Somerset pull off record chase against Hampshire to claim T20 Blast title
Will Smeed, with the help of some late-night umpty from Sean Dickson and Lewis Gregory, carried Somerset to a thrilling victory in the T20 Blast final, as they hauled in a record-breaking run-chase against Hampshire that one moment silenced the crowd, the next had them roaring each pin ball flying into, or sometimes over, the stands.“It’s unbelievable,” said Smeed as the smoke from the celebration fireworks drifted into the night, 94 runs in one pocket, player-of-the-match award in the other.“We set out at the start of the year to win the competition, and we’re glad we’ve done that.We’ve got match-winners one to 11.There’s a lot of role clarity.
“Nights like this are so special,Edgbaston is an amazing place to play,The atmosphere is always great and it felt like a home game tonight,I think the most special thing is playing with your mates and helping them succeed,There is an amazing spirit in this squad and I think we’re going to have a great night!”The final was a battle of T20 big boys – with both Somerset and Hampshire on their 11th visit to Edgbaston – canny experienced campaigners.
Smeed’s 94 off 58 balls had kept Somerset in the hunt to catch Hampshire’s 194 for six, even after Tom Kohler-Cadmore, in sparkling form, was bowled by an 88mph yorker by Sonny Baker – back in the limelight after his England debut,And even in the tricky middle overs as the runs dried up and the clock ticked down – with six overs to go, an imposing 76 were needed,Sean Dickson, in his last game for the club before moving to Glamorgan, was dropped by Scott Currie on seven, a lease of life that proved bad news for Hampshire as he and Smeed dragged Somerset to within 18 runs before Smeed crunched the ball to James Vince on the boundary,The pendulum might have swung, but Lewis Gregory’s sealed the deal with 18 in five balls and an over to spare, to bring Somerset their third Blast trophy – level with Hampshire and Leicestershire – and their second in three years,“We did it the hard way,” said Gregory – but no one minded, least of all the spectators roaring Blackbird in the stands.
If Blast finals day hasn’t got the cachet it once had with the rise of the Hundred and franchise tournaments round the world, not to mention the scheduling squeeze, then no one at the ground had told the enthusiastic if occasionally dishevelled crowd, belting out a succession of stadium anthem specials, or the players whose despair, joy or fury was shown on the big screen, and who played entertaining cricket over 11 hours.It was the end of a difficult week for Hampshire, who were deducted eight points for an unfit pitch to put them in relegation danger in the County Championship, and learned that they would lose the services of their head coach, Adrian Birrell, after seven years at the club.It had looked their game to lose at the halfway stage after James Vince, with his usual casual rakishness, and Toby Albert, touch-perfect as befits the Blast’s leading run scorer in 2025, gave Hampshire a blazing start in a partnership of 97.They had both slotted fifties in their same over – Vince’s 46th in T20 Blast games – when Vince was caught.James Fuller followed soon afterwards but Albert pressed the accelerator, four times reversing his wrists and reaching the rope, a whirlwind of trick shots until Gregory finally sent him on his way for 85.
Benny Howell kept up the momentum and Hampshire finished with the second highest score in Blast history.But it wasn’t quite enough.Sign up to The SpinSubscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s actionafter newsletter promotionEarlier, Australian Chris Lynn had flamed the first T20 Finals Day hundred to take Hampshire through and ruin Northamptonshire’s hopes of repeating their quarter-final miracle.Lynn moved from 78 to 108 in the space of one devastating over, sending Lloyd Pope into a Hollies Stand of ecstatic sombreros and swaying bananas with five successive sixes.He finished 108 not out, hitting every one of Hampshire’s 11 sixes to carry them to a six-wicket Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method win.
Somerset romped to a 23-run victory in the first semi final, beating an underpowered Lancashire, with Jimmy Anderson but without England’s Luke Wood, Phil Salt, Jos Buttler and Saqib Mahmood, and the overseas players Ashton Turner (back in Australia) and Chris Green (at the Caribbean Premier League).Lancashire’s chase had hinged on Liam Livingstone, whose disbelief when the third umpire upheld the onfield lbw decision when he was on 29 suggested a tickle of bat.When Lancashire retired out George Balderson only for his replacement Tom Hartley to hit his first ball straight to long-off, the die was cast.
Larry Ellison briefly overtakes Elon Musk as world’s richest person
US tech billionaire Larry Ellison is neck-and-neck with Elon Musk in the contest to be the world’s richest person after briefly overtaking the Tesla chief executive on WednesdayEllison’s wealth surged after Oracle, the business software company in which he owns a stake of 41%, reported better than expected financial results.Oracle shares rose by more than 40% in early trading, at one point valuing the business software company at approximately $960bn (£707bn) and Ellison’s stake at $393bn, just ahead of Musk’s fortune of $384bn, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index. However, Ellison’s lead was short-lived as the stock closed at $328, a rise of 36% valuing Ellison’s shareholding at $378bn and putting Musk back ahead.The pair sit comfortably ahead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.Ellison, 81, also has other sources of wealth, including a stake in electric carmaker Tesla, where Musk is chief executive, a sailing team, the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament, and an island in Hawaii, according to Bloomberg
Snapchat allows drug dealers to operate openly on platform, finds Danish study
Snapchat has been accused by a Danish research organisation of leaving an “overwhelming number” of drug dealers to openly operate on Snapchat, making it easy for children to buy substances including cocaine, opioids and MDMA.The social media platform has said it proactively uses technology to filter out profiles selling drugs. However, research by Digitalt Ansvar (Digital Accountability), a Danish research organisation that promotes responsible digital development, has found evidence of a failure to moderate drug-related language in usernames. It also accused Snapchat of failing to respond adequately to reports of profiles openly selling drugs.Researchers used profiles of 13-year-olds and found a multitude of people selling drugs on Snapchat under usernames featuring keywords such as “coke”, “weed” and “molly”
Skip Apple’s new iPhone – five tips to make your old phone feel new again
On Tuesday, Apple announced the iPhone 17 series with the usual spate of new features, including a thinner design, improved displays and a camera with 4x optical zoom. If you’ve been getting frustrated with your old phone, or just tired of it, the lithe new model may look exactly like the device you need to launch your budding photographic career, reconnect with long-lost friends and maybe even save your life in an emergency.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
How to Save the Internet by Nick Clegg review – spinning Silicon Valley
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Apple debuts thinner, $999 iPhone Air at ‘awe-dropping’ annual product event
Apple debuted its latest iPhone on Tuesday, trumpeting the smartphone’s slimmest design yet. The device, named the iPhone Air, is one of several upgrades the company unveiled at its annual product showcase, promoted with the title “awe-dropping”. The event kicked off at 10am PT with the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, speaking in front of its Cupertino headquarters.“Design is at the core of everything we do,” Cook said. The CEO touted the company’s thin iPhone, which sports a width of 5
How Google dodged a major breakup – and why OpenAI is to thank for it
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you as I finish the audiobook version of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, which I can’t say I found compelling.In tech – artificial intelligence is having its day in court with an 11th-hour appearance in Google’s landmark antitrust trial and Anthropic’s major settlement with book authors.Google dodged a catastrophic breakup, and it has its biggest competitor to thank for that, according to the judge who could have forced the tech giant to sell off Chrome, the most popular web browser in the world, and perhaps Android, the world’s most widely used mobile operating system.Amit Mehta, who ruled in 2024 that Google had built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the internet search business, said last week that he would not force the most drastic remedy on the tech giant
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