Rilee Rossouw blitzed his way to a career-best 156 to help Hampshire beat Somerset by four wickets in the Royal London One Day Cup clash at Taunton.

The left-hander struck an exceptional century, his innings coming off just 113 balls, to help his side to victory with more than 12 overs to spare.

The comfortable chasing effort came in reply to Somerset’s below-par 249, which included three wickets for Gareth Berg (3-44) and two each for Fidel Edwards (2-57) & Mason Crane (2-66).

After winning the toss and electing to field first, Hampshire began impressively courtesy of Edwards and Kyle Abbott (1-35).

Both bowlers claimed a wicket in their first over to see Somerset reduced to 2-2 after two overs, before Dean Elgar (78) and Peter Trego (55) each notched half-centuries to lead the hosts' recovery. 

Trego departed at the hands of Berg shortly after though and James Hildreth (3) soon also followed suit.

Craig Overton and Josh Davey fell cheaply during the middle-overs and when Elgar was out for 78 trying to run Crane down the third man Somerset found themselves 224 for nine. Jamie Overton (28) tried to add to the total but on 28 he was bowled by Edwards and Somerset were all out for 249 off 44.2 overs. 

After losing Tom Alsop in the opening powerplay with the score on 20, Hampshire recovered courtesy of a 114-run partnership between Rossouw and James Vince (35).

Rossouw scored his runs freely and raced along to a half-century before duly kicking on to reach a stunning century - a boundary to square cover off Van der Merwe taking him to the feat which came from just 73 balls with 17 fours and a six.

The 27-year-old continued to find the boundary with ease and passed 150 in just the 31st over to record his highest List A total.

Hampshire were within touching distance of their target when Jamie Overton, who had suffered in his earlier overs, returned and picked up four quick wickets, including that of Rossouw.

But by that time the outcome was a formality, Lewis McManus (21*) sealing the victory with consecutive sixes, as the visitors became the first team to beat Somerset this season in this competition.