Troughton and Trott Partnership Gives Warwickshire the Edge

Warwickshire booked themselves a place in the quarter finals last night, but not before a frozen scoreboard and a clatter of late wickets caused their fans unnecessary palpitations on the way to a sixth consecutive win. In the end both the umpires and the scoreboard agreed that they had got home with two balls to spare. After Worcestershire's win over Northampton, also last night, a home tie for the start of the knockout stages looks a formality, barring a slip-up against strugglers Glamorgan tomorrow night before the final round robin match, against Northamptonshire, on Friday.

Another all-round team performance should have seen Warwickshire home with ease after Jim Trougthon and and Jonathon Trott had laid the foundations with a second wicket stand of 89 - Warwickshire's best in the competition this season. Troughton took the lead, clipping fours and sixes off his legs, and when he departed with the score on 90 in the ninth over Trott took over and pushed the total to 126 before his attempted reverse sweep off Blackwell ended in a skied top edge to backward square leg.

However that was before Somerset throws starting hitting the stumps, 142 for three became 142 for five and the scoreboard computer blew a fuse in he 19th over. By the time things were put to rights, Warwickshire needed five off the last six balls and got there with a mixture of leg byes, overthrows and - finally a clumped straight-driven four from Mike Powell.

Somerset play at Northampton tomorrow and against Gloucestershire on Friday before their status is sorted out, but after six overs last night it looked as though they were steaming along at 68 without loss. Justin Langer was dealing almost exclusively in fours - not all of the off the middle of the bat - and Marcus Trescothick's form seemed to have rumbled on from last Sunday's 53-ball century against Worcestershire.

Trescothick twice put Chris Martin into the stand at long on and clipped him to mid-wicket to take 16 off an over. Langer went one better, using both edges of his bat to take 17 off Chris Woakes before Tim Groenewald arrived to stand the innings on its head.

Langer lost both middle and leg stumps and two balls later Trescothick chipped to long on and at 69 for two the innings stalled. Ant Botha and Ian Salisbury applied their usual strangle hold and the innings momentum vanished until Arul Suppiah and Omari Banks came together to add 66 runs at the end.