Kieswetter's the hero as Somerset grab victory over Gloucestershire

Justin Langer almost lost his cap but Craig Kieswetter magnificently kept his head as Somerset ended their Gloucestershire hoodoo and qualified for the Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals.

Somerset CCC's Kieswetter has developed a habit of reserving his best for the big occasion and this Sky-televised game gave him the perfect stage to showcase his future international prospects with a quite majestic 84 from just 41 balls.

Visiting captain Langer had his hat whipped off his forehead as he led his team through the crowd to start last night's game.

But he snatched it back and had the last laugh as Somerset won by three wickets with six balls to spare.

Although no home batsman passed 36 and they were bowled out with three balls unused, 173 is an above par score at Bristol and the game looked over when Somerset were reduced to 23 for four in the sixth over.

Langer was first to go when he pulled a short ball from Steve Kirby into the hands of David Brown, the one fielder on the legside boundary.

And Marcus Trescothick also fell for one when he tried to force James Franklin through the offside and found Chris Taylor at backward point.

When James Hildreth hoiked Jon Lewis to midwicket for two and Kirby castled Zander de Bruyn for 15 the Somerset ship looked sunk. But a superb stand of 79 in seven overs between Pete Trego and Kieswetter brought their cause to life. Trego thumped three massive sixes on his way to 49 from just 26 balls but fell to a catch from Taylor.

Kieswetter completed a 27-ball fifty and took charge after Trego's departure. Even the loss of Arul Suppiah did not deter his hitting.

Gloucestershire bowled their overs too slowly and Somerset's cause was aided by the addition of six penalty runs and a near capacity crowd rose to acclaim Kieswetter when he cut Franklin to point with just four needed.

Earlier, Somerset's spinners had expertly pulled Gloucester back from 100-1 after eight overs to 173 all out in 19.3.

Kadeer Ali made hay at the start, crashing 33 from just 13 deliveries until he was yorked mowing at the next delivery.

After Willoughby's first over, there were four successive ten-plus overs as Hamish Marshall and Will Porterfield combined to add 63 in six overs.

Marshall fell for 36 when he cut Suppiah to point and failed to beat Hildreth's throw to the non-striker's end. The advent of spin slowed the scoring and also brought Porterfield's wicket as he fell for 32 (19 balls), plus that of Franklin.

And the collapse against the slow men continued when Brown tried to launch Suppiah only to fall short into the hands of Alfonso Thomas for one.

Thomas then removed Steve Snell and yorked Taylor for 23 next ball and Jon Lewis survived the hat-trick ball with a studious block before chipping Turner to deep point for five.

The catch of the innings did for Gloucestershire CCC's Kirby when Somerset CCC's Kieswetter held onto a flying edge also off Turner.