Somerset Sabres are still in the relegation zone after they were well beaten by Yorkshire Phoenix this afternoon in their Division One NUL match, where they came up against an in form Craig White.

Batting first Yorkshire scored 283 for 9 from their 45 overs, with White top scoring with 64 from 63 balls, and Anthony McGrath making 59. The former England man hit one enormous six that struck an unfortunate spectator who had to be taken to hospital.

Steffan Jones was the pick of the Somerset bowlers, ending with 4 for 72, whilst Paul Jarvis, who had been re-signed as a last minute replacement for Graham Rose ended with 2 for 54 from his 8 overs.

Facing a challenging total Somerset lost Peter Bowler early on, but Ian Blackwell score a quickfire 30, which included 4x4's off Chris Silverwood and a big six off Tim Bresnan, before he caught at point.

Skipper Mike Burns (49) and Keith Parsons (30) batted well together, and the Sabres seemed to be getting themselves into a good position. But then White was brought into the attack, and took five quick wickets to see the Sabres all out for 148 with 18 overs to spare. White ended with 5 for 19 his career best in the NUL National League.

After the game Kevin Shine told me: "This was a very poor day for us. We didn't bowl as well as we should have, and let them score at least 50 too many runs."

He continued: "Facing that total we had to push hard from the start and we lost Peter Bowler early on. `Blackie' played a good innings, and we tried playing Paul Jarvis as a pinch hitter but that didn't work. Mike Burns and Keith Parsons played well, but then they brought Craig White on. Bowling cutters on a dry pitch he was hard to play."

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