Meredith's first trip to Lord's yields career-best outing

Tasmanian and Hobart Hurricanes speedster Riley Meredith has claimed his career-best T20 figures in his first ever visit to Lord's to lead Somerset's rout of Middlesex for a record low of 78.

Meredith, playing his fourth match of the season for the southwest county, ripped through the Middlesex top order with 4-12 to help dismiss the hosts for their lowest ever total in the T20 Blast.

The 27-year-old express quick and new ball partner Craig Overton both sent down their four overs consecutively as they reduced Middlesex to 6-34 at the end of the eighth over after skipper Lewis Gregory elected to field first.

Meredith was the first to strike in the second over when Martin Andersson skied an attempted heave to the short boundary on the leg side.

Overton (2-21) and Meredith traded wickets across the next few overs as the Australian's pace proved too much to handle for Max Holden, Ryan Higgins and Joe Cracknell, who could do little but edge a searing delivery on its way through to keeper Tom Banton.

It was Meredith's second four-wicket haul in T20 cricket, bettering his 4-21 for the Hurricanes against Melbourne Stars in January 2019.

"We just kept it really simple," he said post-match. "Obviously there was a bit of bounce in the pitch and me and Craig at the top just bashed our length and (some) shot selection from them really helped us out with a few wickets.

"We were bowling well and taking wickets and Lewis (Gregory) thought we'd just keep going even though we were a little bit tired after the four (overs straight), but it worked out well.

"It was definitely a little bit spicy (but) I don't think it was a 9-50 wicket."

Josh Davey and Ben Green then took two wickets each as Middlesex lasted just 16.3 overs before Banton (49no) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (30no) ensured there were no hiccups in reply as Somerset romped to a nine-wicket victory to go top of the South Group with three wins from their five matches.

Meredith, in his first stint in the county T20 competition after missing the Indian Premier League for the first time in four years, is among the top wicket-takers this season with nine and a superb economy rate of 6.12 in his four appearances so far.

He said he was loving his time at Somerset with it nice to "tick off" a career milestone with his best return and equal second most economical four over spell.

"Just a really good day for us which is really pleasing," Meredith said. "It's a great group of guys, they've been really welcoming and they've made it super easy for me.

"That's probably the first thing I noticed when I first got here is it's really calm and composed and everyone knows what they need to do. Even though we had a couple of losses, it definitely didn't get us down."

Meredith's Somerset next face Xavier Bartlett's Kent and Marnus Labuschagne's Glamorgan at home in Taunton this weekend where they will be looking to cement their spot at the top of their pool.

Bartlett also enjoyed a day out against Middlesex last Sunday with 3-34 off four overs, but it couldn't get his side over the line as the north London county chased down Kent's 8-173 with four balls to spare.

T20 Blast standings

Round 1

North Group

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Warwickshire WAR	12	9	3	0	0	1.259	0	18
2 Lancashire LAN	13	7	3	0	3	1.273	0	17
3 Leicestershire LEI	13	6	5	1	1	0.179	0	14
4 Northamptonshire NOR	12	6	4	1	1	-0.318	0	14
5 Yorkshire YRK	13	6	6	0	1	0.085	0	13
6 Durham DUR	13	6	6	0	1	-0.413	0	13
7 Derbyshire DBY	12	5	6	0	1	0.195	0	11
8 Worcestershire WOR	13	4	9	0	0	-0.203	0	8
9 Nottinghamshire NOT	13	2	9	0	2	-1.981	0	6

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

South Group

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Surrey SRY	12	8	2	1	1	1.291	0	18
2 Sussex SSX	12	8	4	0	0	0.66	0	16
3 Somerset SOM	12	7	4	0	1	1.076	0	15
4 Essex ESS	13	7	5	0	1	0.253	0	15
5 Gloucestershire GLO	13	6	6	1	0	0.502	0	13
6 Glamorgan GLA	13	5	7	0	1	-1.207	0	11
7 Hampshire HAM	12	3	6	0	3	-0.649	0	9
8 Middlesex MSX	12	3	6	0	3	-1.572	0	9
9 Kent KEN	13	3	10	0	0	-0.958	0	6

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

Australians in the 2024 County Championship

Durham: Ben Dwarshuis, Ashton Turner (both T20s only)

Essex: Daniel Sams (T20s only)

Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne

Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Beau Webster

Hampshire: Michael Neser, Ben McDermott (T20s only)

Kent: Wes Agar, Charlie Stobo, Xavier Bartlett (T20s only)

Lancashire: Nathan Lyon, Chris Green (T20s only)

Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris

Northamptonshire: Chris Tremain (first four matches only), Ashton Agar (T20s only)

Somerset: Matthew Renshaw, Riley Meredith

Surrey: Sean Abbott, Spencer Johnson (T20s only)

Sussex: Nathan McAndrew, Daniel Hughes