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The Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) has relaunched its anti-racism campaign in the wake of recent controversies that have affected English football. Although there have been no reported incidents comparable to those involving the Premier League footballers John Terry and Luis Suarez, the PCA’s assistant chief executive Jason Ratcliffe said it was a good opportunity to remind those involved in the game of their responsibilities.”There are no cases that we’re aware of but in light of some of the other incidents that are high profile at the moment, we thought it was a good time to make sure it was on people’s radars,” Ratcliffe said. “Over the last few weeks it’s come up in conversation. Thankfully we haven’t got any incidents but there’s nothing stopping us being proactive. We have had a campaign ourselves and we thought it would be timely just to remind everybody of those key messages.”The PCA’s announcement comes a week before Chelsea and England footballer Terry is due to appear in court on charges, which the player denies, of racially abusing a fellow professional. Last month, the English Football Association banned Liverpool striker Suarez for eight matches after the Uruguayan was found to have used racially insulting language towards Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.The campaign, which is supported by former England internationals Mark Ramprakash and Vikram Solanki, the PCA’s chairman, features an advert that will appear on posters in the dressing rooms at all county grounds. The text reads:When the ball hits the deck at 85mph
It doesn’t care what language you speak.
When it reverse swings into your leg stump
It doesn’t care where you grew up.
When it rips back through your gate
It doesn’t care what your religious beliefs are.
And when it traps you in front
It certainly doesn’t care what colour you are.
Neither should you.
“With other sports having high-profile, recent cases of racism, the PCA message is timely and clear,” Ramprakash said. “The game has a well-known reputation for strong on-field sportsmanship, but there are always lines that should not be crossed on or off the field. Racism is one of them, it’s just not acceptable.”The players’ association launched its anti-racism initiative in 2005, fronted by Gladstone Small, but decided the involvement of current players such as Solanki and Ramprakash would help to modernise the campaign. “We’re just making sure we bring it up to date, we get it back on people’s agenda and make sure we’re all aware of our responsibilities,” Ratcliffe said.Solanki added: “Cricket has a global multi-cultural society reflecting the general population and an ability to bridge social divides and prejudices. This acts as a reminder to all within cricket and the wider society that racism of any kind is unacceptable.”The PCA will continue to work with the ECB and the counties to promote the message and encourages players, spectators and officials to report incidents of racism.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMatthew Hayden scored 76 off 51 balls to help the Brisbane Heat reach 201•Getty Images

The Brisbane Heat have pulled off the upset of the season by holding on for a nail-biting three-run victory over the previously undefeated Hobart Hurricanes at the Gabba.It was top playing bottom leading in to the game but it looked anything like that as the winless Heat got off to a flyer, scoring a season-best 71 off the Powerplay, thanks to Matthew Hayden’s 76 off 51 balls and Andrew Robinson’s 44 off 28.The pair put on 100 for the opening wicket in just 8.4 overs before Robinson was run out by an athletic piece of fielding from Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.Part-timer Rhett Lockyear removed the dangerous Daniel Christian for 8 before skipper Peter Forrest’s 33 off 18 helped the hosts reach the highest score in the competition this season, 201.Jonathan Wells scored 24 off 18 and Phil Jaques got 27 off 22 to get the visitors off to a steady start, but several tight overs late in the Powerplay from Roelof van der Merwe and Michael Neser had the Hurricanes well behind the required-rate, which peaked at more than 14 runs per over.Nathan Hauritz then dropped a simple catch that Travis Birt had looped up to him at long-off when on just 31. Birt went on to make the Heat pay, scoring 74 off 36 balls, and combining with England international Owais Shah (69 off 44) for a blistering 141-run partnership to give the Hurricanes a chance at victory.The visitors required 16 off the last over and when Shah hit youngster Alistair McDermott for a boundary followed by a six, the impossible run-chase looked like it might just come off; the Hurricanes needed just four off two balls.But McDermott had other ideas, fielding brilliantly off his own bowling to dismiss Birt, who had been backing up, before dismissing Shah off the last ball of the innings, caught by Christian on the rope, to leave the visitors agonisingly short of an unlikely victory.The Hurricanes remain in top spot, with Shane Warne’s Melbourne Stars to visit Tasmania on Monday, while the Heat – despite their victory – remain anchored to the bottom of the ladder with an away fixture to the Melbourne Renegades their next challenge.

It was as inevitable as it was regrettable that another absorbing day’s cricket between Pakistan and England should be tarnished by more controversy.At a time when Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal should have been talking about the career-best bowling spell that had earned his side the initiative in the first Test, he was instead forced to defend the legality of his bowling action in the post-play media conference. It appears that games between these sides will always be plagued by one issue or another.Ajmal, utilising all his skill and variation, claimed 7 for 55 as England were dismissed for just 192. Though Ajmal gained little turn from a sluggish surface, there was just enough movement in each direction to send confusion through the English ranks. It was a masterful performance from a fine cricketer.There were no complaints from the England dressing-room. Matt Prior, the England wicketkeeper, could not have made it clearer. “It’s not something we’re concerned about,” he replied when asked what the England team thought of Ajmal’s action. “It’s not something we talk about. It’s nothing to do with us.”But there were murmurs from former players and members of the media that suggested the issue could well dominate the headlines in the coming days. A waft of sour grapes, perhaps?The debate was sparked by the former England captain turned pundit, Bob Willis. Willis made the point, a quite legitimate point in context, that England are putting themselves at a disadvantage by not encouraging their young cricketers to bowl the doosra, a delivery that is harder to bowl while maintaining the legal margin of 15 degrees of arm straightening.There’s some truth in Willis’ complaint. Very few English coaches encourage the doosra and one of the very few county players who could bowl it with any degree of control and bite, Maurice Holmes, was recently suspended from bowling and released by his county after doubts about his action were raised.”The delivery that I have a problem with is the doosra,” Willis said. “The ICC have accommodated this delivery; they changed the rules to allow these bowlers to bend their elbow 15 degrees, which is what makes it so difficult for the batsmen.”The authorities are now allowing these mystery spinners, unorthodox offspinners to bend their elbow to a degree. If they are going to be allowed to do that then England have to address this and decide whether we should be teaching our young spinners to bowl like that as well.”Prior, whose performance stood head and shoulders above his team-mates, refused to encourage talk about Ajmal’s action. Instead he thought his side had to take responsibility for a poor display with the bat, while acknowledging that any bowler with the ability to turn the ball both ways always presented extra difficulties. Neither did he think that Ajmal’s talk of a mystery new delivery – the teesra – had proved to be a successful mind game.”We have to hold our hands up,” Prior said. “We had a bad day at the office. It was a pretty good batting surface and the ball wasn’t really turning. We just played a few cross-batted shots when we should have played straight.”I don’t think Saaed got in our heads at all. Any spin bowler who spins it both ways is tricky. His wrist is pretty quick when he delivers the ball so it’s pretty difficult to pick him at times and that obviously plays on a batsman’s minds, but we have to deal with him a lot better than we did today.Ajmal also chose to rise above questions on the issue. “I’m just going to concentrate on my bowling,” he said. “Umpires and referees are responsible for judging my action. Such questions were raised with Saqlain Mushtaq [the former Pakistan offspinner], too, but we both played county cricket and there were no problems. It’s no problem for me that someone in England has questioned my action.”This was the best performance of my life. I just bowled wicket to wicket and, while I had a good day, England had a bad one. They are all good players and it would be wrong to say that England doesn’t play spin well. Andrew Strauss should have played off the front foot rather than the back, but I’ve worked hard on my bowling against left-handers and I’m very happy to have dismissed four left-handers today.”

Pat Cummins has added to Australia’s myriad injury troubles by revealing he carried a tender left heel home from his momentous debut in South Africa. ESPNcricinfo understands he is now in extreme doubt for the first Test against New Zealand in Brisbane.Unsurprisingly for an 18-year-old, Cummins showed some signs of fatigue during the second innings of the Johannesburg Test, and even though he recovered to claim a startling 6-79 and then strike the winning runs, the admission that he has a sore heel – a particularly stubborn ailment – has further complicated Australia’s selection planning for the Gabba.Still blissful following the dramatic victory at the Wanderers, Cummins wore the magenta of the Sydney Sixers at the SCG to mark 20 days until the start of the Twenty20 Big Bash League, but it was his fitness ahead of next week’s first Test against New Zealand at the Gabba that was the most pointed topic of discussion.”I pulled up a little bit sore after the game the other day, and hopefully I should be right to go but we’ll see what happens,” Cummins said. “My heel’s a little bit sore but it’s nothing too dramatic, and it is not going to leave me out … nothing too serious. There’s not really much you can do, you just keep icing it up. It isn’t going to be too much of a problem.”I don’t think they will [pick me] if I’m not fit to play. Every game for Australia is a massive thrill, and if you get the opportunity you want to be 100% to go. There’s new selectors and they sit down [soon] to talk, but I’m not sure of what’s going to happen and there’s a few other fast bowlers in a bit of doubt, so hopefully everyone’s fit and it’s a long summer ahead so there’s plenty of games to go.”Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh and Ryan Harris were already in various states of doubt for the match, and the newly-formed selection panel led by national selector John Inverarity is now likely to name its squad on Saturday or Sunday having taken further time to settle on a team.Of all the players at the selectors’ disposal, Cummins is perhaps the most outstanding prospect for the future but also the cricketer in need of the most careful management, so as to not let his fire burn out too early.”With any player they’ve got to be well managed and being a bit younger it is probably even more important,” Cummins said. “So it is great that they’re trying to look after me and all the young guys and we’ll see what happens.”I’m still fairly young, and a few people have told me that while you’re young you’re looked after a bit better. Hopefully that’s the case, but I don’t feel too much expectation or pressure going into the games and try to keep it relaxed and don’t take it for granted.”Though the youngest member of the Australian side, Cummins bowled like the most senior member of the attack in Johannesburg, adapting to the wide variety of scenarios and batsmen he faced. This was demonstrated best by a sustained and hostile spell to claim the critical wicket of Jacques Kallis early in the second innings.”Test cricket and Sheffield Shield cricket you’ve really got to temper your bowling,” Cummins said. “If you try to go 100 per cent the whole time you’re going to fall over, so it is all about trying to play to the conditions and try to do what you think is most effective. [Doing what the batsman likes least] is always the aim.”Kallis is a great player and someone I’ve probably looked up to coming through, he’s a great competitor, over 12,000 Test runs and however many wickets he’s got, to be able to just [compete with] him is unreal and to tear in and try to get his head off is a big thrill as well.”

Michael Hussey believes Australia will have the advantage in the first Test against a South African side whose key men have not played a first-class match in ten months. Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Mark Boucher have all had no first-class action since the New Year’s Test against India, one of the longest lay-offs possible in the modern game.You wouldn’t eat a braaied boerwoers that was that underdone. The Australians will be skewering them this week to see if they’re ready. The World Cup was South Africa’s focus during February and March, and then followed the IPL, the Champions League Twenty20 and the limited-overs games against Australia, preventing their players from turning out for their first-class franchises.In the same period, Australia won a three-Test series in Sri Lanka, before some players went home to play in the Sheffield Shield. The Australians also spent the past week in Potchefstroom, where they faced South Africa A in a challenging three-day encounter. On the other hand, South Africa’s stars have had to settle for domestic one-day cricket in the lead-up to the Test, which begins in Cape Town on Wednesday.It is far from ideal preparation, something Australia know all too well after they failed to ready themselves for the Ashes last summer and were thumped by a well-oiled England. Hussey was careful to avoid calling the South Africans underdone, but he said the solid base of first-class cricket Australia’s player had enjoyed recently was an advantage.”Definitely getting some first-class cricket is beneficial coming into a Test series, no question about that,” Hussey said. “For me personally I would love to have some first-class games coming into a Test series, so we can definitely have that as an advantage. But they have been playing some provincial cricket, some of their guys have only been playing Twenty20 which makes it tougher.”I look at it two ways, freshness is important as well, you can come in flying from the start, but the hard thing about Test cricket is maintaining that pressure and intensity the whole time. The more Test cricket you have as a base, you can maintain that pressure and intensity for longer periods. I’m not anticipating them being underdone, they will come out firing and they will be playing pretty hard cricket. Us having played quite a bit of cricket, hopefully we can maintain our intensity.”One of the key targets of Australia’s intensity will be the South Africa vice-captain de Villiers, who broke his hand six weeks ago while training in the Champions League. de Villiers has been ruled fit for the first Test and was hoping for a solid hit-out in Sunday’s one-day game for the Titans, only to be given out obstructing the field when the umpire adjudged he had got in the way of a run-out attempt.He will need to do plenty of work in the nets over the next two days to ensure he is comfortable for a Test against the likes of Mitchell Johnson, who broke both Graeme Smith’s hands in separate incidents nearly three years ago. Hussey said Australia’s aggressive fast men would give de Villiers a searching test.”I think we’ll have very specific plans for all their batsmen but that’s what Test cricket is all about – trying to put doubt in the opposition’s minds,” Hussey said. “We’ll be trying to test all their batsmen and it’s nice to have the personnel to be able to do it, they’re all pretty aggressive bowlers, apart from Copes [Trent Copeland].”It will be a tough challenge for [de Villiers] as well. Is the hand okay to start with, and he hasn’t played a lot of cricket. It is very difficult to come back one from a break and two from injury and play well straight away. He is a class player though and I would expect him, if he plays, to get better and better as the series goes on the more cricket he gets under his belt. He is a very important player for their team.Getting better and better as the series goes on isn’t that easy in a two-Test series, adding to the questions over South Africa’s preparation. If they fail to shed their rust in Cape Town, they have only one more opportunity. Hussey might not call them underdone, but the skewer will tell the story.

Dhaka Metropolis made a great start to their return to the National Cricket League with a six-wicket win over defending champions Rajshahi Division at the Shahid Kamruzzaman Stadium in Rajshahi. Dhaka Metro last played in the NCL in 2000-01 and the current side is a newly-formed one.Elias Sunny made his final claim for a Test place; his three wickets helped Dhaka Metro bowl the home side out for 193 in the first innings. Their reply wasn’t that strong though, and they managed only a 30-run first-innings lead, through half-centuries from Tasamul Haque (55), Asif Ahmed (71) and Shamsur Rahman (56).Rajshahi never recovered in the second innings and only Mizanur Rahman offered some resistance with an innings of 72 that took almost five hours. Dhaka Metro easily reached their 153-run target on the final day. Asif again top-scored with 47, which included five boundaries and a six; he took the Man-of-the-Match award for his performances in both innings.Chittagong beat Barisal by 105 runs in a low-scoring match at the BKSP Ground in Savar that finished in three days. Neither team managed to score 200 in either of their innings in the match.Legspinner Noor Hossain starred with the ball for Chittagong. The Dhaka-born Noor, who shifted to Chittagong, picked up seven wickets in the match, a rare feat for a spinner so early in the Bangladesh domestic season.Noor’s first three scalps were in the first innings when Barisal’s reply to Chittagong’s 187 lasted just 55 overs as they were bowled out for 129. Chittagong’s second innings was a one-man show: skipper Nazimuddin played his shots, hitting seven fours and three sixes in his 71, as Chittagong got to 191. Noor then took advantage of a wearing wicket and ran through the Barisal middle order to set up the victory.The match between Sylhet and Khulna at the Sylhet Stadium could have gone either way but ended in a draw. It featured the first century of the competition, with the hard-hitting Ezaz Ahmed hammering 100 from No. 8. Half-centuries from Sayem Alam, Golam Mabud and night-watchman Enamul Haque Jnr helped Sylhet reach 478 for 8 declared.But as it often happens with Sylhet, their 478-8 score came at a snail’s pace and although Khulna were bowled out for 273 (with Anamul Haque’s 126) and the hosts declaring their second innings on 167 for 6, Khulna were soon out of trouble on the final day as they pressed for a stalemate; Soumya Sarkar’s unbeaten 62 also helping their cause in the last two sessions.A maiden first-class century by Abdul Mazid and a second by Rony Talukder put Dhaka Division in a winning position at Bogra, but new additions Rangpur hung on for a draw on the final day.Mazid and Talukder added 191 for the first wicket in the second innings to set Rangpur a 375-run chase on the final day. They calmly avoided trouble and ended the game on 201 for 7 with allrounder Alauddin Babu remaining unbeaten on 61, to go with his first-innings effort of 76.Earlier in the first innings, Dhaka made a bright start helped by Saikat Ali, Raqibul Hasan and Taibur Rahman scoring half-centuries as they moved to 327. Apart from Alauddin, only Saymon Ahmed stuck around as the pair added 79 for the seventh wicket. Mosharraf Hossain, the left-arm spinner, took six wickets in the game while for Rangpur.

Mohammad Asif attributed his infamous no-ball in last year’s Lord’s Test to the abuse he received in the over from his captain Salman Butt, a court heard in London on Thursday.Butt’s lawyer Ali Bajwa QC hit back at those claims, though, by counter-accusing Asif of fabricating his story to justify the no-ball. In fact the 90-minute exchange between Asif and Bajwa sometimes brought laughter from the court as Asif stuck to his story against Bajwa’s grilling. Asif, speaking in broken English, often required the services of his Urdu interpreter.Asif was appearing in the witness stand for the first time on the 12th day of the alleged spot-fixing trial, and his lawyer Alexander Milne QC followed an introduction of his career with the nitty-gritty moment about the no-balls in question.Butt and Asif are facing charges of conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments following the Lord’s Test last year when they allegedly conspired with agent Mazhar Majeed, teenager Mohammad Amir and other people unknown to bowl pre-planned no-balls. Butt and Asif deny the charges.When discussing the tenth over at Lord’s in which Asif’s one questionable no-ball was delivered, on the sixth ball of the over, Milne asked his client if anything was said to him during this over. He responded by revealing how captain Butt had abused him when moving into a “suspicious” short, straight mid-off position.”He said run faster f*****, and went on to say something like ‘haven’t you slept’? Somebody kept shouting. I think Butt was saying things; that made me lose concentration.”Milne replied to that answer by asking Asif whether Butt’s comment was said in a funny way, pointing out that swear words can sometimes be used in a humorous, friendly way.”No, it wasn’t friendly,” Asif said. “It was unfriendly for a captain to speak like that to me, especially with my position in the rankings.” Asif went on: “I thought to myself that I had slept well last night so why is he saying these things. He was desperate for wickets but so was I.”Bajwa quizzed Asif on why he did not give this explanation in his initial police interview last year, when he told police officers that he had not been put under any pressure to bowl the no-ball.”I’m going to suggest to you that Mr Butt never referred to you as a f***** at that time or any other time,” Bajwa said. “Why didn’t you say at this point (in your police interview) that ‘my captain was putting me under pressure and that’s why I bowled the no-ball’.”Bajwa, who also accused Asif of “untruthfully downplaying” his relationship with the Majeed brothers, further said of Asif’s no-ball excuse: “That, Mr Asif, is a desperate invention by you because you fear that the jury won’t accept your story for bowling a no-ball.”Asif pointed out, referring back to his police interview, that he meant he was not pressured into bowling an intentional no-ball as opposed to the circumstances leading up to what he regards as an accidental no-ball.Bajwa, using a replay of the over, pointed out that Asif checked his spikes and had sawdust scattered on the crease afterwards and if he was blaming his captain he would have reacted differently by “glaring” at Butt and telling him how he felt.During the morning’s proceedings Milne also established through his answers from his client that Asif had minimal contact with Majeed. In fact although his older brother Azhar Majeed acted as his unsigned agent from 2006, bringing him two unpaid assignments in that time, he did not even meet Mazhar until May 2010 during the Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies.Asif told how Majeed frequently contacted him to sign a contract with his management company and would promise him sponsorship agreements with companies like GM (Gunn & Moore). Asif said he tolerated him because “GM was a big brand”. Apart from those conversations Asif also told of how he frequently rejected offers either from Butt or Majeed to go to dinners with them, as he preferred to dine with friends from outside of the team.Asif also denied ever having any knowledge of taking any money for the no-balls or even having any knowledge that other people had “an interest” in his bowling a no-ball.The fast bowler also claimed that journalist Mazhar Mahmood met him on two separate occasions after scandal broke, even though Mahmood denied any such meeting during the presentation of his evidence. Asif claimed that Mahmood introduced himself as solicitor Imran Sheikh, offering to help him and asking him many questions about the scandal.The defendant said that Sheikh later met up with him in Lahore and tried again to probe him for more answers of the scandal.The case continues.

East Africa Elite League

Rift Valley Rhinos and Rwenzori Warriors maintained their unbeaten records in the second round of matches, but there was a surprise defeat for Nairobi Buffalos, the form team of the opening games.To some extent the weekend was marred by the continuing dispute between the board players, who continue to feel they are in a position to negotiate better deals despite the national team’s feeble performances of late. As a result, several sat out the matches.At Nairobi Club, Rift Valley Rhinos were comfortable nine-wicket winners over Coast Pekee. Coast Pekee made 104 for 5 thanks largely to Peter Kituku’s 52-ball. However, the target was overhauled without much trouble with David Obuya (52*) and Mitesh Sanghani (31*) easing them home.Nile Knights restricted Kongonis to 84 for 6 in their 20 overs and eased to a six-wicket win with 13 balls to spare. Asadu Seyiga was the pick of the Knights bowlers, taking 3 for 14 to rip the heart out of the Kongonis middle order. But Frank Nsubuga took the Man-of-the-Match award for his 21-ball 33 not out.Nairobi Buffaloes never recovered from losing a spate of early wickets as they failed by four runs to chase down Rwenzori Warriors’s 135 for 8. Irfan Karim, Kenya’s Under-19 keeper-batsman, ensured the game went to the wire with a 43-ball 65 not out, and he appeared to have steered them home as Buffalos started the last over needing eight. But Brian Masaba only conceded three runs.

East African Cup

Rain put paid to two of the three second-round matches, with only the game between Rift Valley Rhinos and Coast Pekee going ahead. Coast Pekee, who have now lost all four of their matches across the two formats, may have wished it had not taken place after sliding to a 105-run loss.Rhinos cruised to 243 for 5, with the veteran Ramesh Mepani capitalising on a tiring attack to thump 66 from 50 balls late on. Coast Pekee, whose batsmen have found the competition too good for them, never mounted a challenge and were content to play out their allocation of overs, finishing on 138 for 8.

ScorecardPaul Horton’s magnificent unbeaten 95 guided Lancashire to a six-wicket victory over Gloucestershire in their Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Old Trafford.Horton combined in an unbroken run-a-ball 123-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Gareth Cross (66 not out) to guide the host to victory with seven balls to spare. Horton, who made 97 not out in Lancashire’s four-wicket win over the Gladiators at Cheltenham last Sunday, hit six boundaries in his 91-ball innings.The right-hander combined effectively with Cross, who produced his best score of the season, as their skilful placement ran Alex Gidman’s bowlers and fielders ragged to surpass the visitors’ 235 for 6.New Zealander Kane Williamson top-scored for the Gladiators with 64 while Ian Cockbain added 59, but it was their bowlers who failed to produce as Ed Young’s one for 37 was the best any of them could muster.Lancashire’s pursuit of their target had got off to a poor start when Karl Brown was caught at cover off Ian Saxelby in the first over. But skipper Steven Croft’s 21-ball 28 supplied early acceleration before Tom Smith and Horton added 56 for the third wicket in less than 10 overs.Although Smith perished at long on off Vikram Banerjee when he had made 29, and Jordan Clark was bowled by the impressive slow left-armer Young for eight, the arrival of Cross at 113 for four signalled a key revival in Lancashire’s fortunes.Williamson had earlier provided the backbone of Gloucestershire’s score as he managed 64 off 75 balls despite hitting just two boundaries. The promising 20-year-old New Zealander worked the ball around impressively as his colleagues struggled against the spinners on a slowish wicket.The Gladiators had reached 139 when Williamson was fourth out in the 29th over, leaving Cockbain and Jonathan Batty to take the attack to the home bowlers. The fifth-wicket pair accomplished their task impressively with Cockbain making 59 off50 balls – his second Clydesdale Bank 40 half-century in six days against the county he played for as a junior. Cockbain added 69 runs in under 10 overs with Batty before the Gloucestershire wicketkeeper holed out at long-on off Stephen Parry for 29. That gave slow left-armer Parry his third wicket of the innings as he finished with three for 40.It was, however, a poor evening for the Red Rose’s Pakistan seamer Junaid Khan, who took 1 for 54, as Gloucestershire rattled up 89 runs in the last 10 overs.

ScorecardJos Buttler smashed an unbeaten 72 from 45 balls as Somerset strengthened their chances of reaching the Friends Life t20 quarter-finals with a 15-run win over Gloucestershire at Taunton.A sell-out crowd saw the home side slip to 40 for three after losing the toss before Buttler, who hit three sixes and seven fours, added 57 in 7.4 overs with James Hildreth who made 34. Kieron Pollard then clubbed 31 not out to help put on a further 73 in 6.3 overs in a total of 170 for four.David Payne, who dismissed Marcus Trescothick second ball, was the pick of the Gladiators bowlers with 2 for 27. In reply, Gloucestershire were going well on 114 for two after 14 overs, Kevin O’Brien having made 34. But Hamish Marshall fell for 54 in the closing overs as the visitors collapsed to 155 for nine, with Murali Kartik taking two for 16.O’Brien and Marshall had put on 51 for the first wicket in just five overs. O’Brien hit five fours and a six in facing just 18 balls, while Marshall went on to face 44 deliveries, hitting five fours. It was spinners Kartik and Arul Suppiah, who took one for 21, who swung the game Somerset’s way, both extracting plenty of turn from the pitch.Pollard did his bit with three for 25 from his four overs, while Lewis Gregory claimed two for 35 and was responsible for three catches and a run out. Earlier, Buttler and Hildreth had been content to milk singles and twos as they launched Somerset’s recovery.But once Hildreth was caught behind off Jack Taylor, having faced 35 balls, Buttler went on the attack in devastating style. The 20-year-old has not been in the best of form this season, but that did not show as he struck the ball sweetly.Pollard would have been run out when he had made only a single had wicketkeeper Richard Coughtrie not dislodged the stumps before Hamish Marshall’s throw reached him.The big West Indian went on to strike one ball from Muttiah Muralitharan into the River Tone with a massive six over long on, to the delight of a sell-out 7,000 crowd who were able to celebrate a home success.