Record-breaker Kyle delighted to spoil Somerset’s party ‘by a long way’

Kyle Abbott of Hampshire celebrates one of his 17 wickets against Somerset | Getty Images

KYLE Abbott was delighted to put a serious dent in Somerset’s bid to win a first ever Championship title.

The South African was still smarting from seeing Somerset players celebrate winning the Royal London Cup final at Lord’s in May after beating Hampshire.

‘They were under huge pressure, they are young guys searching for their first championship; we had nothing to lose,’ Abbott stated after his record book shredding 17-86 match haul.

‘Would I prefer to finish third or spoil Somerset’s party? I wanted to spoil the party by a long way.

‘They celebrated against us at the Royal London One-Day Cup final so we wanted to give them some hard work for next week against Essex.

‘It hasn’t quite sunk in. It is pretty incredible. Yesterday I didn’t think I’d take nine and I didn’t think I’d take eight today.

‘I reckon that is the best I can bowl. Everything I wanted to do worked. It just happened to be one of those days – it was incredible.

‘It only takes one or two balls to think that I’m in it. Once I hit my length at my optimum speed then from there it puts my mind in a different space.

‘As soon as I pick up that feel it started to click – I had that every over in this game.

‘At 86-0 we were just thinking if we get one of the openers and the captain (Tom Abell) that was the goal.

‘The Abell wicket today was my favourite - we wanted to target him.’