AN excellent maiden first-team fifty from Matthew Revis was not enough to save Yorkshire from a rain-affected Royal London Cup defeat against Somerset at Taunton.

A match reduced to 20 overs per side following a four-and-a-half-hour delay saw Revis, 19, recover the Vikings from 89-5 to 158-5 with the help of fellow teenager Will Luxton.

Revis finished 58 not out off 41 balls and Luxton 31 off 19, the pair sharing 69 from the final 7.2 overs of an innings which had earlier stuttered.

In reply, Somerset stalwart James Hildreth led his side’s chase with an unbeaten 61 off 34 balls, hitting the winning runs off the first ball of the final over to seal a five-wicket success.

After the players got out to the middle in preparation for an 11am start, immediate heavy rain delayed proceedings until 3.30pm.

When play finally got underway with 30 overs lost in each innings, it did so in bright sunshine.

Will Fraine uppercut a six in a brisk 23 at the top of the order, but he was one of two wickets for Kasey Aldridge - the seamer who was the only home bowler to go at more than eight runs per over. He conceded 46 in four overs.

Left-arm spinner Lewis Goldsworthy was the pick of their bowlers with 1-17 from his four on a pitch offering good pace and carry.

Harry Duke, Gary Ballance, Fraine and Jonny Tattersall all fell early (54-4 in the eighth over).

Ballance was bowled off his body by a back of a length Aldridge delivery before the same bowler had Fraine caught at deep backward square-leg.

George Hill and Revis shared 35 inside six overs to get the innings moving.

Hill, like Fraine, also found deep backward square for 23 - this time off Ben Green’s seam - as the score fell to 89-5 in the 13th.

But Revis and Luxton, the pair with only seven previous first-team appearances combined, turned things around superbly.

Revis was the dominant force as he pulled two sixes added to a quartet of boundaries. Luxton pulled one six and added three boundaries.

Within the lengthy delay for rain, members of the 3,200 crowd were treated to a Royal Marines unarmed combat display behind the stands and later a brass band rendition of Sweet Caroline on the outfield.

Given the unavailability of key players, it would be stretching the truth to suggest this was a warm-up ahead of respective Vitality Blast T20 quarter-finals at the end of this month.

The Vikings host Sussex at Durham and Somerset face Lancashire at Taunton.

But for someone like Revis, he has certainly shown he could do a job if called upon. Luxton is the same.

Ben Coad struck early in the Somerset chase to get former England wicketkeeper batsman Steve Davies caught at point, leaving the score at 22-1.

Twenty three runs came from Jack Shutt and Mat Pillans in the sixth and seventh overs combined as the home score moved to a healthy 53-1.

But Revis, with his seamers, continued his excellent day as he had opener Sam Young (25) miscuing to mid-on without further addition early in the eighth.

The hosts reached 10 overs at 75-2, needing 84 more with debutant James Rew and Hildreth together.

Ballance dropped a tough chance with Hildreth on 16 running back from mid-off off Matthew Waite’s bowling in the 11th.

Unfortunately, despite holding on at backward point to help Shutt remove Rew for 20 in the next - 82-3, it proved a key moment.

Hildreth reverse swept a four and six and drove Shutt for four more as 17 came off the 14th over.

From there, Yorkshire were unable to drag things back.

Hildreth reached his fifty off 28 balls, dominating a 66-run stand inside seven overs with Goldsworthy (21).

Even two wickets for Waite in the 18th, Goldsworthy and Ed Byrom, proved too late as Somerset fell to 150-5 and later needed one off the last over.

Hildreth finished with five fours and four sixes.

This marks the halfway point in the eight-match group stage, and Yorkshire have work to do to seal a place in the top three for knockout qualification.

They will aim to bounce back against Warwickshire at York tomorrow.

Harry Brook would have been a key player in this 50-over competition had he not been snapped up by the Headingley-based Hundred side Northern Superchargers.

His performances in the tournament so far have brought him to the attention of a wider audience, and he shone yet again at the weekend.

The Superchargers got their first win of the competition on Saturday evening, with Brook's 47 not out seeing them past the Oval Invincibles' total of 127-6 with three balls to spare.

Yorkshire bowler Adil Rashid, who hails from Bradford, took 3-13 to restrict the Invincibles to their below-par total.