County Championship 2022. Division 1. Somerset v Warwickshire. 28^th, 29^th and 30^th April 2022. Taunton.

Sonny Baker and Peter Siddle were unavailable for selection by Somerset due to being injured.

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

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, D.M. Sibley, W.M.H. Rhodes (c), A.L. Davies, S.R. Hain, M.J. Lamb, M.G.K. Burgess (w), N.J. McAndrew. C.N. Miles, D.R. Briggs, O.J. Hannon-Dalby,

Overnight. Somerset 351 for 4.

Second day 29^th April – Somerset take control

Seen in isolation the cricket played on the second day suggested an even contest between the two sides. Somerset scored 107 for the loss of their last six wickets. Warwickshire 197 for 9. But by dint of their near faultless performance with the bat on the first day, Somerset will enter the third day in complete control of this match. Warwickshire fought back hard with the ball on the second morning, but in the final two sessions Somerset’s bowlers drove home the advantage fashioned by the batters on the first day.

It was one of those days at the cricket where you talk and listen as much as you watch. Someone with whom I have watched Somerset for 40 years joined me in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion for the morning, and someone I had never met and who had travelled from Berkshire sat behind me and chatted through the day. Early talk was as much about the rumoured proposals for a restructuring of domestic cricket in this country as it was about the cricket in front of us. There is only so much to say about an idea floated but not defined. No potential proposals have been made public and so the rumour mill works overtime, often fuelled by uderstandable speculation in the media. When the future of an institution as dear to the hearts of so many people as county cricket is said by the organisation responsible for its governance to be subject to a ‘review’ high pressure speculation is inevitable. If a fait accompli is announced without meaningful prior involvement of those affected, expect a strong reaction. Witness the consequences of proposals for a European Super League in football. As to this day, talk soon focused on the match in hand.

At the start, the crowd was buoyant. After three successive defeats, Somerset had topped 350 for the loss of four wickets, the top three batters had all topped fifty and Tom Banton was 47 not out. It was the best top order start this season. Things were not quite so buoyant three quarters of an hour into the morning. Steven Davies began well enough with square and on drives to the boundary off Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Nathan McAndrew. Tom Banton began well too, driving Hannon-Dalby like a rocket through extra cover to the Somerset Stand. The stroke brought loud applause. A stroke for the textbook. It took Somerset to 366 for 4 and their supporters to the height of expectation.

It was Somerset’s batting apogee. Then Davies pushed between mid-off and cover, set off for the single, Banton sent him back and Craig Miles, from mid-off, scooped up the ball and hit Davies’ stumps with Davies so stranded he gave up on the attempt to get back. It was one of those moments that leaves the mind scrabbling around for an explanation until it realises no explanation is relevant, only the outcome, which was that Somerset were five down, Davies was walking off for 19 and Banton was looking desperate. Such are run outs.

Run outs have consequences and this one opened the door to Somerset’s lower middle order. Within two overs Banton had departed, leaving a ball which was angled in by Miles, cut in more and tickled the top of off stump. Somerset 373 for 6. Banton 57. Craig Overton to the wicket. He came forward to his first ball from Miles, attempted to defend, the ball cut in again, passed the inside edge and uprooted his middle stump. 373 for 7. Gregory, who had replaced Davies, played straight to Hannon-Dalby. Again the ball cut in and again the middle stump was uprooted. Three wickets in four balls. 373 for 8. Gregory 3. “It must be moving,” someone said, stating the searingly obvious. A look at replays showed the movement to be off the pitch rather than in the air. The Warwickshire bowlers were bowling full, marginally outside off stump. A quiet, stunned chatter resulted, but the mind did wonder, if Somerset’s pace attack could match Warwickshire’s third morning performance, just how good might Somerset’s score be?

With the day brightening, Jack Leach broke the Warwickshire bowlers’ grip by driving a full ball from Hannon-Dalby, almost off his toes, through cover to the Ondaatje boundary. The stroke heralded some measured accumulation from Leach and Davey and a typically Brooksian assault from Somerset’s number eleven. There was a square drive to the Somerset Stand from Leach off Miles. Davey struck three boundaries in an hour-long innings of 18 in a partnership of 44, including two on drives, one through midwicket and one, to cheers, lofted off Danny Briggs’ slow left arm to the River Stand. A straight drive for two off McAndrew took Somerset to 400 for 8, although three overs too late to collect a fifth batting point. In the context of recent performances four points was a good haul.

There were periods of quiet as Somerset worked to maximise their score, but no run was left untaken, and there were more than the usual ration of twos as the batters busily pushed and guided the ball into the gaps. And all the while that sudden, explosive destruction of Somerset’s lower middle order hung in the mind. A score beyond 400 would be more than competitive if the wicket continued to offer assistance. Leach, showing his batting skills, drove McAndrew through the covers to the Ondaatje boundary and steered him sharply past slip to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion off successive balls, but when Davey tried to cut Briggs, he was caught behind and Somerset were nine down.

And then, Jack Brooks. An inside edge off Miles brought a few chuckles, and then applause when the ball crossed the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary. An off drive to Gimblett’s Hill raced so quickly it brought cheers. A stroke with no name off Briggs brought two runs and some laughter, but when the next ball was slog-swept straight into the Somerset Stand and the next cut to the Ondaatje boundary the laughter turned to cheers. It couldn’t last of course, and Brooks drove Hannon-Dalby, the pick of the Warwickshire bowlers, off a thick edge and into the hands of Dominic Sibley at backward point. Somerset 458 all out, Brooks 32 in half an hour, Leach 34 in an hour and a half, and Somerset sitting on top of the game with a virtually unassailable total to bowl at.

At lunch, everyone walked on air. Somerset’s score was beyond dreams after the cricketing horrors that had haunted the recent past. The outfield being closed to spectators due to the newly seeded winter grass not having settled, it was time for a full circumnavigation. At last, the batting had performed, although there was criticism of the Warwickshire bowlers on the first day. “All over the place,” someone said, although with an honourable exemption for Hannon-Dalby who had kept a steady, sometimes attacking, line and length and kept up some pace. Brooks was his fifth wicket of the innings and he had bowled nearly 32 overs at less than three an over. “Now, let’s see what our bowlers can do. We desperately need to win this one,” someone said.

Somerset’s bowlers were Overton, Trescothick Pavilion End, and Brooks, River End. Overton was immediately in the groove and gave the Warwickshire batters virtually nothing. Brooks eased the pressure with some loose balls. Alex Davies took advantage. Brooks was pulled to the Somerset Stand boundary, cut through backward point to the Ondaatje boundary and pulled again to the Somerset Stand. After eight overs, Overton had conceded seven, Brooks 18. At four and a half an over, it felt like Brooks was being punished for some short bowling. But it was Brooks who took the wicket. Pitched up, the ball swung away late, Davies drove, aiming at the off side and Overton caught the edge at third slip. Warwickshire 25 for 1. Davies, furious with himself, 20. Warwickshire 433 behind. Cue huge cheers, the short balls forgiven.

Brooks tends to bowl short spells, and immediately Davey replaced him while Overton continued his unremitting press on the batters from the other end. He caused gasps around the ground when the left-handed Rob Yates played and so nearly found the edge. Perhaps Davey reaped the benefits of Overton’s suffocating grip. Perhaps Brooks had too. Sibley was struck on the pad. Davey and the cordon appealed, one of those instantaneous, simultaneous appeals which of themselves act as evidence of a wicket. Everyone except the umpire, who hesitated long and hard, seemed convinced. Not a muscle of his body moved. The ground held its breath as if it were frozen in some theatrical tableau. Then the finger went up and the crowd’s pent-up tension erupted into cheers. Warwickshire 36 for 2. Sibley 12. Deficit 422 and one of the main threats to Somerset gone.

Lewis Gregory replaced Overton and was struck to the boundary three times in his first over, Yates driving him twice in succession straight to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. “Duplicate shot,” someone said after the second. Sam Hain showed similar intent with a drive through extra cover to the Somerset Stand. Warwickshire were past 50, but Davey was continuing from the from the River End in his own understated style and it brought another moment of suspended quiet. Yates attempted to defend, and the ball looped off an edge and his pad towards gully. From third slip, Overton took off, dived full length and snared the edge just before it made contact with the ground. Warwickshire 51 for 3. Yates those two straight drives plus a single. Deficit 407.

The crowd was buzzing now. This was more than anyone had dared hope. Buzzing even more when Gregory, as expensive as Brooks, tucked Rhodes up enough for him to under hit an on drive and loop the ball wide of mid-on from where Tom Lammonby took a flowing, running catch over his shoulder. The nature of the catch perfectly reflected the flow of the match. Warwickshire 64 for 4. Rhodes 5. Deficit 393. Heads were turning towards each other now, pairs of eyes looking at each other, beginning to believe.

Somerset were riding their own momentum. Davey beat Hain and crashed heavily into the pitch in his delivery stride. Physios were called, but he got up and went back to the top of his run to loud applause. Somerset could ill-afford to lose a bowler now. With Gregory at the other end now restraining the batters, they cut off the supply of runs, or the wickets did. Matt Lamb tried to break out with a checked drive off Gregory through the off side to Legend’s Square, or the Gimblett’s Hill building site which currently occupies it. The ball was repeated, Lamb defended, and edged it straight into Matt Renshaw’s knee-high hands at second slip. Warwickshire 70 for 5. Lamb 4. Deficit 388.

“Come on lads! One more,” demanded Abell as tea approached. “Come on boys. One more!” he insisted when it did not come. On and cover drives for four from Michael Burgess off Brooks found the boundary, but Warwickshire’s mountain was beyond occasional counter strikes and when Overton came back for a short spell before tea his persistence was rewarded. Burgess prodded in defence, edged to Davies, and Warwickshire were 92 for 6. Burgess 13. Deficit 365. The wickets had fallen at intervals of 25, 11, 15, 13, 16 and 22 runs. Warwickshire had never got going.

Another circumnavigation followed although, as always, 20 minutes was too short an allowance for a relaxed walk and talk. But with Somerset so, irreversibly it seemed, on top and having continued to create momentum throughout the afternoon, concentration on the cricket was not so intense. Concentration was more on what might come from the ECB. Nothing is known publicly. It is an increasingly common management strategy. Over the decades I have formulated an equation which the management of organisations would do well to consider. Avoiding it always stood me in good stead. It is: (planning + secrecy) = (speculation² + discontent³). Ask the proposers of the European Super League.

I didn’t take in too much of the early part of the evening session. For the first time this season a half hour of cricket could not damage Somerset’s position. I did note Overton’s first ball after the interval, to Burgess, edged to Renshaw at second slip. Dropped. At least that is how it looked to me. A later look at a replay showed it dropped a foot short. Never make a judgement on a tight situation from beyond the boundary unless you have the clearest of views and are concentrating.

I reached my seat in time to see Hain pull a short ball from Overton fine to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. It took Warwickshire to 105 for 6 and Hain to 21. He was the only Warwickshire batter looking remotely comfortable. Briggs did steer Leach through the covers for four with no force in the stroke but enough timing to take the ball to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. But off the next ball he went back in defence and was struck on the pads. There was no hesitation in the umpire’s finger. Warwickshire 113 for 7. Briggs 13. Deficit 345.

It was difficult to believe Somerset were finally in such an overwhelmingly dominant position, and two boundaries in an over from Hain off Gregory made no impact. “We’ve kept them under the cosh,” the comment. “We’ve bowled straight.” The talk was of when, not if, Somerset would win, the only doubt cast by some rain in the forecast. And then the reality of living in a rural county struck. “See the next two balls and then get my bus,” someone who had dipped in and out of conversation through the day said. ‘My’ bus being the last bus on his route. And a bus has to be caught whether a match is drifting, or Somerset need ten to win with the last man in. Perhaps Henry Newbolt’s poem should be re-written, “Ten to win and my bus is in.”

In the middle, Hain edged Gregory wide of second slip along the ground for four. It was though noticeable that the crowd had quietened, not through tension, but more because of the lack of tension. Even cricket matches must sometimes pause to take breath after periods of extended intense activity. It was as if a short truce had been called. Gregory and Leach kept tight lines. Hain and McAndrew took seven runs from eight overs. Perhaps Warwickshire were simply eschewing risk. Until Brooks replaced Gregory. In an explosive response, McAndrew took 14 runs from his second over, including three boundaries, a clip through backward square leg to the Priory Bridge Road boundary, an edge past slip, and a cut behind square to the Garner Gates. He followed that by hitting two sixes in an over from Leach, one to the Garner Gates and one over midwicket into the Somerset Stand. The fifty partnership was passed on the way. Abell replaced Brooks, “Come on lads!” from the infield was met by McAndrew with a sharp cut to the Somerset Stand. That took the score to 175 for 7. There was applause for the boundaries, but otherwise the response was of frustration rather than anxiety. For all McAndrew’s mayhem, Warwickshire still trailed by 283 runs.

A clip behind square from Hain off Abell took Hain to his fifty, scored in nearly three hours as he attempted to hold Somerset at bay. But Abell, as he so often does in such circumstances, broke through. Hain drove, and Davies took the catch. The remains of the crowd, it was a cold evening and it had thinned considerably through the final session, cheered the wicket and applauded Hain off. When Overton replaced Abell, there was a shout of, “Hooray!” When he bowled to McAndrew, Gregory was called into third slip, McAndrew came forward to defend, and the ball flew off the edge straight into Gregory’s hands. Two overs later, the players left the field with Somerset in complete command of a match for the first time for what seemed a very long time. Of special mention, Overton’s close of play analysis of 14-8-12-2. Davey’s was not far behind at 8-1-19-2.

Close. Somerset 458 (M.T. Renshaw 129, T.B. Abell 70, T. Banton 57, O.J. Hannon-Dalby 5-89). Warwickshire 197 for 9. Warwickshire trail by 261 runs with one second innings wicket standing.