County Championship 2022. Division 1. Surrey v Somerset. 21^st, 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th April 2022. The Oval.

Lewis Gregory was unavailable for selection by Somerset through injury.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, M.T. Renshaw, T.B. Abell (c), T. Banton, J.C. Hildreth, S.M. Davies (w), C. Overton, J.H. Davey, J. Leach, P.M. Siddle, J.A. Brooks.

Surrey. R.J. Burns (c), R.S. Patel, H.M. Amla, O.J.D. Pope, B.T. Foakes (w), S.M. Curran, W.G. Jacks, J. Overton, J. Clark, J.P.A. Taylor, R.J.W. Topley.

Overnight. Somerset 337. Surrey 204 for 5. Surrey trail by 133 runs with five first innings wickets standing.

Third day 23rd April – “Why are they all wearing white?”

“Why are they all wearing white?” It was a curious question to overhear at a Championship match as I sat square of the wicket with the gasometer over my right shoulder. A father was being quizzed by his young son about what was happening in front of them. It transpired it was the son’s first cricket match. He was curious because in his digital cricket game the players wore coloured clothing. The modern route into cricket perhaps. No longer the first sight coming on a visit to a county ground after school, or on a television broadcast, but in a game on a tablet, a smartphone, a laptop or relayed from any of those to a television screen. The world really is moving on. At the other extreme, as I walked behind the Galadari Stand before the start of play, a longstanding Somerset supporter without internet access asked, “Did we drop any catches yesterday?” Cue an explanation of Tom Banton’s two experiences with the flying ball.

Once the day was underway Banton found himself engaged in a practice which goes back to my first days of watching first-class cricket, and doubtless beyond. Signing autographs for youngsters forming a continuously replenishing queue by the Galadari Stand boundary. That, interspersed with the latter-day equivalent, posing for selfies. Banton applied himself to the task with the same diligence as he is said to be applying to working on improving his red-ball skills. Each time he supplied his signature a face lit up, a scorecard or autograph book was brandished in triumph and another potential future cricketer ran up the stand with a grin as wide as The Oval itself.

As to the cricket, with the new ball not far away, Craig Overton and Peter Siddle soon gave way to Josh Davey and Jack Leach. For Surrey, Will Jacks put up the barricades and Sam Curran sallied forth with a string of boundaries, driving Overton through the on side to the Bedser Stand and straight to the Pavilion sight screen to bring up his fifty. “Yeah!” shouted another schoolchild. Leach was driven back over his head for six and by the time the new ball was taken Surrey were easing along at 238 for 5, 99 behind and the rising buzz in the crowd suggested they were edging ahead in this finely balanced seesaw of a game.

Taking the new ball, Overton initially threatened, but a neat clip off the toes from Jacks to the Galadari boundary suggested Surrey were getting its measure. Then Siddle defeated Jacks’ drive. The ball was perhaps too wide for the stroke and flew off the edge towards Renshaw who caught it falling backwards at slip. Curran was not deterred and continued to attack, driving Siddle spectacularly to the Vauxhall End and cutting Overton for four beneath the gasometer. It was a powerful innings, but Siddle was not deterred either, bustling in and bowling a persistently testing line. He rushed Curran into a defensive edge, the ball bisecting first and second slip. Renshaw, reaching low to his left from second slip, scooped up the ball. “He must be swinging it,” someone said. Curran had scored 80 from 124 balls and left to well-deserved, extended applause. It was the most intense of cricket, and with Surrey now 261 for 7, trailing by 76, Somerset were threatening to take a lead.

Enter Jamie Overton to join Jordan Clark. This was not the Overton of the powerful, swinging straight bat. He batted over an hour for his 27 not out and his first boundary came off a thick edge defending against his brother. An on drive for four to the Vauxhall End off Siddle was more in character, but he reached lunch on 17 having spent 12 overs at the crease shepherding Surrey towards Somerset’s score. He lost Clark along the way, leg before wicket for ten trying to keep Jack Brooks out in the run up to lunch, “Come on Brooksie!” someone shouted. Brooks responded with a loud leg before wicket appeal off the final ball of the morning, but James Taylor survived with Surrey now 44 behind with two wickets standing.

Despite greyish clouds competing with the sun for a space in the sky, it was time for an ice cream, or would have been had the first cricketing ice cream van of the year, tucked in behind the Pavilion, sold scoop ice cream. It had though only the soft ice cream which has invaded our cricket grounds in recent years. Somerset’s fighting performance after the defeats of the first two matches of the season had cheered some Somerset supporters I wandered into on the outfield, although a draw was the most common prediction.

When play resumed, Clark drove Siddle through extra cover for four before waving his bat outside off stump and edging straight to Davies. With number eleven, Reece Topley, at the wicket, Somerset resorted to the modern tactic of crowding the boundary, with six fielders on this occasion, when Overton faced early in the over. There was a cheer though for Topley when he turned Brooks to long leg for the single which took Surrey to their third batting point. There was another, even louder, when Overton responded to the field by lofting Siddle over the long on boundary. But on this occasion at least, the Somerset tactic paid off. Overton declined a single off the next ball, took one off the fourth and Topley was caught behind trying to fend off a bouncer off the last. Siddle had taken six wickets and Surrey trailed by 29 runs. Not a significant lead with two scores of over 300, but it would at least give Somerset a start to their second innings.

It was a start they looked intent on exploiting. Tom Lammonby, opening with Renshaw, tore into the bowling, finding the boundary five times in an innings of 30 from 41 balls. Not an opener’s innings, but it kept the momentum with Somerset. A straight drive off Topley to the Vauxhall End was so spectacular it brought a flurry of simultaneous, astonished cries of, “Shot!” from around me. A pull off Clark to the boundary in front of the Archbishop Tenison School had been so lightly played, Lammonby’s timing must have been close to perfection. The smoothest of straight drives off Clark had been so well struck that it hit the stumps at the bowler’s end and still crossed the boundary between the Pavilion and the Bedser Stand. At his best, Lammonby is a purist’s joy to watch. But, having established himself he fell into that batter’s graveyard that is the leg glance and was caught behind. The sigh of disappointment from some nearby Somerset supporters was audible. Renshaw soon followed for ten, his off stump uprooted by a perfectly directed ball from Overton which Renshaw left. “There’s definitely swing,” the message from the online watcher in South America. “Overton is moving it plenty, and away from the right-hander, hence Renshaw being bowled through his leave.”

Somerset were 43 for 2, a lead of 72. Surrey’s two wickets came in three overs and kept the match in balance, something reflected in the tension in the air and continuing interest from South America. Overton was proving a handful. Renshaw’s wicket had not been a surprise, and neither would more have been. In an over to the newly arrived Tom Banton, he found the edge, the ball clearing the slips and running to the Vauxhall End for four and beat him twice. It was edge of seat time.

When Topley replaced Clark at the Vauxhall End, a Surrey supporter, anticipation in his voice, shouted, “Come on Toppers!” Perhaps ‘Toppers’ was slightly off line, for Abell clipped him to long leg and glanced him to fine leg, both for four, Somerset hearts were in mouths as Abell continued his long-time addiction to those graveyard strokes. He might argue the percentages favour him, but he plays havoc with supporters’ nerves. He was though taking the game to Surrey. He drove Clark, replacing Overton, through the covers to the boundary in front of the Archbishop Tenison School. The stroke brought applause from around the ground and particularly from the members in the Pavilion. When Banton repeated Abell’s stroke, the message from South America said, “Clark is swinging it a mile, but overpitching and being driven.”

It was helter-skelter cricket and Abell and Banton were taking Somerset forward at five runs an over, Abell attacking and Banton battling, with Somerset’s lead now into three figures. When Abell turned Topley to long leg for another four Surrey changed the bowling. “C’mon Surrey!” someone shouted, now with more anxiety in the voice than the anticipation of half an hour before. It didn’t stop Somerset’s charge. Jacks conceded ten in his first over, Abell adding four with a neat late cut to the old Lock and Laker Stand. Overton returned at the Pavilion End and immediately conceded another ten runs, Banton, attacking now, uppercutting him over the slips and clipping him off his toes, both for four. When the boundaries were not there the pair pushed for singles, Abell directing proceedings with his habitual cry of, “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” His cover drive off Jacks in front of the gasometer was a fitting end to Somerset’s session. At 123 for 2, a lead of 152, the game was opening up before them.

The Somerset supporters I encountered on my teatime meander behind the Galadari Stand and the Pavilion were hesitantly buoyant. Buoyant because of the free-scoring performance from Abell and Banton. Hesitant because of the tendency of the Somerset batting to implode in recent times. Most predictions, or perhaps safety-first hopes, were still for a draw.

When, after tea, Abell drove Ryan Patel through the on side for four he reached his fifty from 57 balls. It had been a stunning innings and despite most of it having taken place before the interval Abell received extended applause from the Surrey crowd. And then, with Somerset on the cusp of dominance, the destroyer of Guildford 2018, Patel, defeated Abell’s drive, found the edge and Foakes took the catch. Somerset 132 for 3. Lead 161. Abell 53. Enter James Hildreth to the sort of appreciative applause reserved around the country for players who have become institutions of the county game. It felt a key moment.

Patel’s wicket though was no fluke. The Surrey bowlers were making the ball talk. “It’s doing all sorts,” one Surrey supporter said. Hildreth did find the boundary off Patel, but only with an inside edge. Banton managed to scatter a group of pigeons with a drive to extra cover off Clark, but when he attempted to leave a ball from Patel it clipped the bat and fell short of the keeper. A straight drive was edged, although Hildreth ran through for the single. With Somerset suddenly looking uncertain, Clark pitched full, Hildreth dabbed down to defend and edged between first and second slip. Overton, at first, fell to his right and took the catch. Somerset 141 for 4. Lead 170. Hildreth 5.

As the wickets fell, Banton, batting noticeably out of his crease, continued to push. Looking for every run, he turned Topley to deep backward square leg, called to Steven Davies who had replaced Hildreth, “Come on! Come on! Two! Two! Two!” and two there were. Surrey were just as determined. When Banton drove to point, the fielder dived, snared the ball, rolled and threw it in sending Banton scurrying back. It was typical of the cricket which had marked the entire match.

Then, in the space of an over, Topley upended the predictions of a draw. He bowled wide of Davies’ off stump, the ball swung wider, Davies followed it and edged to Foakes. Somerset 155 for 5. Lead 184. Davies 1. Three balls later, the left-arm Topley, bowling over the wicket, swung a ball late into Overton, defeated his drive and bowled him. Somerset 155 for 6. Overton 0. The Surrey crowd cheering ever more loudly with each tumbling wicket, erupted when the ball hit Overton’s stumps, and Somerset were on the ropes.

More so, to an even louder cheer, when Banton’s battle ended with an edge from a prodding defensive stroke off Topley. Foakes dived hard towards first slip. From first slip Overton dived hard towards Foakes. There was a fearful collision which poleaxed Foakes, although Overton seemed undamaged. Foakes though still clutched the ball and held it tight as he rolled onto his back. Banton flung his head back in disappointment and walked off for 52. Play was held up for ten minutes as Foakes was attended to. Eventually a stretcher was brought onto the field, but Foakes managed to walk off assisted by a physio. There are fewer such incidents on a cricket field than might sometimes be expected from the modern intensity in the field, but when they occur, they leave a sickening feeling and Foakes was applauded off.

Foakes was replaced behind the stumps by Ollie Pope and the match moved on. In the space of 13 devastating overs Somerset had gone from 132 for 2 to 158 for 7, their lead still 13 runs short of 200. The bowling had looked testing, and the ball was certainly moving, but the collapse brought back memories of repeated batting collapses in recent times, Davies chasing a wide ball moving further away and Overton driving so early in his innings stuck in the mind. The Surrey crowd were buzzing with anticipation, conversations reflecting minds barely believing the turn of events. Somerset faces were frozen in disbelief. Surrey had been matched, session for session for nearly three days and then, with a dominant position within Somerset’s grasp, in the course of an hour, Surrey had turned the match turtle. After the four successive defeats at the end of 2021, the crushing defeat against Hampshire at the start of this season, and the excruciatingly close one against Essex, where the bowlers, Overton in particular, had all but rescued a hopeless cause, thoughts of relegation, even with September a long way off, began to swirl in the mind.

And then, out of that mixture of gloom and elation, a typical piece of unintended county cricket humour. “Returning to bowl at the Pavilion End, Craig Overton. Correction. Jamie.” It brought laughter all around and some much-needed relief to the Somerset soul. Jack Leach, at the wicket long before he might have anticipated, welcomed Overton with an open-faced flashing drive. Perhaps assisted by the thickest of edges, it raced through backward point to the gasometer. A cover drive for two from Leach in Overton’s next over took Somerset to 169 for 7, 198 ahead. There was tension, for Somerset supporters at least, as every run was counted, and the lead calculated and re-calculated.

But London is not all about cricket and I had tickets for The Corn is Green at the National Theatre, a play by Emlyn Williams somewhat removed from The Oval, being about a Welsh mining village before the Second World War. Curiously though, it was written in 1938, the year in which another cricket crowd sat in front of The Oval gasometer watching Len Hutton score 365 and England declare on 903 for 7 in the last timeless Test in England, although Australia crumbled before such a total and the match ended in four days.

And so, I made my way to the river and walked along its south bank to the theatre. Before the pandemic, the walk would have been undertaken in radio silence unless an online watcher was available to update me by text on my then very non-smart phone. One of my pandemic investments though was a smartphone. A very useful device for keeping up to date with the cricket I have discovered. Not that it brought me much joy on this occasion. Leach became the second Somerset player in the innings to be bowled by Overton. His 17 though had held Surrey at bay for nearly an hour. Peter Siddle fared less well, departing for two after about 20 minutes, caught behind off Clark. Somerset ended the day on 196 for 9 with Josh Davey and Jack Brooks at the wicket. They were 225 ahead, a precipitous decline from their teatime lead of 152 with eight wickets standing.

Whether this day of Championship cricket or his digital cricket game will have the more lasting impact on that schoolboy I had heard at the start may not be known before the centenary of Len Hutton’s gargantuan innings. We may also know by then if there is a long-term future for cricket matches where the players are ‘all wearing white’. As to this match, it has been worthy of the game played in whites and, as so often in recent times, Somerset’s fortunes on the morrow would rest on the shoulders of their bowlers.

Close. Somerset 337 (T.B. Abell 150*, J.C. Hildreth 54, M.T. Renshaw 48, R.J.W. Topley 3-62, J. Clark 3-66) and 196 for 9. Surrey 308 (S.M. Curran 80, B.T. Foakes 63, O.J.D. Pope 47, P.M. Siddle 6-51). Somerset lead by 225 runs with one second innings wickets standing.