Gloucestershire v Somerset. Metro Bank One-Day Cup 2023. Bristol. 13th August.

Untimely ripped

Toss. Somerset. Elected to field.

“I’m not sure what you are going to write about that,” said a Somerset supporter as we crossed paths during the Somerset innings. Somerset’s prospects of winning the match had long been consigned to oblivion and Gloucestershire had been unmercifully rampant. There was no hint of disdain at Somerset’s inadequate efforts. The comment was though laced with concern about the impact on Somerset’s young players, for they had been, as Shakespeare’s MacDuff might have had it, untimely ripped from their cricketing development to face a ferocious onslaught from experienced players. One of Somerset’s young players was aged 20, five were teenagers. The match took place on the field at Bristol and was thoroughly enjoyed by the Gloucestershire crowd, but the eye of the Somerset supporter, at least most of those to whom I spoke, was cast on a wider perspective.

That wider perspective was the impact on the English domestic 50-over competition, and of some of those drafted in to play in it, of The Hundred. Denuding sides of the best white ball players in the country has a wildly uneven effect. In this match, Gloucestershire lost two players, Somerset nine. In effect, it produced a match between essentially a first eleven and essentially a second eleven. Of the five Metro Bank One-Day Cup matches Somerset have played to date, including this one, only Warwickshire have lost as many players as Somerset. None of the other four teams Somerset have played have lost more than three. The step up from second eleven county cricket to first eleven is widely accepted to be a quantum one which has to be carefully, and usually conservatively, managed.

In fact, Somerset’s youngsters, led by Sean Dickson and supported by the temporary arrival of Curtis Campher and Danny Lamb, had acquitted themselves well in the first four matches, winning one of them and competing until close to the end in two of the others. In this match, the dam burst. Somerset were swept away in a flood of runs which would have sunk Noah’s Ark. It came as no surprise. The constant pressure which results from repeatedly playing much more experienced teams and players of the quality of Prithvi Shaw and Cheteshwhar Pujara must bear down heavily on the soul of a young player trying to make their way in the game.

As to the match itself, the writing was on the wall by the time the left-handed Chris Dent was out in the 14^th over of the Gloucestershire innings. Gloucestershire were 105 for 1 and the match was already fast running away from Somerset. Dent had made 65 from 38 balls, his fifty coming from 29 and his first six of four, the first ball I saw, came from the third ball of the match bowled by Danny Lamb. It had the hint of a top edge, but it landed in front of the T20 dugouts in front of the Pavilion.

The 8.27 train from Taunton and the number 70 bus barely sufficing for the person with me and I to reach the ground for an eleven o’clock start. There are no earlier trains from Taunton on a Sunday. Mercifully the bag search queue moved quickly, and we only missed two balls. There was a good-sized crowd, perhaps two and a half thousand and so, with Nevil Road having no seating along the Kennington Road side of the ground and the Pavilion and Ashley Down Road End seats being very well populated, we made for the Mound Stand, still well populated but with plenty of space to spread out.

It quickly became apparent that Gloucestershire had the upper hand. Lamb was struck for three fours in the fifth over by the left-handed Bracey, the first being driven emphatically through the covers to the boundary in front of the picnic tables on the Kennington Road side of the ground. Its power and precision set the tone for the rest of the Gloucestershire innings. By the end of the over Gloucestershire were 34 for 0. They were 75 for 0 by the end of the ten-over powerplay with Lamb conceding 32 runs from four overs, Dent having added two more sixes. More concerning than the score was the apparent ease with which Gloucestershire were scoring their runs and the power with which they were striking the ball which flew viciously to the boundary, leaving fielders flailing in its wake or trying wholeheartedly, but with futility, to intercept it as it sped along the boundary. Ned Leonard, fielding in front of me in the Mound Stand never relented and took two outstanding running catches, both low down, one a la Mitchell Stark but with his hand the right way up. More boundaries defeated the fielders in front of the picnic tables on the other side of the ground, but the boundary was considerably shorter that way with less time to intercept or for the ball to lose pace.

By the end of 20 overs, Gloucestershire were 137 for 1, George Thomas having removed Dent to one of Leonard’s catches, but Dent had already taken a four and a six from the over in which he was dismissed, the six crashing into one of the cars in the car park behind the picnic tables beyond the short boundary, not for the only time in the innings. Somerset’s young bowlers were beginning to stray in line and length but given the onslaught from experienced professionals like Dent and Bracey after four matches of holding the line, it was perhaps not a surprise and there was no letup from Oli Price or from Bracey who was remorseless.

By the end of the 30^th over, the point from which doubling the score gives a rough calculation of the final total if there are wickets in hand, Gloucestershire were 206 for 1. But with nine wickets standing and the pitch offering no assistance Somerset fears were for a score even higher than that. Bracey barely paused for breath in reaching 90 from 90 balls. And still the onslaught continued. In the next ten overs, Gloucestershire added another 101 runs with still nine wickets standing. Bracey added 63 of those from 33 balls. He took 12 in an over from Campher and 16 in an over from George Thomas including two sixes, both over long off to the Ashley Down Road End. Both balls were pitched full outside off, but Thomas was constrained in his options by bowling spin to the short boundary. It was painful to watch from a Somerset perspective and the enforced imbalance between the sides was disconcerting in pure cricketing terms. Gloucestershire supporters around me cheered but Somerset ones were silent, not at one with what they were seeing.

In the 42^nd over Somerset finally took a wicket. Oliver Price, who had been pacing himself in support of Bracey, lofted Shoaib Bashir towards the Mound Stand to my left. George Thomas, to my left, edged back to take the catch. He had to step back close to the boundary but anchored his rear foot firmly inside the rope and took the ball. The umpire advanced towards Thomas with arms outstretched in questioning mode and Price held back from leaving the field. Thomas confirmed the catch, and the umpire raised his finger. I had a clear view of the catch, looking along the boundary rope, about 30 yards away. Thomas’s foot was anchored eighteen inches inside the rope. Harry Tector, next man in, 30 yards the other side of Thomas, had as clear a view as I did and walked straight out while those in the middle hesitated, and Price had to go. Thomas’s reward for taking such a well-judged catch was to be booed by a group of Gloucestershire supporters sat immediately behind the rope.

The catch made not a jot of difference. Bracey and Tector now added 80 runs in five overs of utter mayhem before Tector was dismissed for 37 in 17 balls off the bowling of the 17-year-old James Langridge. The detail is lost to the memory amidst the swirling images of batters swinging the bat without let or hindrance, balls flying to and over the boundary, and fielders as helpless as they would have been had they been asked to catch a shower of meteors. The cars were as helpless as the fielders and one suffered a ball onto the bonnet, up the windscreen, straight into the air as it presumably struck the windscreen seal and crashed down again onto the roof. The partnership took Gloucestershire to 398 for 3 with three and a half overs remaining.

And then, Somerset’s day got worse. The last three and a half overs of the innings brought 60 runs, the 17-year-old Langridge being struck for three sixes and a four off the last four balls of the penultimate over by van Buuren, all three of the sixes over the short boundary. He looked stunned each time he turned to walk back to his mark but still ran in as if he intended the next ball to take a wicket. He tried a fuller ball among the sixes but that was driven straight back past him for four. The final over actually brought some transitory relief as 19 year-old Shoaib Bashir held Gloucestershire to ten. Bashir had kept to the task throughout his eight overs and was quick to offer support and advice to co-spinner 18 year-old Josh Thomas who conceded 29 from his two overs. 454 for 3 the final total. Bracey 224 not out from 151 balls, Van Buuren 35 from 12.

Gloucestershire supporters were rapturous in their applause and Bracey had celebrated his double century with some satisfaction to a standing ovation, but to Somerset supporters, the extent of the mismatch between the sides and the mayhem left an uneasy feeling. There were no issues with the way the experienced Gloucestershire team had played. Teams can only play against the team put up against them and they must do their utmost against them and there is no question that Gloucestershire did that. The unease was with a structure for the domestic game which produces such mismatches and the possible impact on players taken out of the development phase of their career to play.

Although no one I spoke to expected Somerset to get anywhere near the Gloucestershire total, they made a positive start and played with some intent until the steady accumulation of wickets lost in the attempt to keep pace with the Gloucestershire score dragged them down. Somerset’s 21st over score was only nine runs behind Gloucestershire’s 20-over score, but by then they had consumed one more over, lost two more wickets and were 49 behind on Duckworth Lewis. For the team chasing, it is the loss of wickets which kills in Duckworth Lewis. When a team is chasing 455, two additional wickets in the first half of the match make a huge difference.

Andy Umeed again made a good start for Somerset, looking calm, assured and in control, although his boundaries were driven or pulled through midwicket rather than coming from his normal fare of drives between mid-on and mid-off. George Thomas, another 19-year-old, began brightly, making 20 from 24 balls, along the way driving Josh Shaw through the covers for four with precision. He was out to Josh Shaw, well caught in the deep by Tom Smith trying to clear the long square boundary in front of the Mound Stand. It is a long hit but chasing 455 puts batters under that sort of pressure. Somerset were 44 for 1 in the eighth over. George Bartlett made a start too but was soon beaten in the flight by the left arm spin of Tom Smith, failed to get his bat behind the ball and was leg before wicket right back in front of his stumps for 23 from 24 balls. Somerset was 90 for 2 in the 14^th over, yet now needing over ten runs an over and 27 adrift on Duckworth Lewis.

It was at this point that the after-effects of the major dental work that had interrupted my watching of the Northamptonshire match began to give me some trouble, whether in sympathy with Somerset’s predicament I know not, and I had to leave my seat. By the time I was fit to return Umeed had departed for 55 from 46 balls, bowled leg stump trying to glance. He had though done enough to build on the reputation he has been developing over the last few games for providing stability at the top of the order.

As I sat down, Rew and Campher were engaged in a partnership of 52 in six overs, but when it ended with Rew, 43 from 50 balls, failing to keep down a cover drive off Tom Price the impossibility of Somerset’s task appeared on the scoreboard in figures. At 180 for 4, Somerset were 56 behind on Duckworth Lewis. That two fewer wickets would have had them more or less level on Duckworth Lewis showed how closely they had followed a trajectory of runs sufficient to win the match. Even so, they now needed 12 an over and one more wicket would expose the inexperience of Somerset’s lower order. When Campher went for 32 from 27 balls, trying to clear the long boundary with a reverse sweep off van Buuren, Somerset were 202 for 5, still needing 256 at nearly 13 an over. The rate was only rising slowly and Somerset were trying to stick to their task still, but the cost in terms of wickets was unsustainable and although they were scoring at nearly seven an over it was too far from the nine they had needed at the start and the Duckworth Lewis gap had increased to 77. The inevitable was closing in.

It was, as it always had been, too much and the dam finally burst. Somerset lost their last five wickets for 24 runs, their last four for ten. Sean Dickson made 24 from 21 balls but the situation had become such that he was bowled by Paul van Meekeren, lately of Somerset, trying to drive a yorker. Josh Thomas (22 from 19 balls) acquitted himself well and pulled van Buuren over the short boundary before an uppercut off van Meekeren failed to clear the boundary. 246 for 7. “There are good crowds for this competition,” the person with me said, “But for how long will people continue to come to watch matches like this?”

At that point with Somerset in disarray, I reluctantly left the ground. Not because of the match situation. I have never left a Somerset match early because of the state of the game, however badly (or well) Somerset are doing. I stayed to the bitter end at Southampton in 2019 when Somerset suffered that fearful County Championship drubbing which effectively ended their Championship challenge that year. But my rebellious mouth was becoming ever more problematic and so I decided to beat the rush for transport to Temple Meads and get it home for some attention as quickly as possible. It was not long after I arrived at Temple Meads that Somerset supporters who had stayed to the end also arrived. Eyes exchanged glances but not much was said. The glances were enough.

The journey home was one for reflection. It had been a devastating day. I looked at the list of players drafted from Somerset for The Hundred. They were all, as you would expect, highly proficient at white-ball cricket, most at red-ball cricket too, and they had just dominated and won the Vitality Blast. With the possible exception of the out of form Lammonby, it was difficult to see any of them not playing in this match had they been available. In essence, Somerset took the field with only two, possibly three, of those who would have been selected had everyone been available. Of the team that played, probably only Dickson and Bashir would have made a full Somerset first team. For Gloucestershire, those figures were reversed. Gloucestershire were presented with an opportunity and as any team would have done, and should have done, they took full, crushing advantage. For Somerset, it is difficult to see what development their youngsters could have derived from a match such as this. Whatever the future of The Hundred and of this competition, that is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Result. Gloucestershire 454 for 3 (50 overs) J.R. Bracey 224 (151 balls), O.J. Price 77 (83), C.D.J. Dent 65 (38). Somerset 256 (38.2 overs) A.R.I. Umeed 55 (46), J.E.K. Rew 43 (50), P.A. van Meekeren 3-34 (econ 4.86), J. Shaw 3-42 (6.63). Gloucestershire won by 198 runs. Gloucestershire 2 points. Somerset 0 points.