Pettini delights for Essex

Mark Pettini made 87 for Essex

Essex booked a semi-final tie at Durham in the Friends Provident Trophy after thrashing Somerset by seven wickets at Chelmsford.

After bowling out the visitors for 193 in the final over, Essex raced to their target in the 35th over on the back of Mark Pettini’s 87 and an unbeaten 51 from Ravi Bopara.

A place in the last four was sealed as a result of them finishing in second spot in the South Conference behind Hampshire.

Essex secured their trip to Chester-le-Street by virtue of a superior run rate to Gloucestershire after both counties had finished on 13 points.

Martin Saggers, on loan from Kent, quickly put Somerset on the back foot by removing Marcus Trescothick and Peter Trego in his opening spell.

That paved the way for man of the match Danish Kaneria to weave his magic.

The Pakistan leg-spinner picked up 5-32 in his 10 overs, including the prize scalp of Justin Langer.

The Aussie was the only Somerset batsman to bat with any real assurance, finding the gaps regularly to score 82 from 109 deliveries.

It needed something special to end Langer’s vigil and Grant Flower duly obliged as he clung on to a full-blooded pull at short mid-wicket to leave the batsman shaking his head in disbelief.

Flower had earlier taken a magnificent running catch on the mid-wicket boundary to get rid of Cameron White.

Justin Langer dominated his team's innings © Getty Images

Langer so dominated the visitors’ innings that none of his colleagues topped 20 and it soon became clear Somerset’s total would not be enough.

Pettini and Varun Chopra needed only nine overs to reach 50 and they had 74 on the board when Chopra was caught behind off Mark Turner.

Pettini and Bopara then added a further 62 in 11 overs before the former was caught off a top edge by Langer when 13 short of his century. He was so in charge that he scored his runs from 79 balls, with the help of a dozen fours and one six.

Flower was soon caught behind to provide left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell with his second success, but an unbeaten stand of 55 by Bopara and James Foster carried Essex past the winning post.

Bopara never looked in the slightest trouble as he gathered his 51 from 55 deliveries, an effort that contained three fours and a six, while Foster finished unbeaten with 21 from 26 balls.

Pettini, captaining Essex in the absence of the injured Ronnie Irani, was naturally delighted.

“At the beginning of the month, we reached a position where we knew we had to win our final three games to stand any chance of making it through to the semi-finals,” he said.

“And the fact that we succeeded says a lot for my players. They have been fantastic and this victory was probably the best of the three.

“Somerset have a very strong batting line-up but we fielded and bowled magnificently to stop them performing as we know they can.

“It’s great to be in the last four - but that is where we belong and I am confident that we can go all the way to a Lord’s final.”