Somerset Sabres lost their opening NUL match of the season against Yorkshire Phoenix this afternoon at the County Ground in Taunton by the narrowest of margins.

The large crowds who turned out to support the special Golden Jubilee Match were not disappointed and were treated to some exciting batting from both sides that kept them on the edge of their seats right up until the last ball was bowled.

In a high scoring game, chasing the Yorkshire Phoenix total of 307 for 4 Somerset Sabres ended on 306 for 8 at the close of their innings.

After the match Somerset coach Kevin Shine told me: " This was a fantastic game and cricket was the winner,but to go so far and then lose by just one run is bitterly disappointing for us."

He continued: "We lost the game in the first half when we didn't field and bowl as well as we should and we probably gave away 20 runs, but we must look at the positives that have come out of the day. We have chased over 300 runs and come very close, which is a lot better than in the Benson and Hedges games when we didn't even get close."

The Somerset coach concluded: "There was some fantastic batting on display today out there from us, Ian Blackwell, Jamie Cox and Peter Bowler all played high class knocks, but at the end of it all we lost and the boys are feeling pretty down at the moment."

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