SAM DALLING AT TAUNTON: Two sides separated by net run rate in last season's One-Day Cup table were kept apart by far more on this occasion. These games happen. It is the nature of professional sport.
You know those days where everything comes off? Well, Nottinghamshire had one of them. From the moment Haseeb Hameed won the toss and inserted Ben Green's Somerset everything went his way.
Within an hour, any form of contest felt unlikely, Zak Chappell picked up a trio of early wickets to leave Somerset in tatters. Matt Renshaw was superbly caught at third by Dane Paterson, Lewis Goldsworthy dragged on and James Hildreth nicked a beauty behind. From three overs, Chappell had 3 for the cost of 10 runs.
He will depart Trent Bridge for Derbyshire at the end of the season in search of more overs. But it is a non-acrimonious departure; depth in the quick bowling stocks makes the parting mutual, meaning Chappell is very much in Nottinghamshire's One-Day Cup plans.
Dane Paterson - introduced first change, as if to tease the opposition - picked up a wicket in his first over, George Bartlett wafting and being caught at slip. With Brett Hutton having already removed Steve Davies, Somerset were 17 for 5. The game was all but gone.
Ben Green's side were on the backfoot from ball one (Harry Trump/Getty Images)
A 45-run partnership between James Rew and Green gave a short period of calm, the former the only Somerset player to emerge with any credit. Rew has been held in high regard for a long time at Taunton and it is easy to see why. He has taken to professional cricket like a politician to misleading comments: seamlessly and convincingly. When he departed, he was two short of a deserved half-century, having hit half a dozen pleasing boundaries.
Hameed's captaincy was excellent throughout. He was appointed last summer but played just two games owing to an England recall. This season he will steer the ship throughout and, while he may not give the pirate-themed pep talks of his predecessor Pete Trego, his fields and bowling changes were spot on.
Why use five bowlers when four will do? No point in planning for overs 40-50 when the opposition are five down inside nine. Chappell (3), Hutton (2), Paterson (3) and Patterson-White (2) ensured there was no need for Fateh Singh or Lyndon James to even warm up. Two slips, if not three remained virtual ever-presents, as did fielders at fine-leg and third. Why give Somerset the easy release of a streaky boundary? Better just give them one.
"Budinger's final four sealed victory, exactly 12 overs into the innings. Two from two now for the Outlaws, who have the depth to suggest they will be a force in this competition"
By the break, even the most ardent of Somerset supporters would have struggled to believe victory was possible, and most pragmatic Notts expecting an unlikely defeat. Miracles do, apparently, happen but not often and 120 was never likely to cause a formidable line-up many issues.
And Sol Budinger and Ben Slater cut through the chase. Although, by then it was very much the hare trying to pass a bandaged-up tortoise. Both played freely, without pressure. Largely because they were not under any.
Such is the power of Trent Bridge's white ball stocks, neither really gets a look in during the Blast. Slater has made four appearances since joining Nottinghamshire, while Budinger has played a handful of games. But with the likes of Alex Hales, Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke all elsewhere, they have an opportunity.
Slater finished with an unbeaten 50 from 46 balls. He helped himself to nine boundaries, two of them sixes, including a tone-setting 14 off Jack Brooks’ first over. A pair of short balls were dispatched, and the overcompensation was driven square. He now averages 55.78 in 50-over cricket, from a not insignificant sample size of 42 knocks.
Ben Slater helped get Notts over the line in double-quick time (Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Budinger was even more spritely. He knows just one way to play. It is his way and a method that will get backsides on seats, and then up off them again. There were glimpses last season and this was another promising showing. His 62 not out took just 29 balls, with 10 fours and a pair of sixes.
One was a nonchalant ostrich-legged flick off Sonny Baker, the other an authoritative pull from the same bowler. There were also a couple of swings from the hip that, had he connected, would have sailed over and beyond the River Tone. At times, he is like a golfer teeing off, hitting a dozen boundaries along the way.
Budinger's final four sealed victory, exactly 12 overs into the innings. Two from two now for the Outlaws, who have the depth to suggest they will be a force in this competition. Home in time for tea: that will do nicely. Last season, the two sides were separated in the final group by net-run-rate. Today, they was a vast chasm.
And so it was not even 3pm when the crowd dispersed. These games happen. It is the nature of professional sport. But the timing, given the ongoing friction between two parallel competitions and the member's forum held post-play, was hardly helpful.
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