County Championship 2023. Division 1. Middlesex v Somerset. 18^th,19^th and 20^thMay. Lord’s.

Middlesex. M.D. Stoneman, S.D. Robson, S.S. Eskinazi, M.D.E. Holden, R.G. White, J.A. Simpson (w), R.F. Higgins, L.B.K. Hollman, T.S. Roland-Jones (c), E.R. Bamber, T.J. Murtagh.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.M. Davies, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Toss. Middlesex. Elected to field.

First day 18th May – Old Father Time has good measure

Sitting in the lower level of the Compton Stand among a, for a Championship match, larger than average crowd, the atmosphere was vibrant, the crowd buzzing and the cricket captivating. From the Edrich to the Allen Stands the Tavern side of the ground was closed. That concentrated the crowd from the Pavilion to the Compton Stand on the Grandstand side of the ground, the pitch being set over that way. It worked. Everyone faced, or nearly faced, Old Father Time as he ticked away the minutes of a pulsating first day which Somerset edged, although Middlesex clawed back some of Somerset’s advantage as the evening drew in, and the crowd buzzed the day long.

This was a day of cricket at the home of cricket with enough Somerset supporters, at the Nursery End at least, and I suspect in the Pavilion too, to infuse Lord’s with the spirit of Taunton. To the visiting Somerset supporter, it was home from home. The weather was fine too and set fair for the match. There was a covering of cloud, but it was high and more white than grey. My past experiences of Championship cricket at Lord’s, other than in the first few games of the season, is that the first morning can be difficult for batting but after that bowlers have their work cut out. Sides who ‘invite’ the opposition to bat need to strike early.

And so, Middlesex having won the toss and offered Somerset first use of the wicket, the early pressure was on the Middlesex bowlers. They duly struck. Before Old Father Time’s minute hand had reached the bottom of the dial Somerset had lost both openers in virtually identical fashion, Steven Davies to Toby Roland-Jones and Tom Lammonby to Tim Murtagh. Both were defending, and both were caught low down at first slip by Stevie Eskinazi. Davies was out to his first ball, and Lammonby in the fifth over. Somerset 10 for 2. Lammonby eight. Middlesex had touched first base to use a baseball term, if that is permissible at the bastion of cricketing tradition, and Somerset were back in familiar batting territory. “There is seam movement,” said the incoming message from the cricketer watching online, “Abell is batting well out of his crease to counter it.” It was a tense moment for those of us in Somerset colours as the early season precariousness of Somerset’s First Division status showed no sign of easing in the face of the Middlesex attack.

At the crease were Tom Abell, the classical hard core of Somerset’s fragile batting spine which has shown some sign of hardening in recent matches, and George Bartlett, mercurial but with the potential to be a successor to James Hildreth. He does not yet quite average 30, but at the age of 25 he began this match with six first-class centuries and a habit of scoring runs when Somerset need them most. They needed them now. Middlesex were rampant and four slips lay in wait for any error. Bartlett began with his usual early vulnerability and Somerset breaths were held tight until each ball had been safely, if not confidently, negotiated.

Gasps rent the air more than once as the ball was played at and missed, Bartlett’s bat coming across the pads with a worrying familiarity to winces from Somerset supporters. Then, an off drive off Murtagh flew sweetly off the bat and hugged the grass until it crossed the boundary in front of the Edrich Stand. It was as if a switch had been flicked to light up a touch of batting class in Bartlett’s stroke play. Next, Tom Abell opened the face of the bat to Roland-Jones and the ball crossed the Grandstand boundary at deep backward point. Suddenly, the morning took on a different hue and Somerset launched into a controlled but determined counterattack.

Abell reinforced the change by driving Murtagh through extra cover to the Mound Stand and Bartlett pulled Roland-Jones powerfully and square to the Tavern Stand. Repeatedly, Bartlett, warming to the challenge, walked up the pitch to negate the effects of any movement before driving Ethan Bamber off the back foot and square, again to the Tavern Stand. Soon, the pair had taken Somerset past 50, still two wickets down, and were lifting the total at a rate of four runs an over as Somerset threatened to wrest the initiative from Middlesex. After an hour came the first sign that Middlesex might be feeling the pressure. An attempt to persuade the umpires to change the ball. It failed when the square leg umpire repeatedly passed the ball through the ball gauge and threw it back. With the match in balance, the crowd, large enough to generate a palpable atmosphere, had become quiet with tension, while Old Father Time, doubtless having seen it all before, looked down unmoved.

Below, Middlesex countered Somerset’s assault by moving John Simpson up to the stumps to the bowling of Bamber and Ryan Higgins to deter the batters from standing out of their ground or advancing up the pitch. The two sides were toe-to-toe, and as Middlesex continued to press, Somerset became more constrained. Eleven overs passed without a boundary, only 24 runs came, and Bartlett, tucked up by Higgins, was dropped at first slip on 25 to gasps of anguish from Middlesex supporters, for the ball had been well within reach of the fielder. After those 11 overs of tense cricket, Somerset were 72 for 2 and Somerset supporters were daring to hope that a competitive first innings total might be built. The tension was finally broken when Bartlett turned Bamber behind square to the Warner Stand for four to begin a steady Somerset acceleration towards lunch, or ‘luncheon’ as it is still termed at Lord’s, which they reached on 96 for 2 with Abell on 45 and Bartlett on 40.

After the top order tribulations of the first part of the season, that score was a blessed relief to Somerset’s many travelling and London-based supporters. Smiles were daring to spread across faces and the chatter was excited as lunch was sought or unpacked. At grounds around the country, opposition supporters gather behind stands during the lunch interval and dissect the morning’s play. A group of Somerset supporters came together behind the Compton Stand. Abell had continued his good start to the season, but the main topic of conversation was the innings of Bartlett. As the morning progressed, his stroke play became more confident and his pace of scoring rose. There was particular praise for the grace and precision of his drives, whether to the boundary or short of it, particularly through the off side. Abell is a classical technician of skill and power. Bartlett is an artist who will bring gasps of wonder from crowds if he is given the opportunity to establish himself and takes that opportunity.

He took it in the afternoon session in a partnership with Abell which built on Somerset’s hard-won ascendancy. The slip cordon was reduced from its original four to two as Middlesex retreated onto the defensive. The crowd on the other hand had steadily grown. A substantial and animated chatter now filled the air which, in the sun, had a summer feel to it, although the chill edge of winter still held sway in the shady part of the Compton Stand. Cricket at Lord’s, in the sun if you so desired, and your team with the edge, makes a day to remember.

For nearly two hours Abell and Bartlett held sway, scoring steadily against Middlesex bowling which continued to ask questions. It was difficult to be sure from my line of sight, through first slip to the right-hander from the Compton Stand, but the ball seemed still to be moving. Scattered across the afternoon were occasional leg before wicket appeals, beaten bats, playing and missing, and for much of the time, Simpson stood up to the stumps. Against that, the ball crossed the boundary 15 times as Bartlett in particular played with freedom and precision.

In the two hours and 29 overs after lunch, Bartlett added 62 runs off his own bat. He played strokes in every direction. He got Somerset underway after lunch with a glance off Roland-Jones to the Warner Stand and cut Bamber to the short Grandstand boundary. An on drive to the Pavilion off Bamber was beautifully leaned into, a batting artist at the top of his game. A smoothly flowing square cut off Murtagh reached the long Tavern Stand boundary with as much ease as that with which the stroke had been played. Hollman was cut through backward point to the Grandstand and lofted over mid-on to the Pavilion. With tea approaching, Hollman was driven square to the Grandstand, Bartlett bringing up his century to extended applause in the process, Somerset supporters identifying themselves by standing in some numbers. Bartlett’s century included 18 fours, he outscored Abell by two to one after lunch, and he had once again scored his runs when Somerset needed them.

In its way, Abell’s role was as crucial as Bartlett’s. His runs were less plentiful, but with Somerset’s history of top order collapses he secured one end and gave Bartlett the opportunity to attack at the other. His play was as classical as always, if on this occasion accumulative rather than forceful, and the perfect foil to Bartlett’s more free-scoring style. Where he did attack, the stroke was as precisely played as ever. A glance off Roland-Jones to the Pavilion carried conviction in a way in which his leg side deflections have not always done. A cut, backward of point, off Bamber to the Grandstand to bring up his fifty from 108 balls was smoothly played and a cover drive off Higgins to the Mound Stand was as emphatically struck as the cut had been smooth.

With the pair having added 183 in 56 overs, and the bowling suggesting some tiredness, it came as a surprise when Abell drove at Higgins and was caught by Eskinazi at first slip, his third catch of the innings. Abell 77. Somerset 193 for 3. Abell was applauded off the field with some generosity from the Lord’s crowd. From there, a pair of fours nicely clipped off his toes by Bartlett to the Warner Stand helped ease Somerset to tea on 212 for 3, the newly arrived Tom Kohler-Cadmore’s contribution being to get himself off the mark by lofting Sam Robson’s pre-tea, occasional leg spin onto the Pavilion Terrace directly in front of the small sliding sight screen to cheers from the Somerset supporters in the Compton Stand. It was a harbinger of things to come, but for the moment, Somerset supporters were left to bask in the glow of that partnership between Abell and Bartlett, and in particular of that glorious century from Bartlett.

If the afternoon belonged to Bartlett, the evening belonged undeniably to Tom Kohler-Cadmore. His innings of 68 in 60 balls stamped Somerset’s authority indelibly on the day. It built on the foundations of the Abell-Bartlett partnership and ensured the momentum remained firmly with Somerset. He began after tea with two fours in an over off Murtagh, a back foot drive through the covers and a lofted drive over mid-on to the Pavilion. As Kohler-Cadmore moved fully into his stride, Bartlett’s innings finally came to an end. He was caught at mid-off by Roland-Jones for 121, Somerset 231 for 4, miscuing a drive off Higgins, but Kohler-Cadmore, supported by James Rew, barely broke step as he continued to attack.

Attack brings risk and Kohler-Cadmore has on a couple of occasions in his short time with Somerset lost his wicket just as a storming innings was forming. Here, he was dropped knee-high at midwicket on 24 off Bamber. It was not an unduly difficult catch as first-class catches go. Perhaps the pressure of Kohler-Cadmore’s assault told on the fielder. Kohler-Cadmore responded immediately by pulling Bamber into the Grandstand for six and guiding him past the now solitary slip to the Pavilion for four. When in this mode he does not hold back, although not all his strokes are played with the fury of a full-blooded drive or pull. Once he guided the ball past the by now only slip and once through fine leg, both for four. A late cut off the leg-spin of Hollman ran down to the boundary to the right of me, the ball just rolling against the rope after the chasing fielder had got the lightest of touches to it.

The new ball brought a momentary hiatus in scoring before, from successive balls, Kohler-Cadmore lofted Murtagh, bowling from the Nursery End, over long on and into the end of the Grandstand and then square into the centre of it. But Murtagh has been around a long time, and off the next ball, when Kohler-Cadmore’s attempted another leg side hit he was rushed into the ugliest of strokes which looked to be neither pull nor glance and lost his leg bail to an inside edge. Somerset were 293 for 5. Perhaps a wicket more than they might ideally have liked, but after being put in, and with the momentum which Abell, Bartlett and Kohler-Cadmore had given them, adding 283 runs for the loss of three wickets, it felt like they were in control. As to Kohler-Cadmore’s 68, I found not a single Somerset supporter who was not full of praise for the spectacular way in which he had taken the fight to Middlesex and tightened Somerset’s grip on the match.

He had added 62 with James Rew, of which Rew had contributed 12, but Rew had, as he is becoming adept at doing, kept an end secure. He is an increasingly solid rock in the middle of the Somerset batting order. Now, he stayed almost to the close with Lewis Gregory before he was caught behind for 25 attempting to drive Bamber with Somerset on 322. It was a stroke out of kilter with the remainder of his innings, the watchful nature of which can be gauged from the fact that he was credited with only two fours, one of those consisting entirely of overthrows.

Somerset ended on 325 for 6, Craig Overton seeing the innings through to the close with Gregory. Meanwhile, by the time the players climbed the steps of the Pavilion Terrace into the Long Room, Old Father Time, as is generally the case in the modern era, had counted more minutes than those allotted for a day’s play. He had though had good measure for his counting. An early Middlesex pace bowling charge, a strong Somerset recovery led by some outstanding batting from Abell and Bartlett, followed by a scintillating Kohler-Cadmore charge before Middlesex regained some ground with those evening wickets. Somerset will want to take their score nearer to 400 than 350 on the morrow, but the position achieved after a 10 for 2 start against a good Middlesex attack had built on the improved performances against Northamptonshire and Lancashire. It certainly lifted spirits among the Somerset supporters present as evidenced by the smiling faces and happy conversation I encountered as I walked from the rear of the Compton Stand and past the Nursery Ground to the exit. It had been a day worth the travelling.

Close. Somerset 325 for 6.