SOMERSET'S T20 captain Lewis Gregory is back in the squad for Friday evening's match against Hampshire under the Taunton floodlights (6.30pm).

Gregory missed the humbling defeat at Canterbury on Saturday evening as he was with the England Test squad for a pre-Ashes camp.

The all-rounder was not selected in the XI for the ongoing Test against Ireland, however, and will now be available to take on the Somerset captaincy again this weekend.

Head coach Jason Kerr said: “Being with the England set up will have been a great experience for Lewis.

"It has shown him that he is not far away at all and given him a chance to look at how these guys train and go about their business.

"For us, questions will be asked about Saturday night as we need to learn from it - you won’t win many games losing six for 20.

“There was huge frustration on the journey home but it is far too early to panic and we were brilliant in the first game at Glamorgan.

“With the ball so far we have been good, not great, but I think we will only improve as the tournament goes on - as we did last year.”

Somerset, meanwhile, remain confident they will retain the services of Babar Azam, Peter Trego and Roelof van der Merwe for as long as they need them in the Blast despite all three signing up for the Euro T20 Slam.

The competition overlaps with the end of the Blast group stages and knockout rounds but Somerset are of the belief that the trio’s county commitments take precedence in the event of a fixture clash.

Somerset squad to face Hampshire: Lewis Gregory (c), Tom Abell, Babar Azam, Tom Banton, James Hildreth, Tim Groenewald, Tom Lammonby, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Ollie Sale, Jerome Taylor, Peter Trego, Roelof van der Merwe and Max Waller

Opposition in focus - Hampshire

Form - Hampshire have lost both their completed matches so far after their scheduled opener against Sussex was washed out.

The weather was kinder to them on Sunday but they were beaten at home by Kent, who chased down Hampshire’s 145-5 from the penultimate ball with two wickets to spare.

On Wednesday night, they lost by 14 runs in the reverse fixture at Sussex as their former seamer Reece Topley took 4-33.

Hampshire do not have fond memories of playing Somerset so far this season, having lost the Royal London One-Day Cup final at Lord’s before being on the receiving end of a 313-run County Championship drubbing earlier this month.

Key players - Two of England’s World Cup winning squad, James Vince and Liam Dawson, will be part of the Hampshire squad on Friday, while Sam Northeast has an excellent record against Somerset.

With the ball, Mason Crane is an effective T20 bowler and will look for a much-improved performance after a dismal Championship display in Taunton which saw his 36 overs cost 210.

Hampshire have loaned West Indian quick Fidel Edwards to Birmingham Bears for the first 10 matches.