D’Arcy Short posted a blistering half-century as Gloucestershire beat holders Somerset by seven wickets in a one-sided Vitality Blast contest at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.

Overseas star Short smashed 63 from 34 balls and hit three sixes and eight fours to help Gloucestershire chase down a victory target of 138 with 5.5 overs to spare and consign Somerset to a third straight defeat in the Central and West Group.

Gloucestershire won the toss and restricted their neighbours to 137 for 8, Marchant de Lange, Duan Jansen and Matt Taylor taking two wickets apiece to spearhead a near-flawless performance in the field. Lewis Gregory top-scored for Somerset, raising 33 in 28 balls.

Their batting line-up already denuded by injury, Somerset lost a wicket to the first ball, Matt Taylor knocking back Tom Banton’s off stump. When Jordan Hermann fell lbw to fellow South African Jansen, who sent down a wicket maiden, the visitors were 14 for 2 and in need of improvement.

Josh Thomas launched a counter-attack, smiting 21 off 12 balls before top-edging a de Lange delivery to short fine leg and the nagging Jansen returned to have Tom Abell held at short midwicket as Somerset limped to 33 for 4 at the end of the powerplay.

Lewis Goldsworthy and Thomas Rew attempted a recovery, but Gloucestershire conceded just six boundaries in restricting their rivals to 55 for 4 at halfway.

Goldsworthy then skied a catch behind off de Lange and departed for 11 as the home side continued to call the shots during the middle overs.

If Rew represented Somerset’s best chance of attaining a competitive score, the pressure told on the teenager, who pulled Matt Taylor straight to Joe Phillips on the square leg boundary, having raised 27 off 17. When Jack Taylor removed Daniel Sams without scoring, the holders were 79 for 7 in the fourteenth and up against it.

Salvation arrived in the form of a revitalising stand of 49 in 34 balls between Gregory and Craig Overton, these two finding the boundary with sufficient regularity to lift Somerset to a semblance of respectability. Gregory holed out to Phillips at square leg, but Overton remained at large to post 28 not out from 19 deliveries.

Overton then struck a blow with the ball, having Miles Hammond held at extra cover for 12. But the ultra-aggressive Short took full advantage of the fielding restrictions to raise a flurry of boundaries in a powerplay that yielded 61 and put Gloucestershire in control.

Clearly a man in a hurry, the Australian went to 50 from just 22 balls with seven fours and three sixes, only Overton among the seamers escaping punishment. Having contributed six in a second wicket stand of 56, Phillips skied a delivery from Sams to point with the score 74-2 in the eighth.

Short hit Sams to long-on and departed in the 13th, only for Jack Taylor to double down in a progressive innings of 34 not out from 21 balls to render the outcome a formality. Gloucestershire’s captain accrued two sixes and three fours.