Champions League T20: Steve Snell steers Somerset to win

Champions League Twenty20 qualifier, Hyderabad:

Somerset 126-6 (20 overs) beat Auckland 125-7 (20 overs) by four wickets

Match scorecard
Steve Snell

Steve Snell keeps wicket for Somerset in their T20 opener in Hyderabad

Steve Snell was Somerset's unlikely hero as they began their Champions League Twenty20 campaign with a last-ball four-wicket victory over Auckland.

Sussex batsman Lou Vincent hit 47 as Auckland set a target of 127-5.

But Snell, who has spent this summer playing Minor Counties cricket, helped James Hildreth rescue Somerset from 64-5 with a stand of 61.

With two needed from two balls, Hildreth was run out, leaving captain Alfonso Thomas to hit the winning run.

Snell finished on 34 not out, the stand-in Somerset wicketkeeper's knock coming from just 24 balls, while Hildreth made 34.

Somerset were without both first-choice keepers, Jos Buttler and Craig Kieswetter, who are on England duty .

Instead, they turned to former Gloucestershire keeper Snell, who, after turning out for Minor Counties side Hertfordshire this summer, made his Somerset debut in late August in a CB40 game against Essex before playing in a County Championship game with Hampshire.

Somerset's dramatic victory, which knocks out Auckland, means that they can guarantee qualification from Pool B if they beat Kolkata Knight Riders in their second game on Wednesday.

However, defeat could even take them through if they end up with a superior record to the runners-up in Pool A, which includes current Friends Life t20 champions Leicestershire .