County Championship 2022. Division 1. Somerset v Yorkshire. 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd July. Taunton.

Craig Overton was unavailable for selection due to being on international duty. Josh Davey was unavailable due to a hamstring injury and Sonny Baker due to an ongoing back injury.

Somerset. M.T. Renshaw, T.A. Lammonby, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, L.P. Goldsworthy, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory, K.L. Aldridge, M.J. Leach, J.A. Brooks, M. de Lange.

Yorkshire. A. Lyth (c), T. Kohler-Cadmore, G.C.H. Hill, H.C. Brook, J.A. Tattersall (w), D.M. Bess, J.A. Thompson, M.L. Revis, J.W. Shutt, M.J. Waite, S.T. Gabriel.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bat.

First day 19^th July – Abell takes the heat for Somerset

This was a day to sit in the shade, even in the morning when the sun was restricted in its effect by a hazy covering of cloud. When the sun was in its full glory, the temperature topped out in the furnace somewhere beyond 30 degrees Celsius. Not as high as the 40 degrees in parts of eastern and northern England which broke all records. Hot enough though for spectators to fill the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, protected as it is from the sun by one of those wing roofs which look as if they are held up by good intentions and little else, and fill the bottom section too no doubt, protected as it is by the top one. I cannot vouch for that, for once I had secured my seat in the top section I did not venture out. The mere threat of the heat was enough to keep me out of it. A fair number sought refuge in the shade of the Lord Ian Botham Stand, but otherwise, what looked like a school party in the Temporary Stand apart, few braved the full heat of the open stands on which the sun beat down without pity or mercy, the first part of the afternoon apart when a random shower soaked the ground and stole 20 overs from the day.   

The heat was forecast to be so extreme for certain parts of the country that the ECB gave permission for the first day to be reduced to three 90-minute sessions and the remaining days to be lengthened by half an hour each. Taunton was not in the area of the most extreme heat and the umpires determined that normal playing hours would be adopted. The pitch was straw in colour as if it had already been scorched into submission. It matched perfectly the parched fields of the Quantocks beyond and the arid farms and gardens around Taunton. Some thought they saw the faintest tint of green in the pitch, but that may have been wishful thinking, and it was certainly not enough to persuade Tom Abell to field first when he won the toss.

Batting first always presents an early threat, whatever the conditions, a point illustrated in the first over, bowled by Jordan Thompson from the River End. Matt Renshaw glanced his first ball for four, but was then beaten by a ball which missed the stumps by a hairsbreadth before running down to the Trescothick Pavilion for four byes. Renshaw was nonetheless in assertive mood, and turned Thompson square to the Caddick Pavilion for four in his next over before turning the West Indian Test bowler, Shannon Gabriel, into the on side towards the Somerset Stand for two.

Tom Lammonby made a more cautious start, playing out maidens to both Thompson and Gabriel. He did not get off the mark until the sixth over, and then only through an attempt to guide Gabriel past the slips resulting in an inside edge which flew to the fine leg boundary. An over later, he edged an understated drive. This time, Tom Kohler-Cadmore at first slip, playing against the county he will represent in 2023, dived towards second slip and took the catch. After Renshaw’s trenchant start, and Lammonby’s abortive one, Somerset were 25 for 1 in the seventh over.

Now Renshaw edged, Gabriel the suffering bowler this time as the ball evaded the slips and ran to the boundary. An on drive for two towards the point at which the still incomplete Gimblett’s Hill renovation reaches over part of the old Legends Square looked more assured. The Hill has been under re-construction for months, a cricketing casualty of the chronic labour and materials shortages endemic in these times. There was no shortage of production from Renshaw though as the next ball was driven square, again through the on side, this time towards the Somerset Stand for three.

Abell replaced Lammonby and did not hold back. First, he played Thompson down and wide of third slip to the covers store boundary and then to fine leg for two. When Matthew Revis replaced Gabriel, Abell attacked again, playing him through point and cover, both for two before Renshaw took Somerset to 55 for 1 in the 14^th over with a square drive to the Caddick Pavilion, also off Revis, and a pull to the Somerset Stand. The wicket of Lammonby may have been a gauntlet thrown down in the face of Somerset’s decision to bat, but it had been taken up with alacrity by Renshaw and Abell, and four runs an over was a stunning riposte. As attacking stroke followed attacking stroke, the small shade-hunting crowd responded with growing applause and not a few cheers.

Then, as Revis and Matthew Waite, who had replaced Thompson at the River End, began to settle, the Somerset scoring rate fell. There was playing and missing too, and when Renshaw attempted to clip Waite to leg, he was struck on the pad to a huge appeal. As the umpire raised his finger, an old work colleague who had joined me for the day said, “I thought he was going to give that.” From our position high over fine leg the pit of the stomach had instinctively welled up as ball struck pad. The angle was not perfect, but the experienced cricket watcher has instinctive antennae which detect leg before wicket dismissals before the umpire has time to react. As Renshaw walked off with 43 of Somerset’s 67 for 2, “We need more runs, this pitch looks like it might have 400 in it once the early movement has worn off,” was the comment from next to me. There was disappointment too, for it had been an innings of attacking promise cut short.

Abell and Bartlett soon provided evidence in support of the wish for 400 as they raced along at better than a run a minute in the remaining half hour to lunch. Abell took eight from an over from Thompson including a whipped on drive which rifled through midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary. Bartlett played the silkiest of square drives off Gabriel, who had returned at the River End. A cut followed, perfectly square. It came off the bat as if it were coated in velvet, “He has a lovely light touch,” the comment. A drive off Gabriel flew off a thick edge but it was too wide of third slip to be of any interest and crossed the boundary in front of the Lord Ian Botham Stand. Finally, with lunch all but upon us, Gabriel added a pair of no balls to take Somerset to the interval on 99 for 2 in 28 overs. Three and a half runs an over was a generous return from the Somerset batters for the first morning of a match, but two wickets for the Yorkshire bowlers left thoughts of 400 hanging as much on hope as anticipation.

With the players off the field, and the match nicely balanced, the cloud that had hung around all morning, despite the intense heat, thickened, covered the point of the Quantocks, and began depositing rain. It was persistent enough to extend the lunch interval to 15 minutes short of the scheduled tea interval. Rain delays. Time to talk. And much to talk about. The future of cricket in this country was a subject to the fore of many minds. Much speculation has been born of the secrecy which seems to permeate the ECB’s planning processes. A fundamental review of the bedrock of English first-class cricket undertaken in the midst of an information desert has bred anxiety, mistrust and speculation among adherents of the county game.

And what speculation. Not just among cricket watchers, but among respected cricket journalists. Three divisions of six for the County Championship. One Premier Division of 12 and a feeder division of six. No promotion and relegation. A reduction from 14 to 12 or even ten Championship matches. Immediate transfer of players from feeder to Premier Division. Some Championship matches to be played in August with teams denuded by The Hundred. All to be implemented in 2023. Or not. Or only part of it. Or none of it. Or something completely different. The only certainty: on the current timescale, when proposals are published, the time for consultation with supporters and county members will be impossibly short.

There is such a disconnect between the governing body of the game and many of its most ardent supporters that groups of members are forming in counties across the country to resist any reduction in the length or importance of the County Championship. Rather like the explosive chemical reaction which results when a small amount of water is added to a large amount of acid, the minute scraps of hard information available to a large, anxious body of members has resulted in a febrile atmosphere and fears that the future of a meaningful County Championship and of some counties may be in jeopardy.

When the players finally emerged, the conversation had turned to less vexatious cricketing matters, 20 overs had been lost from the day and half an hour added to the end of it. The sun too had seen off the clouds and was now bearing down with all its power and searing heat. It was the hottest part of the day. In the less than an hour available before the revised tea interval, Abell and Bartlett added 65 more runs. Bartlett, as fluent as ever, began by taking two boundaries off successive balls from Waite, both played with an angled bat through backward point to the Ondaatje boundary. Abell began more riskily, edging Gabriel over the slips to the Lord Ian Botham Stand, but it all set the mood for the short session to tea.

Risk there was. Bartlett, in attempting a ferocious drive through extra cover off Gabriel, edged the ball towards first slip’s left knee. The fielder’s hands moved towards the knee, ball and hands misconneced and the ball fell to earth. To add insult to Yorkshire’s injury, off the final ball of the same over, Bartlett drove again, this time off the middle of an angled bat, and the ball ran backward of point to the Somerset Stand for four. More pain followed for Yorkshire as Abell, defending against Thompson, edged past a forlornly diving second slip, the ball running to the covers store boundary. Now, as the applause mounted and the cheers grew, Somerset piled on the pressure. Revis, replacing Gabriel at the Trescothick Pavilion End, was driven through the covers to the Somerset Stand and then, in the course of a single over, twice glanced and then clipped behind square by Abell, all three strokes going to the boundary. “He’s being forced to feed him on the leg side by those off side strokes,” suggested my colleague as Somerset reached 158 for 2 from 38 overs before idling safely to tea four overs later on 164 for 2. Abell 60. Bartlett 38.

The match had been in balance at lunch. By tea, Somerset were well ahead. They were scoring at nearly four an over, had two batters well set and eight wickets in hand. By the close, Yorkshire had clawed Somerset’s advantage back. For Somerset, Abell was the core, both of resistance and attack, and continued to drive forward. For Yorkshire, Dom Bess threw shackles around the Somerset batters. And all the while, players and spectators laboured under the unremitting heat of that merciless sun. All day, there had been a steady trickle of spectators appearing at the top of the entrances into the elevated section of the Trescothick Pavilion to seek refuge from the heat. Most were disappointed. One, who was lucky just after tea, said, “It is very hot out there in the sun,” a fact attested to by the length of the drinks breaks taken by the players.

After tea, Bartlett never regained his fluency and was soon caught for 46 off a top edge when trying to hook Waite, the catch being taken in front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion by Revis. Lewis Goldsworthy replaced him and was soon swivelling fast on the back foot to pull a tired-looking Waite just behind square to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. “That was a confident stroke,” someone said. Powerful too, for the ball bounced off the boards and came back ten yards before reluctantly coming to rest. That stroke took Somerset past 200 and to their first batting point. But from there, Goldsworthy was almost totally becalmed, scoring just two singles in the next half hour. When he then attempted a flashing drive off Bess, the ball flew off the edge and Tom Kohler-Cadmore took a stunning one-handed reaction catch jumping backwards and to his right at slip. Somerset had fallen from 197 for 2 before the loss of Bartlett to 210 for 4. “We don’t need to lose another one now,” the nervous comment.

Bess had earned his wicket. His bowling was the equivalent of applying a tourniquet to Somerset’s scoring, at one end at least. At the fall of Goldsworthy’s wicket, Bess had bowled ten overs unchanged since tea and conceded 13 runs. Goldsworthy’s furious, edged attempt at a drive perhaps a response to that pressure. “We have stopped scoring since Bartlett was out. The momentum has shifted, and we are allowing Bess to bowl to us,” the analysis from my colleague. James Rew joined Abell but made little impression on Bess.

Abell, 60 not out at tea, was as circumspect against Bess as Goldsworthy and Rew had been, but made progress at the other end as he continued to carry the weight of the Somerset innings. Gabriel was cut softly to the Garner Gates, “It’s only just touched the rope,” the someone observed, and Waite was cut through point to the Somerset Stand. “Backward point has been busy today,” someone else said. Against Thompson, he drove off the back foot through the covers to the Somerset Stand. When Yorkshire tried Jack Shutt’s off spin, Abell twice slog swept him, both times over the boundary and into the gap between the Caddick Pavilion and the Priory Bridge Road Temporary Stand, Somerset reaching 233 for 4 and Abell 99.

Delays in cricket matches, like the 20-over long one we had suffered after lunch, in times when 96 overs in a day habitually take up to half an hour over the allotted time, can lead to disruptively late finishes, especially when they clash with rural bus timetables. For some time I had been measuring the gradually diminishing ‘overs remaining’ on the scoreboard against the remorseless ticking around of the clock in the top of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. It soon became obvious that the close of play would fall shortly after my penultimate bus had departed and an hour before my last bus. My over-by-over calculation eventually settled on a close of play approximately ten minutes after the penultimate bus. Adding ten minutes for the walk to the bus stop left me with the choice of missing the final five overs or standing for 50 minutes at a still fiercely hot bus stop. Short of a Somerset collapse, not in historical terms an entirely unlikely possibility of course, I concluded the final five overs were unlikely to be the most important in the match and so I determined to leave early.

Watching cricket is never that straightforward. I have never seen any evidence that Tom Abell is telepathic, or of a mind to deliberately make life difficult for spectators. I can only conclude therefore that his reaching 99 a minute before the moment I needed to leave was entirely co-incidental. And so, with my bag packed and daring anyone to come between me and the exit, and my eyes and anxiety as much on the clock as on the middle, Abell turned Somerset’s main tormentor, Bess, behind square and ran two to take himself to 101 and bring the remaining vestiges of what had always been a small crowd to its feet. The applause lasted long enough for me to feel the need to leave the elevated section whilst still applauding. In terms of my desertion of my post, I am confident anyone who has stood 50 minutes at a bus stop wondering if the last bus will actually arrive will plead for forgiveness on my behalf.

Of course, my early departure cost Somerset a wicket. That is how the cricket supporter’s life works. Rew, on nine after batting for 40 minutes, had attempted to cut Bess through backward point. The ball had flown off the edge at speed. At slip, Kohler-Cadmore’s hands had reacted like lightning for the second time in the day and snared the ball just over and behind his right shoulder. Like his catch to dismiss Goldsworthy, it was exceptional. It left Somerset on 246 for 5 which had increased to 262 for 5 by the close, with Abell on 114 still carrying Somerset forward. Whether Somerset or Yorkshire are ahead in this match, only the morrow knows.

Close. Somerset 262 for 5.