County Championship 2022. Division 1. Somerset v Gloucestershire. 5^th, 6^th, 7^th  and 8^th September. Taunton.

Craig Overton and Jack Leach were unavailable for selection for this match due to being on international duty. James Hildreth had retired from professional cricket. Matthew Renshaw and Peter Siddle were no longer available as overseas players and were replaced by Imam-ul-Haq and Sajid Khan. Tom Abell, with the long Championship interregnum since the game against Essex, was fit again.

Somerset. Iman-ul-Haq, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, L.P. Goldsworthy, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory, K.L. Aldridge, J.H. Davey, Sajid Khan, J.A. Brooks.

Gloucestershire. B.G. Charlesworth, M.S. Harris, O.J. Price, M.A.H. Hammond, J.R. Bracey (w), G.L. van Buuren (c), J.M.R. Taylor, T.J. Price, J. Shaw, D.A. Payne, A.S. Dale. 

Toss. Somerset. Elected to field.

First day – W.G. has the edge

“I think that was the right decision,” someone who has played a lot of cricket said to me as the result of the toss was announced. As always, Somerset inserting the opposition left a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The situation, however, was not straightforward. “Given the forecast,” repeated showers of varying degrees of severity across the four days, “I suppose inserting them gives us the best chance of taking early control of the match,” my reply. In addition to the chequered forecast, the sky was overcast and there was a tinge of green in the pitch. But I reminded myself: inserting the opposition takes the pressure off their batters and transfers it to our bowlers. “I am always uneasy when we insert the opposition,” I continued the discussion, my predisposition to the W.G. Grace view of the toss pressing on my mind, “because inserting the opposition seems to backfire rather more often than it works, even where it seems justified.” I don’t know if the statistics support that view, but my anecdotal memory does. Guildford 2018 and Headingley 2019 being two crushing, and Somerset season-defining, examples that scar the memory.

As I made my customary anti-clockwise, pre-match circumnavigation of the ground I could not help a growing sense of unease. I rehearsed the arguments in my head even though the decision was made, the deed done, the die cast. This match was crucial to Somerset. A Somerset victory would make Gloucestershire odds-on relegation favourites, move Somerset out of the relegation zone and put their future firmly in their own hands. A draw, particularly in this season with its eight points plus bonus points, would do Somerset no harm, but a defeat would throw a lifeline to Gloucestershire, and leave both Warwickshire and Kent above Somerset in the table. Much might rest upon the outcome of the decision to insert Gloucestershire. And W.G. Grace was a Gloucestershire man.

When Ben Charlesworth drove the last ball of Josh Davey’s first over through the covers to the Ondaatje boundary with apparent ease it felt like the first incision of W.G.’s scalpel opening up Somerset’s defences. When Marcus Harris repeated the stroke off Brooks in the second over and the ball ran to the Somerset Stand boundary my doubts about the decision cast an ominous shadow over proceedings. That shadow was lengthened as Charlesworth and Harris continued to blunt the Somerset attack with little sign of penetration from the Somerset bowlers in response. The bat was beaten from time to time, but not often enough to build any sense of threat. Charlesworth edged Brooks, but the ball fell short of, and penetrated, the slip cordon before running to Gimblett’s Hill for four. Gregory did beat Charlesworth twice in an over with some lift, once finding the top edge of a pull but, as so often seems to be the case when the game is running against your side, the ball did not go to hand. Instead, it flew over the keeper’s head to the Trescothick Pavilion for four.

Where needed, Gloucestershire defended with some ease. Singles, twos and, particularly to the long Ondaatje boundary, threes began to flow as they pushed hard with their running. More boundaries too. Charlesworth twice drove through the covers for four, once off Brooks and once off Davey; and Harris, amidst an innings of intense, calculated defence, pulled Gregory to the deep midwicket boundary. It felt like Gloucestershire were overrunning the Somerset attack. Many of their runs came from drives as the Somerset bowlers stretched their length searching for the movement which they must have hoped the overcast conditions and 10.30 start would provide. As the historic clock on the Colin Atkinson Pavilion moved past 11.30, the Gloucestershire total reached 58 for 0 with the intensely focused Harris on 15 and the more adventurous Charlesworth on 35. For Somerset, only Aldridge, with figures of 4-1-4-0, had held Gloucestershire consistently in check. The confirming text from the cricketer, lately returned from an extended sojourn in South America and watching on line, said, “No swing. A little seam movement. Some occasional extra lift from back of a length. Gregory seems to have latched on.”

As the second hour of the morning began, Sajid Khan, Somerset’s new off spinning signing from Pakistan took up the attack. It felt like an acceptance that the decision to insert had not worked and a new approach was needed. He bowled from the River End, the traditional spinner’s end at Taunton. “Khan looks like he puts a lot of revolutions on the ball. Not an inch of turn from the pitch though,” the online opinion. It did not give confidence that there might be an improvement in Somerset’s fortunes. Khan was twice driven through the covers to the Somerset Stand boundary in his second over by the still attacking Charlesworth, but then found the measure of the Taunton pitch and the line and length with which to at least control the flow of runs. Eight runs from that one over were followed by eight from the other six he bowled before lunch. It was an impressive start on an unresponsive pitch for someone who had never bowled in this country before, or quite possibly with a Dukes ball at all. He is a busy bowler. He is quickly back to his mark and immediately bustling in to bowl the next ball. A County Championship Max Waller.

As for Gloucestershire, as lunch approached, the left-handed Harris began to find his attacking feet. At least, he found the boundary three times in an over off Aldridge, driving square to the Caddick Pavilion, through backward point with an angled bat to the Priory Bridge Road boundary and with a guide through third man to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. When Aldridge was replaced by Brooks, Charlesworth briefly took up the attack and drove him through the covers to the Ondaatje boundary and steered him for two towards the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. With Gloucestershire threatening to run away with the day someone said, “You can hear a pin drop.” And you could, although the cause was not tension, but disappointment at the complete lack of Somerset success after winning the toss. Gloucestershire reached lunch on 115 for 0 with Charlesworth on 56 and Harris an ominously constructed 47.

The lunch interval was a quiet affair, in part because the crowd was surprisingly small for a Somerset match, almost sparse. It must be difficult to sustain interest when in the preceding six weeks there had been only four days of home cricket, all played with a team denuded by The Hundred. Even so, the chat was more subdued than usual as people came to terms with a dominant display from the team rooted at the bottom of the table. Cricket supporters live on hope, and the hope before this match had been that Somerset would take advantage of their neighbour’s lowly position and move up the table. Shocks to the system are never pleasant, but this one was more unpleasant than the usual given the uncertainty about the future of the County Championship and the position of the non-Test ground counties in it. Staying in the First Division for 2023 may be critical to Somerset’s future. Rumours about possible proposals arising from the ECB’s High Performance Review were rife. Lack of information from the ECB, and memories of a comparable lack of information before decisions were made which led directly to the implementation of The Hundred with all its implications for county cricket, only fuelled the speculation.

For the moment though the old pleasures pushed their way to the fore. The re-opening of the Taunton outfield to spectators in the second half of the season has been a welcome development, even if the more regulated management of it irritated. But, once the cones around the square had been laid and the permitted, rather than all, gates had been opened, that slow, rhythmic meander to the middle began. First to join the huddle behind the stumps to inspect the pitch. Then the gentle, soft-footed, circumnavigation around the edge of the square. The purpose, to soak up the ambience of a county cricket ground and breath the fresh, invigorating air of a county cricket match. Or to chat about cricket, or life, or anything else that two or three people gathered together had in common.

And then, back to reality. Gloucestershire took ten runs from the first two overs after lunch and Harris reached his fifty with a three guided past the slips towards the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. In the third over though, Charlesworth pulled Aldridge, the ball steepled, drifted high to long leg and fell into the waiting hands of Davey. Davey is the most undemonstrative of cricketers and he caught the ball as if it had quietly found its own way into his hands. “That ball was just back of a length,” said the more prosaic text from the online cricketer just as one of those forecast showers drove the players from the field, if only for five minutes, for the rain flattered to deceive.  

The wicket was a false dawn. It was the only wicket of the afternoon. Oliver Price joined Harris and Gloucestershire continued on their way as if uninterrupted. There were a few edges early in the partnership, but none which presented any threat. One, from Harris off Aldridge, ran safely along the ground between second slip and gully to the Trescothick Pavilion. Harris was batting with real authority, picking the balls to attack, and sending most of them emphatically to the boundary. Price played with more circumspection, but he and Harris added a determined 91 in 30 overs before tea, Harris scoring 57 of them. Almost immediately after they came together, 21 runs came from three overs. Price drove Gregory off the back foot to the Somerset Stand, square and through the covers, the second stroke bringing a cry of, ”Shot!” A cover drive from Harris to the Caddick Stand off Gregory took Gloucestershire past 150 in the 41^st over and brought a text from the online cricketer, “Gregory is getting some swing now. He is getting driven because he is trying to use it. When they pitch it up, it goes! ”

There were quieter periods, but when Khan replaced Aldridge at the River End, Harris hit him back over his head for six. Brooks replaced Gregory and was pulled and steered through backward point by Harris, both for four. When he edged Brooks past slip to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion someone said, “We would be quite happy if the boot was on the other foot.” The comment summed up the feeling that the match was fast moving away from Somerset with Harris racing along on 85 and looking, to use the old term, in imperious form.

There were quiet patches, as the batters took breath, or the bowlers got some traction. Khan and Davey bowled one four-over spell for one run at the end of which Khan had figures of 14-4-24-0. It was a sterling piece of controlled bowling against the run of play and under considerable pressure. There are no frills to Khan’s style, no unfilled seconds, no measured consideration. No sooner is the ball bowled than he scurries back to his mark. No sooner has he reached his mark than he turns sharply on his heels as if squashing a fly. No sooner has he turned than he is running in, three full steps his allotment. No sooner is he running in than his arm is turning over at the speed of a windmill in a gale. He is running in to bowl the next ball almost before he has completed his action from the last. If he needs to adjust the field, he does it as he is scurrying back. If the batter plays the ball back down the pitch, he is to it in an instant, scoops it up and is on his way to his mark. In one maiden over to Price, five balls were pushed back down the pitch and one to short leg. Khan bowled it in a minute and a quarter. With Davey at the other end, with his no-nonsense return to his mark and turn, they must make one of the more efficient pairings on the circuit.

In the 15 overs to tea, with Khan at one end, Davey and then Tom Lammonby at the other, and a solitary pre-tea over from Goldsworthy, Gloucestershire were kept to 35 runs. It was Somerset’s best passage of play thus far. There was little threat of a wicket, but it at least felt that the Somerset bowlers were exercising some control after Gloucestershire’s dominance of the morning and early afternoon. With tea in sight, Harris opened the face of the bat to Khan and steered the ball with some force along the ground to the Gimblett’s Hill boundary to bring up his century from 174 balls in just under four hours. It had been a masterful innings and it had put Gloucestershire in control of the match, at least as far as any team can be in control at tea on the first day.

My teatime circumnavigation was a depressing affair, at least in cricketing terms. In a match which they must have had high hopes of winning, Somerset already found themselves at serious risk of being batted out of the game and facing a long rear-guard action to avoid being plunged into even deeper relegation trouble. “We need a miracle,” the most succinct comment I heard. The general chatter was more of a mumble than the usual buzz as people tried to come to terms with their disappointment. It didn’t stop people wanting to talk, whether about the match, the prospect of Somerset being relegated or worries about the future of the domestic game. None were topics designed to bring a smile, but they still demanded to be talked about and so I arrived back at my seat six overs and 20 runs into the evening session just before a second brief squall of rain drove the players from the field. As they walked off, with Gloucestershire on 237 for 1, Somerset’s prospects looked as bleak as the sky.

After the resumption, with the new ball approaching, a late cut from Harris to the Lord Ian Botham Stand off Aldridge apart, Somerset kept Gloucestershire to singles. With Khan continuing his restrictive spell, Lammonby was given the ball at the Trescothick Pavilion End. From wide of the crease, he angled his fifth ball across the right-handed Price. Price attempted to drive through the off side and edged to Rew who took a relatively straightforward catch moving to his right. The celebrations of the Somerset players were instantaneous, but the overwhelming emotion must have been of relief, for Gloucestershire, at 251for 2, had already collected their second batting point.

Three overs later, Khan bowled the 80^th over. Harris swept and cut him for four, Gloucestershire were 271 for 2, and, with the cloud thickening, Somerset immediately took the new ball. Davey rapped Harris on the pads bringing forth a huge leg before wicket appeal. Not out, but it brought hope because Davey had looked more effective the longer the afternoon wore on. Then Gregory beat Harris and surprised him with a yorker which he only just dug out. With Davey beginning to look threatening, Somerset supporters were leaning a little forward in their seats. Then he struck. The left-handed Miles Hammond pushed at a ball a little too wide for the stroke and edged to Tom Abell, moving smoothly to his right at second slip. The relief was beginning to spread to the crowd now, for perhaps Gloucestershire’s final total might be less gargantuan than had been feared. Two balls later, after the newly arrived, left-handed James Bracey had missed a speculative flick down the leg side, Davey angled a ball in towards off stump, Bracey had to play and edged straight to Rew behind the stumps. Four down. “Phew,” the most common reaction around me.

Graeme van Buuren joined Harris. He pulled Davey to the Priory Bridge Road boundary by the old Gimblett’s Hill benches, then left a ball from Gregory, angled in, and too close to off stump for safety. The ball cut in and hit the off stump so perfectly it was uprooted, leaving the other two stumps and the leg bail unmoved. Jack Taylor tried to halt the sudden Somerset surge with three boundaries, but, just before the close, Brooks, in a final short burst, moved a lifting ball away off the seam and Harris fended it straight to the only slip, Gregory, standing almost at second slip. Harris had scored 159 in an innings which, in the end had been the difference between the two sides. As the cloud had closed in, Gloucestershire had slipped, or more to the point, been pushed by Somerset from 281 for 2 less than an hour before the close to 320 for 6 when the players finally walked off for the evening.

Marcus Harris had been the player of the day. Gloucestershire had won the first two sessions by a distance, but Somerset had fought back hard after tea and had stopped Gloucestershire in their tracks in the last hour. At 320 for 6, Gloucestershire still had a substantial total with power to add, but it could have been so much worse for Somerset, and in that last hour they had developed some momentum to carry into the second morning. Which of W.G. Grace or Tom Abell was right about the toss may be discovered on the morrow, but at the close, Somerset’s late charge notwithstanding, W.G. and Gloucestershire will sleep more happily in their beds.

Close. Gloucestershire 320 for 6.