Gregory leads from the front for somerset

All-rounder Gregory, alongside Tom Abell, staged a whirlwind stand of 60 in 30 balls as the Cidermen successfully chased down Essex’s earlier score of 193 for six.

Abell top-scored with 55 from 36 balls, while Gregory smashed 44 from 22 deliveries as Somerset reached their target of 194 with five balls to spare in a repeat of last year's final.

Tom Banton, Will Smeed and Sean Dickson also made useful contributions to give a sell-out crowd an evening to remember under the Taunton floodlights.

Banton displayed aggressive intent by driving Aaron Beard over long-on for six and then collecting sumptuous cover-driven fours at the expense of Daniel Sams and Ben Allison. Smeed pulled Allison to the boundary and then mustered a brace of sixes in plundering 20 from Paul Walter's first over and Dickson brought up three figures with a straight-driven six off Matt Critchley.

Playing against his former county, Essex batter Dean Elgar top-scored with 77 from 51 balls on his return to the West Country, accruing eight fours and two sixes and sharing in stands of 67 and 58 with Adam Rossington and Jordan Cox for the first and third wickets respectively.

Rossington contributed 32 and Cox 30, while Gregory returned figures of 3-42 off four overs in what was an excellent individual performance with bat and ball.

It was the perfect start for the defending champions, who have now won their last nine matches in the short format, while Essex have work to do after losing their opening two matches.

Post-game, Gregory – who picked up the man of the match award selected by the Sky Sports pundits – said: “We’ve not had too much prep leading into this with seven championship games in eight weeks, so it’s nice to start with a win.

“Playing here, a lot of guys have played a lot of cricket, so you know that 10, 11, 12 an over is pretty achievable here at Taunton. I thought Tom Abell held the innings together beautifully and we had a few cameos around him, which obviously helped a lot. In the end, I thought we managed to get over the line fairly easily.

Gregory also reserved special praise for newcomer Riley Meredith, who impressed on his T20 debut for the club.

“I thought he bowled fast, he bowled smart and he’s an exciting prospect. He gives you something different, he adds pace to our attack, but he’s slotted into the changing room brilliantly.”

That said, Somerset have a glut of talent at their disposal in this format of the game and the captain is hopeful his side can continue to deliver in the competition as they look to become the first side ever to defend their title.

“Where we are lucky is we have matchwinners from one to eleven. Each week someone is going to put their hand up and that is what good team do, guys and individuals put performance in when you need it.”

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