choosing to bat first at Kensington Oval, Somerset were propelled to 165 for four by James Hildreth, who stroked an unbeaten 69, and Nick Compton, who got 44.

The CCC batting proved brittle and they never came to grips with the required run rate, losing wickets steadily to meander to 117 for seven from their allotted overs.

The CCC bowling was quite hospitable to the visiting Englishmen and top scorer Hildreth filled his boots with a commanding score from 58 balls with six crisp fours.

He shared a second wicket partnership of 90 off 74 balls with Compton, who hammered 44 off 37 balls with a pair of fours and sixes.

Peter Trego fell to the fifth ball of the innings for two when he spooned a catch to captain Romel Currency at cover point off fast bowler Gilford Moore, paving the way for Hildreth and Compton's heroics.

CCC made a poor start to their run chase, losing wickets steadily until the innings went into terminal decline.

Chadwick Walton cracked 24 not out from 21 balls with one four, while Ryan Wiggins hit 21 from 25 balls to be the principal scorers for CCC, but the batting fell away badly.

Somerset finished their campaign on eight points while CCC could only muster four points from their complement of games.