County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Warwickshire. 6th,7th, 8th and 9th April. Taunton.
The author was unable to attend the final day of this match due to travelling to London for a non-cricket-related event which takes place only once every five years over the Easter weekend. The first two days on which play was possible were attended normally. The final day was followed online, through text messages from someone who was at the match and watched subsequently on replays from the Somerset CCC live stream.
Tom Abell had not fully recovered from a winter injury but played for the second team whilst this match was in progress.
Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, C.T. Bancroft, T.Kohler-Cadmore, G.A. Bartlett, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach, P.M. Siddle.
Warwickshire. W.M.H. Rhodes (c), E.G. Barnard, M.G.K. Burgess (c), S.R. Hain, A.L. Davies, J.G. Bethell, D.R. Mousley, R.M. Yates, O.J. Hannon-Dalby, Hasan Ali, C. Rushworth.
Overnight. Somerset 284. Warwickshire 307 for 5. Warwickshire lead by 23 runs with five first innings wickets in hand.
Final day 9th April – A classic Somerset start to the season
It only happens every five years, and always in London over the Easter Weekend. A quinquennial concert which we have attended for a quarter of a century. It has a habit of clashing with Somerset’s first match of the season. This time I missed the final day. It was one of those rare days when I have to keep up with the Somerset score from wherever I happen to be. A hardened supporter cannot not know the score. In these days of smartphones, ubiquitous internet connections and the 4G network it is easy and can be addictive. County matches can, for the truly addicted be watched on the online livestream while on the move. Not very many years ago the absent supporter would be dependent on friends to text the occasional score and before that the sporting stop press of the evening paper. It was a different world.
As it was, we had an hour at the beginning of the day before we needed to leave for the train and an hour in a coffee shop at the other end of the day. I kept an eye on the screen of my laptop as we concluded our final preparations for the trip. Warwickshire concluded their final preparations for an attempt at winning the match. In that hour they added 43 carefully accumulated runs, losing Mark Burgess, just beginning to accelerate, bowled by an angled in ball from Peter Siddle for 46 as he tried to loft him over midwicket. As with Ed Barnard on the first day, only one bail was removed, this time the leg bail. Next, Jacob Bethell was bowled by Josh Davey for 19 from 17 balls, chopping on as he tried to hook. This time only the off bail was removed. It would be a novel statistic if it were possible to collect it, to know how many times in cricket’s long history when all three batters bowled in an innings were dismissed with one bail remaining in place.
At 350 for 7, as I switched my laptop off, Warwickshire were 66 ahead. By the time I was on the train, they were all out following some short, sharp acceleration from Sam Hain and Hasan Ali. They added 39 runs in five overs before Hain fell, stepping back to cut Leach with another attacking stroke, caught behind for 119 after four and a half hours at the wicket. He and Hasan Ali had taken Warwickshire to 389. Then, within nine balls, Gregory had removed Hasan Ali, caught Tom Kohler-Cadmore for 15, miscuing a pull through midwicket, and Chris Rushworth for a single, caught by Overton when he mishit a lofted drive to long on. Warwickshire 392 all out, a lead of 108 and three overs for Somerset to see out until lunch.
I delayed buying a smartphone for years, finding what someone once called my steam-powered unsmart phone perfectly adequate. It made calls and received and sent texts as well as any smartphone and the battery lasted a week. Since I bought a smartphone at the start of the pandemic to keep up with events, I have found it has its uses. Not least, as the person who referred to my old phone as steam-powered said, you can get the cricket scores on a smartphone.
That is not always an advantage. It wasn’t on this day, at least not when Somerset began to bat. Before Somerset set out on their innings, batting through the day promised to be a fairly straightforward task on what appeared to be an improving pitch. That thought did not take account of the fact that this was Somerset. As someone once said to me with an anguished tone in their voice, “Why do they always put us on the edge of our seats?” They were not found wanting here. “0 for 1. Here we go,” said the incoming text just before lunch. If I was not yet on the edge of the seat, it was being readied. Sean Dickson 0. That perennial thorn in Somerset’s side, probably a perennial thorn in the side of most teams, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, bowling from the Trescothick Pavilion End had moved a fullish ball in off the seam. Dickson had attempted to defend on the back foot and the ball flew straight at the chest of Rob Yates at first slip.
As the players took their lunch my train set off towards London. “2 for 2,” said the next text. Within three balls of the players’ return, Hannon-Dalby had again cut a ball in and passed the inside edge of Cameron Bancroft’s bat. Stepping across to defend, he was struck in front of the stumps. The edge of my seat was now fully occupied. Once you are past the White Horse at Westbury there is little in the scenery to demand attention. Reading usually helps pass the time, but not when Somerset are playing. Especially when they are 2 for 2 trying to save a game. It was a battle between trying to concentrate on the content of my e-reader, the constant demands of my chronic Somerset cricket anxiety state to look at my phone, when it had a signal, and the fear of another text notification sounding, for if there is someone at the cricket and I am not, the incoming message, as often as not, is reserved for wickets.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore, in line with the reputation which came before him when he joined Somerset from Yorkshire in the winter, took his usual approach to the bowling and attacked from the outset, striking three fours. Among the boundaries, the highlights reveal a glorious straight drive through the bowler Rushworth’s legs to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. Then, “Just when things were looking good, 25 for 3,” came from the text-sending watcher. An attempt to guide the ball past the two slips had resulted in an outside edge flying low to Hain at second slip. I replied, “All three early wickets were new players. They are quick learners,” in a reference to Somerset’s reputation for poor starts to an innings. “They know how things are done around here,” the reply. Three early wickets made the e-reader even harder to concentrate on. Somerset had only to survive two sessions but with three wickets down inside half an hour, even with a Warwickshire first innings lead of just 108, supporters at the ground would be constantly looking at the score and the clock and I was in constantly fear of my phone beeping.
My own score checks revealed a stand developing between Tom Lammonby and George Bartlett and the highlights revealed some of the detail. Bartlett took the Kohler-Cadmore approach and attacked. A Bartlett innings though is at the opposite end of the style spectrum to a Kohler-Cadmore one. Kohler-Cadmore strikes the ball with obvious ferocity. Bartlett achieves the same result with finesse. His first boundary was clipped, if that is not too strong a word, through square leg with the lightest of touches. That it would cross the boundary was so obvious so early that he and Lammonby had barely ambled halfway up the pitch before returning to their creases. Another, off Hasan Ali, was pulled with a dismissive flick of the wrists and the batters barely ran at all.
My phone beeped. Another text. My heart sank. With good reason. “Hasan Ali went for 20 off 14 balls, then knocked Bartlett’s middle stump out of the ground.” Bartlett, still attacking, had tried to drive a very full ball. Somerset were back in difficulty at 62 for 4 and anxious eyes would have been calculating that age-old equation between runs, wickets, and time. Bartlett 20. Although Somerset were now within 46 runs of clearing their deficit there were still over three hours left in the day, a long time for the lower half of the order to bat. James Rew, who seemed to have come of age as a cricketer at Southport in 2022 was now at the wicket in a very similar situation to his second innings vigil there. With his first ball to Rew, Hasan Ali forced the thickest of edges from a defensive push and the ball went through backward point for four. A reverse sweep off Bethell, also through backward point, was well struck and kept down, although I could almost hear supporters at the top of the Trescothick Pavilion questioning its use in the Championship, let alone in the situation Somerset were in.
A ball later, a square drive for four was driven with equal certainty. And then, the next text, “Just getting going again and of course the inevitable happens. Rew bowled.” He had tried to pull Rushworth, a bottom edge had crashed into the base of his off stump and Somerset were 92 for 5. Rew an uncharacteristic 14 from 12 balls. Somerset were only 16 behind, but there were still 40 minutes to tea. Of what used to be called recognised batters only Lammonby, who had opened with Dickson, remained. Once Somerset were ahead, the equation for a Warwickshire victory would become increasingly difficult. It was though those three hours that pressed on the Somerset mind. The tension in the ground must have been immense. I could feel it on the train as I checked the score with increasing frequency. It had been a classic Somerset start to the season.
At the fall of Rew’s wicket, Lammonby was on 42 from 59 balls, and the highlights show the sun which had bathed the morning, long gone. Somerset would need Lammonby to stay longer as he was joined by the mercurial, classical batting of Gregory. To his second ball, Gregory played a deft piece of deflection off Rushworth which ran past the slips to the boundary. But from there, he and Lammonby dug in, eschewing the attacking formula of the first half of the innings to concentrate on survival. It drove the tension. It relaxed a little when Somerset reached tea on 112 for 5, just four runs ahead. “Very slow scoring in the run-up to tea, but at least no wickets. 38 overs left,” said the next text.
In the third over after tea, another twist to the tension, “Gregory bowled for 26. Still touch and go. Lammonby 47not out, but Overton in, so not going to be easy from here.” Gregory, playing defensively had been bowled by Hannon-Dalby. Somerset were 127 for 6, now ahead but only by 19 runs. Overton is a capable batter and has scored some good runs for Somerset but, perhaps as he has concentrated on his bowling which was often decisive for Somerset in 2022 he has scored less well.
I had by now taken up residence in a coffee shop and could concentrate on proceedings. The first thing I noticed from a look at the livestream was that the light was fading. That settled the nerves some more. Every over would put more pressure on Warwickshire as the weather was added to the runs, wickets, and time equation. Overton helped too for he looked secure from the start. He soon drove Hannon-Dalby off the back foot through the covers with ease.
Then, a harbinger of the end. Another text, “Floodlights coming on. I think the umpires have been comparing light meters.” And then I noticed Warwickshire were bowling their spinners. They used three. Between them they had barely taken a first-class wicket in their careers, and they did not trouble Somerset. It was clear that the light was now fast fading and the umpires had advised Warwickshire that they would have to take the players off if the pace bowlers stayed on. The spinners, Yates, Mousley and Bethell, bowled a total of ten overs between them while Overton and Lammonby took 33 runs. “Some big boundaries now. I think Lammonby and Overton are trying to make it safe,” gave a sense of the feeling at the ground. Twelve of those runs came from sixes, one from each batter. Overton lofting a Yates’ full toss back over his head and Lammonby hitting Bethell’s slow left arm over long on. And then, the final text, “Safe! Players shaking hands.”
It had been a long afternoon. Lammonby had steered the innings from beginning to end, scoring 66 in three and a half hours. His larger scores have tended to be made at pace as his natural attacking game is unleashed on the bowling. His more restrained innings, and he has worked intensely to develop himself as an opening batter, a role for which he has not looked ideally suited, have tended to become established and then, before he can develop them into a substantial score, he loses his wicket. Here, he had played the innings of substance that Somerset needed.
His individual strokes were no less classical and free flowing for all the doggedness of the innings. A square cut early in his innings off Hasan Ali was particularly smoothly struck and a clip through square leg off Barnard was equally deftly played. A pull off Hasan Ali which took Somerset past 150 was played to long leg. The swing of the bat as Lammonby swivelled was as smoothly played as any of his drives. Lammonby has a rare ability to play the pull shot, even square, as if he is coaxing the ball on its way with the lightest of touches. There is no hint of the bludgeon. After the light finally failed and the players walked off, with Somerset 72 runs ahead and an hour or so of theoretical play remaining had the light held, Lammonby could reflect on a tough job well done. And I had just about outstayed my welcome in the coffee shop.
Result. Somerset 284 (L. Gregory 65, C.T. Bancroft 44, J.H. Davey 42, E.G. Barnard 3-54, O.J. Hannon-Dalby 3-76) and 180 for 6 (T. Lammonby 66*, O.J. Hannon-Dalby 3-21). Warwickshire 392 (S.R. Hain 119, A.L. Davies 118, M.G.K. Burgess 46, J. Leach 4-119. Match drawn. Warwickshire 11 points. Somerset 9 points.
Elsewhere in Division 1.
Canterbury. Northamptonshire 117 and 331 (R.I. Keogh 116). Kent 222 (C.P. Tremain 5-44) and 227 for 3 (B.G. Compton 114*). Kent won by seven wickets. Kent 19 points. Northamptonshire 3 points.
Lord’s. Essex 266 (D.W. Lawrence 105, T.S. Roland-Jones 7-61) and 211. Middlesex 170 (J.A. Porter 6-35) and 210. Essex won by 97 runs. Essex 20 points. Middlesex 3 points.
Old Trafford. Surrey 442 (C.T. Steel 141*) and 292 for 6 dec (B.T. Foakes 103*, M.W. Parkinson 5-120). Lancashire 291 (S.A. Abbott 5-50) and 247 for 3 (J.J. Bohannon 108). Match drawn. Surrey 12 points. Lancashire 9 points.
Southampton. Nottinghamshire 185 (Mohammad Abbas 6-49) and 177. Hampshire 231 and 132 for 2. Hampshire won by eight wickets. Hampshire 19 points. Nottinghamshire 3 points.
Division 1 Table
P Pl W L D Ded* Pts
1. 1 1 0 0 0 20 Essex
2. 1 1 0 0 0 19 Hampshire
2. 1 1 0 0 0 19 Kent
4. 1 0 0 1 0 12 Surrey
5. 1 0 0 1 0 11 Warwickshire
6. 1 0 0 1 0 9 Lancashire
6. 1 0 0 1 0 9 Somerset
8. 1 0 1 0 0 3 Middlesex
8. 1 0 1 0 0 3 Northamptonshire
8. 1 0 1 0 0 3 Nottinghamshire
'Farmer White' Somerset Cricket Writing 