Derbyshire v Somerset. Metro Bank One-Day Cup 2023. Derby. 22^nd August.

Umeed’s Match

Toss. Derbyshire. Elected to field.

I watched this match through the Derbyshire CCC live stream, having decided this year not to travel to away matches in this competition. I relented for Bristol and suffered an acute reaction while I was there to the extensive dental work undertaken while the Northamptonshire match was on. For Durham and Derbyshire, sticking with the original decision seemed wise. They are both a long way from home if a dentist is needed urgently. As far as could be told from the live stream, the Derby crowd seemed sparse compared to a Taunton one in this competition but seemed fully engaged and to be enjoying their cricket. The stands were all well-populated, but far from full, and there are swathes of the ground, including one entire side of which, as far as I could see, with virtually no seating at all.

The abiding Somerset memory of this match, of this series, will be of Andy Umeed driving in the classical style with an understated, almost apologetic, smoothness of stroke, the ball travelling in the arc between mid-on and mid-off. The smoothness of his stroke is matched by the ball’s almost mesmeric progress across the grass as if it were floating on a cushion of air. Occasionally here, it would bobble up off the rope and add four more runs to the total. More often it would float past the inner ring fielder, or find the long on or long off fielder, but not before one or two more runs had been added to the score. He found the gaps often enough in this match for 72 of his 172 runs to come in ones and twos and perhaps the occasional three. Umeed’s batting has dominated Somerset’s campaign, and this match, and the drive has been the hallmark of his batting. It stood out in part because it is unusual to see a white ball being driven with the frequency with which Umeed drives it. 

Umeed does not have a dominant presence at the wicket, but he exudes an aura of permanence and calm. He might not look the part if placed at the helm of an ocean-going racer, but you might like to see his hand on the tiller in a storm. In his batting, he holds steady and keeps going no matter what the bowling or condition of the match. The drive is the stroke that marks him out, but he is not averse to scoring in the traditional white ball way if the bowler shortens the length. Then pulls, often hefty, or sweeps are his response. He will too loft his drive over the straight or straightish boundary for six, but, at the end of all, the enduring memory is of the smoothness of his drive sending the ball skimming unerringly, like a snooker ball across the baize, for a run or two or to the boundary.

His 172 in this match was a perfectly paced innings, the culmination of a series of innings that had formed the backbone of Somerset’s batting in 50-over cricket in 2023. He began carefully, riding out the early loss of George Thomas, sharply caught to his right by Harry Came at first slip, driving at a widish ball from Sam Connors. He was joined by Lewis Goldsworthy and, not for the first time this year, they worked to establish the Somerset innings. There is nothing flamboyant about a Umeed-Goldsworthy partnership, but the pairing is effective nonetheless. Both have understated batting styles and tend to start slowly. Umeed’s first boundary did not come until the sixth over, clipped smartly off his heels behind square off Harry Moore. His second and third came off Sam Connors in the ninth over driven straight, the first causing the umpire to hop away as it skimmed past his feet, the second causing a more calculated step back.

Goldsworthy’s first boundary did not come until the tenth over, Moore driven through the covers. By the end of the ten-over powerplay Somerset had reached 43 for 1, the innings had been stabilised and the first signs of acceleration had been seen in those last three boundaries. Umeed and Goldsworthy now embarked on turning a start into a base for the innings. They were now moving Somerset along at five and a half an over, raising the overall run rate to five as they took singles and twos boosted by another straight drive for four from Umeed off Anuj Dal and, when the ball was bounced short, by a six rather unceremoniously pulled, almost tennis-shot-like, over long on off Luis Reece.

Goldsworthy kept the pressure on, driving Dal through extra cover for four and, as the partnership developed, lofting the off spin of Thomson over straight midwicket for six. Mark Watt’s rather perfunctory slow left arm spin was turned to fine leg for four. The score moved into the 90s in the 19^th over before Goldsworthy attempted to turn Reece into the on side and returned a straightforward catch off the leading edge. Somerset 95 for 2. Goldsworthy 42.

Umeed was joined by James Rew and merged into the background as Rew took the initiative to score the lion’s share of the runs in their partnership. Scoring more quickly than he usually does at the start of an innings, Rew added 31 from 31 balls in a partnership of 49 in eight overs, Somerset now moving at six an over as the innings picked up pace. Only half of Rew’s runs were scored in boundaries. Again, Somerset were assiduously working away with neatly placed singles and twos. Rew took Somerset past 100 in precisely 20 overs with a driven four off Watt lofted over long on while Umeed brought up his fifty with a single from another smooth off drive off Reece.

There was nothing smooth about Rew’s four boundaries. Three were struck hammer-like through the same long on slot and the fourth sharply reverse swept fine. He was undone driving hard, caught behind low down by Brooke Guest off Sam Connors and Somerset were 144 for 3 after 27 overs. When Sean Dickson joined Umeed, the roles were reversed, Umeed emerging from the supporting role he had played to Rew and taking the lead with Dickson primarily rotating the strike. It was the partnership that put the match in Somerset’s grip. It was a grip they never relinquished. Dixon acted as the anchor, his 67 in their partnership of 167 contained only four fours and one six.

Umeed meanwhile began to play with a freedom not seen in his innings to date. He took Somerset past 150 with a straight six off Conners, the bat flowing through the arc, although with some force. The fifty-partnership scored at a run a ball, was registered when he neatly turned Moore into the on side. He took Somerset to 200 with a gentle push drive to mid-on, Somerset’s overall run rate now five and a half an over. Umeed’s century was reached from 106 balls with another neat push into the onside. There were just seven fours and two sixes in his century which gives some indication of the way in which Somerset had kept their score moving with those pushed, guided and softly driven ones and twos.

Somerset’s 250 was reached in the 43^rd over, the last fifty coming in seven overs with Somerset’s overall rate having risen close to six. Umeed, continuing to take the lead in shaping the innings, had now resorted to the pull and a slog-sweep to produce two fours and a six. Dickson did not reach the boundary once during those 50 runs, yet they came in 44 balls so prolific were the pair between the stumps. It gave the impression of Somerset in perpetual motion. The next 50 runs came in 23 balls, Umeed, now moving quickly up the gears, twice clearing the straight boundary, the second six taking him past 150, reached in 134 balls. Dickson too was accelerating. He reverse swept and pulled Conners for four before driving him straight back over his head for six to go to his fifty from 43 balls.

It was exhilarating stuff and although Dickson was finally leg before wicket to Reece attempting another reverse sweep and Bartlett chopped Reece on trying to pull, Umeed had another six in him, driven over straight midwicket. Umeed’s eventual 172 not out came from 147 balls and Somerset reached 333 for five. Umeed’s had been an innings to lift the Somerset spirit, particularly as it came as the culmination of some excellent performances earlier in this competition including two other centuries. He was too, with 613 runs, the highest scorer in the 2023 competition.

‘You don’t know how good a score is until both sides have batted,’ is an old cricketing adage. We found out very quickly. Within four overs of their innings, Derbyshire were 14 for 4. That was perhaps as much to do with the weight of Somerset runs bearing down on them and the inexorable way in which they had been compiled as to do with any gremlins in the pitch. The return of Josh Davey had some part in it too. It has to be remembered that the best players have been sucked out of this competition by The Hundred, although Derbyshire have only lost four, and Davey is an established Somerset first team bowler. He had been unavailable through injury throughout this tournament until this final game. Now, he took two of the first three wickets to fall and three for 18 runs in six overs in all.

It was not just Davey. Ned Leonard has opened the bowling for Somerset in this tournament but struggled with consistency in the early matches. He did though find his rhythm towards the end of the competition and in this match took three wickets for 40 runs in nine overs. It was too much for Derbyshire. Reece was caught behind defending off Davey and Harry Came limply drove him to cover where Danny Lamb took the catch. By then, Thomas Wood had already top-edged a pull off Leonard to Shoaib Bashir at midwicket, the bowler perhaps coaxing some extra bounce from the pitch. When Matt Lamb attempted to hook Leonard, the ball shot skywards and fell into the gloves of the waiting Rew. At 14 for four, Somerset’s 333 for 5 looked invincible.

Fourteen for four became 56 for six as Davey returned briefly to cut a ball in and bowl Guest for 13 while Haider Ali, having slog swept Goldsworthy for six, repeated the stroke off the next ball and, as so often happens when an attempt is made to repeat a successful, aggressive stroke against a spinner, he was caught on the boundary by George Thomas. Any lingering doubt about the result had gone, The Somerset mind could relax.

The minds of the Derbyshire batters too perhaps because with all realistic hope gone, they settled, the frantic clatter of wickets ended and the Derbyshire innings became a long-drawn-out drift, rather than a plummet, towards defeat, if with one or two bright spots as compensation for the watching Derbyshire crowd. Dal and Thomson batted without too much alarm and added 81 at just over six an over. Two sixes from Thomson, one over long on off Goldsworthy and one over long off against Bashir, who was not as effective in this match as he had been earlier in the competition, were the highlights. But despite the apparent ease with which the batters now took Derbyshire forward, when Thomson, on 42 from 47 balls, spooned a low return catch to George Thomas the score was still only 137 for 7, 196 behind and the required run rate had climbed to just over eight. Eight an over in the later stages of a run chase is not unachievable in these days of heavy bats and large scores, but over 24 overs with only three wickets standing it was virtually in the realms of fiction.

Two more wickets fell in the next seven overs, Watt bowled by Bashir and Moore caught behind off Leonard, and Derbyshire were 173 for nine, 160 behind with the required rate, now approaching ten, of no more than statistical interest. So often when a side suffers an early, and in cricketing terms, catastrophic collapse as Derbyshire had done here, one batter seems to come to terms with the bowling and survives the collapse apparently untroubled by what has caused it. For Derbyshire, it was Anuj Dal, and now it was the Somerset bowlers who were struggling, at least to take a wicket.

Dal and Conners added 88 runs in 16 overs for the last wicket. There was no rush to score, the match was, to all intents and purposes over, but Dal took the opportunity to make his way quietly to a century which gave the Derbyshire supporters something to cheer, one or two rising to their feet to applaud. His boundaries came from short-arm, almost punched, pulls and drives until the inevitable came when a clubbed cover drive was caught by George Thomas off Danny Lamb.

And so, Somerset’s 50-over campaign ended with a crushing victory. It had been set up by Umeed’s innings which, with the support of Goldsworthy, Rew and Dickson, had created the pressure for Somerset’s bowlers to overwhelm the Derbyshire batters before the Derbyshire innings could rub the sleep out of its eyes. For all that the bowlers had run through the Derbyshire top order, this was Umeed’s match. Somerset’s innings, and Umeed’s in particular, had paved the way for the bowlers. For the first half of his innings, Umeed’s driving and control might have served in the Championship. Then, with the foundations laid, he switched to pure white ball mode and Somerset never looked back. Whether he could do it against a full-strength first-division attack is a question which still needs to be answered. Against the attack put up against him here, he did it consummately. If he is given the opportunity, the answer to the question about the Championship might be found in September.

Result. Somerset 333 for 5 (50 overs) A.R.I. Umeed 172* (147 balls), S.R. Dickson 67 (52), L.P. Goldsworthy 42 (62), L.M. Reece 3-62 (econ 6.20). Derbyshire 261 (48.1 overs) A.K. Dal 110 (109), A.T. Thomson 42 (47), J.H. Davey 3-18 (3.00), N.O. Leonard 3-40 (4.44).  Somerset won by 72 runs. Somerset 2 points. Derbyshire 0 points.

Andy Umeed was the top scorer in the competition in 2023 with 613 runs at an average of 87.57 with three centuries and a highest score of 172*.