County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Lancashire. 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd April. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, C.T. Bancroft, T.B. Abell (c), T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory, K.A. Aldridge, M.J. Leach, P.M. Siddle, J.A. Brooks.

Lancashire. K.K. Jennings (c), L.W.P. Wells, J.J. Bohannon, D.J. Vilas, G.J. Bell (w), C. de Grandhomme, G.P. Balderson, T.W. Hartley, T.E. Bailey, S. Mahmood, J.M. Anderson.

Toss. Lancashire. Elected to field.

First day 20^th April – Rehabilitation

In the end, this was a day of rehabilitation for Somerset. Having been put in by Lancashire, they were soon suffering from their, now almost traditional, malaise of losing early wickets. By the end of the tenth over they were three wickets down with only 24 runs on the board. Sean Dickson had gone for nought, literally walking into a leg before wicket decision against Jimmy Anderson. Tom Lammonby had tried to respond by attacking, an on drive off Anderson, beautifully leaned into, had brought an admiring cry of, “Good shot!” But on 15, after half an hour at the crease, he played a straight, defensive stroke to Anderson, the ball took the edge and was caught in front of his shins by Keaton Jennings at second slip.

Anderson, incredibly it seems, was nearer his 41^st birthday than his 40^th and yet his bowling action was as smooth and apparently supple as it ever was. It is difficult for the watching mind to comprehend how such a smooth, understated action can produce the pace it still does. The accuracy is easier to understand, but the penetration is liable to catch the watcher unawares so understated does the whole spectacle seem to be. Perhaps it catches the batters unawares too, for Lammonby’s defensive stroke was as unhurried and as controlled as Anderson’s bowling. It was just that the ball ghosted away enough to take the edge and direct itself into the waiting hands of Jennings. Somerset 24 for 2.

Cameron Bancroft has struggled against the moving ball in some bowler-friendly conditions since his arrival from Australia. This match was no exception. Already beaten by one ball from Anderson and the survivor of a leg before wicket appeal from another, he was out caught by George Bell behind the stumps attempting to defend against Tom Bailey. He had made seven in half an hour and Somerset were 24 for 3.

A look around the ground as Bancroft departed and Tom Kohler-Cadmore walked to the wicket showed the swathes of sand in front of the Trescothick Pavilion, spread to help mitigate the damp caused by the large amounts of spring rain which had fallen after the winter work on the outfield and evident at the first home match, was still clearly visible. It was highlighted by puffs of it rising every time a ball landed on it. Problems with drainage in front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion were marked by an unusually short boundary along that section of the ground. But, despite all, cricket was proceeding in front of a crowd of around 1,500 by my count, down from the 2,000 or so who might have been expected for the first day of a Championship match before the pandemic, even in April. It was a good early season day to watch cricket, the sunny conditions bringing enough warmth for many to discard their topcoats, something that would have been unthinkable in the matches against Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire.

With Somerset’s backs to a familiar wall, Tom Kohler-Cadmore attempted to break free with an unremitting attack on the bowling. Although he opened his scoring off Bailey with an edge past the slips for three, he followed it with a stunning straight drive for four to the Lord Ian Botham Stand, and a cut to the distant Caddick Pavilion off George Balderson was followed in the same over by an off drive. Three defiant boundaries which brought loud applause and a shout from a relieved crowd of, “Come on!!” In Balderson’s next over the ball was lofted over long on into the Hildreth Stand, and a drive to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary soon followed. Batters who bat like that, especially while the ball is still moving, tend to have a term and Kohler-Cadmore had his, caught on the deep midwicket boundary in front of the Caddick Pavilion off Balderson attempting another six over the longest boundary of the match, the pitch being set well towards the Somerset Stand, perhaps to avoid the damp areas. Somerset 80 for 4. They were still under pressure, but Kohler-Cadmore’s 38 in an hour had changed the feel of the innings. Tom Abell had kept Kohler-Cadmore company and was now joined by James Rew. The two took Somerset safely to lunch and 91 for 4. It left a rather better mood among Somerset supporters than 24 for 3 had done.

The weather encouraged people to meander about the ground at lunch and I enjoyed a lengthy chat with three other Somerset supporters while standing next to the Ondaatje Stand. It took the whole of the lunch interval as these chats sometimes do and focused on Somerset’s struggling start to the season, the repeated early innings collapses in particular. There was concern too about whether Craig Overton, absent from this match, and seemingly off-colour in the Nottinghamshire match, might have been carrying an injury. Josh Davey was absent too which brought another worry so early in the season. We speculated but, as so often in these lunchtime conversations, came to no serious conclusion. Serious conclusions are not what they are about of course, it was as much a getting together of people who only meet at the cricket after the winter. Above all, we concluded, it was just good to be watching cricket in weather that at least had a hint of the summer to come rather than a sharp reminder of a winter which seemed reluctant to depart.

The afternoon session was one of cricket as calm as the morning variety had been frenetic. Abell and Rew attempted to ‘come on’, as exhorted by that spectator before lunch, with measured authority rather than with a full-blooded assault in the manner with which Kohler-Cadmore had first broken the shackles imposed by the Lancashire bowlers. The bat was rarely beaten, leg before wicket appeals became an endangered species and Somerset moved steadily along at three runs an over. It was as if the storm that had blown through the Somerset early season batting had suddenly abated. Even Anderson made no impact. It was perhaps a good omen for Somerset when, soon after lunch, Abell glanced Anderson neatly to the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary. So often he has been caught down the leg side off that stroke and often, especially early in his innings, bowlers are inclined to slide the ball through there as if in temptation.

Scoring strokes consisted almost entirely of singles variously turned, guided, pulled or softly driven into the leg side, interspersed with boundaries, mainly driven in the arc between mid-on and cover. It was a potent mixture. Abell did slog sweep Tom Hartley’s slow left arm over the Somerset Stand boundary just before tea, but it was a rare foray into such aggression. That is not to say many of the fours were not well-struck. They were. A straight drive from Abell off Anderson to the Trescothick Pavilion passed between Rew’s legs to cries of, “Shot!” A guide past the slips was perfectly played and a cut off Saqib Mahmood to the Somerset Stand at deep backward point raced along the ground before Abell brought up his fifty from 109 balls with a stunning straight drive to the Lord Ian Botham Stand.

Rew, scoring even more sedately than Abell, produced some stunning strokes too. A back foot cover drive and a scintillating square drive, both off Balderson to the Somerset Stand both stood out as did an on drive to the Lord Ian Botham Stand off Colin de Grandhomme. There was a quieter period in the run up to tea, Abell’s six apart, perhaps as the batters took stock, for Somerset were now past 150 and were steadily repairing the damage of the early wickets. The crowd were quieter after the alarums of the morning as they settled into enjoying the gradual improvement in Somerset’s position, some classical batting at both ends and the marvel of Anderson’s bowling. In the over before tea, Rew emphasised his quality when he played a standing drive off Hartley which rocketed through extra cover to the Somerset Stand. The players left the field with Somerset in rather better fettle than when they returned to the field after lunch. Somerset 199 for 4, Abell 74 not out. Rew 57 not out.

By the end of the tea interval, the Somerset Stand had virtually emptied, spectators either leaving the ground as many customarily do at tea, or moving elsewhere as the afternoon shadow removed the warmth of the sun row by row and the blasts of winter that had been so prevalent in the first two matches returned. In the middle, the disciplined, purposeful batting of Abell and Rew continued into the evening. For ten overs they maintained their policy of quietly placed singles, again primarily into the on side, although, early in the session, as in the afternoon session, Abell glanced, this time, off Balderson while Rew edged the same bowler past the only slip to Gimblett’s Hill. Twenty-four runs came in those ten overs before Abell played a neat late cut off de Grandhomme to the Hildreth Stand, the first of three cuts to the boundary off the same bowler, the third of which took Abell to a century from 203 balls in four and a half hours of intense concentration. It brought him a standing ovation, now customary for home team batters reaching a century around the county circuit.

The new ball was taken with 16 overs of the day remaining. As so often when batters are dominating, it profited Lancashire nothing. Abell and Rew actually accelerated the scoring against the harder ball, taking 60 runs from those 16 overs. The singles became more plentiful, four and a leg bye coming in one over from Anderson. It was not exhilarating cricket, but in the context of the season so far it lifted the spirits of the Somerset crowd. You could feel hope rising in the chatter that perhaps, just perhaps, a corner was being turned. A four from Rew off Bailey fashioned off an open-face past the slips slid to Gimblett’s Hill and a cover drive to the Ondaatje Stand off Mahmood brought him a century and a standing ovation to match Abell’s. After 24 for 3, this was cricketing heaven for Somerset followers.

Rew continued Somerset’s batting rehabilitation and finished the evening with a hooked six off Balderson which cleared the long leg boundary next to the covers store, and two fours in the penultimate over, bowled by Mahmood, another open-faced steer and a pull to deep midwicket. As the players walked off, Abell and Rew had added 231 runs in a near-faultless partnership. The pitch, no doubt, was flat, and the conditions heavily favoured the batters after the usual first-morning movement, but Abell and Rew had shown exemplary control and discipline and had reaped the reward. And a word too for Kohler-Cadmore whose coruscating 38 had rescued the Somerset innings from its stumbling start and set it on its way. The smiles in which people’s faces were wreathed and the animated chatter which passed their lips as they left the ground left no doubt of their appreciation of the efforts of those in the middle over five long hours.

Close. Somerset 311 for 4.