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.

Overnight. Somerset 311 for 4.

Second day 21^st April – Lancashire re-shape the match

Lancashire were not daunted by Somerset’s apparently dominant position at the end of the first day. Their bowlers responded by taking six wickets on the second morning while Somerset added 130 runs. A total of 441 all out was, on the face of it, a total from which the match might be controlled. By the end of the day that view had been devastatingly dispelled after Lancashire’s top three added 302 runs at a five runs an over. Keaton Jennings, 124 not out, played as if he was extending his triple century at Southport in 2022. The Lancashire batting was a sobering experience for Somerset supporters and put the progress which Tom Abell and James Rew had made on the first day into sharp perspective.

For me, it was one of those days when life interferes with cricket. This time, it was a dental appointment. Only an inspection, but it revealed a problem which was likely to interfere with my cricket watching more than once during the summer and which would not wait to be dealt with until the winter. The bus ride from home to ground feels interminable when it takes place after the cricket has started, although less so now I have a smartphone and can get instant score updates. My phone delivered the news of the fall of the wickets of Rew and Gregory to which was added that of Kasey Aldridge as I reached the top of the small flight of stairs which takes you into the upper section of the Trescothick Pavilion.

A glance around the ground revealed a crowd down on the first day, perhaps as low as 1,000. The weather may have been a factor. It was cloudy and the forecast had been for worse. The temperature was down as much as the crowd, and that, and the forecast itself may have been a factor in the lower numbers. It had felt distinctly chilly as I walked along the front of Gimblett’s Hill and people had their topcoats on. When I reached the top of the Trescothick Pavilion the wind that tends to blow through it was bitter as it so often is early in the season. This was the third match, but it was still April. The Quantocks were bathed in a haze which deadened the vibrant colours of yesterday as much as the wind deadened the feelings in the limbs of its occupants.

Before I arrived Somerset’s start had been scratchy, with two boundaries coming from thick edges, but a sumptuous cover drive from Abell off Bailey seemed to have set the scene for a continuation of his partnership of the first day with Rew. James Anderson though was equal to the situation. A ball of driveable length, but pitched wide of off stump, had drifted away from the bat as Rew attempted a drive through the covers. The bat followed the drift and edged the ball to George Bell behind the stumps. Lewis Gregory replaced Rew. He began in style by driving Bailey through the covers with an explosive stroke that sent the ball rocketing to the boundary. But a slightly angled in ball from Anderson evaded a straight, though not extravagant, drive and trapped Gregory on his crease and Anderson had four of the six Somerset wickets to fall. It had been an exhibition of artistry in pace bowling spread over two days which would stick in the mind. It left Somerset on 332 for 6. Rew 117. Gregory 5.

Aldridge had made some impact with two boundaries, an understated checked drive back past the stumps off Bailey and a more expansive but equally impressive stroke through the covers off Balderson. My first view of Aldridge though was of him being beaten back towards his leg stump by a ball from Anderson which cut into him off the seam and carried off the edge low to Luke Wells at first slip. Somerset 356 for 7. Aldridge 14. It was Anderson’s fifth wicket, a haul which was now reducing hopes of a mammoth Somerset total.

I was in my seat in time to see Tom Abell pass 150 with successive boundaries off George Balderson, an on drive to the Garner Gates and a steer past the slips to the Trescothick Pavilion. Both came emphatically off the middle and brought him applause for the landmark. A cut to point off Anderson took him to 151 and his highest Championship score and more applause. Balderson though kept the pressure on Somerset by defeating Abell’s attempt to turn him to leg and rapping the pads in front of leg stump. Abell was applauded all the way to the Caddick Pavilion and the floodlights came on as if in honour of his innings.

With Somerset on 370 for 8, what would once have been described as ‘nine, ten, jack’, with the expectation that they would score few runs, Jack Leach, Peter Siddle and Jack Brooks launched into the bowling. Leach is a different player with the bat since he was exposed to bazball at Test level. Gone is the old defence at all costs rearguard. In its place, Leach is liable to take what used to be described as the long handle, although with skilful practised strokes rather than the old-style bludgeon.

But first, Siddle. He did not hold back either. In a quarter of an hour he scored 17. A lofted straight drive off Balderson crossed the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary. In Balderson’s next over it was a backfoot drive through extra cover to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary and, a ball later, a lofted on drive into the seventh or eighth row of the Somerset Stand where it meets the Garner Gates steps. The six was helped by the shortness of the boundary on that side, but it was a big hit still and had the crowd cheering. But, when Siddle tried to defend against Saqib Mahmood he was caught behind and Somerset were 393 for 9.

Jack Brooks with the bat rarely stays long but does not hold back while he is there. Tom Hartley’s slow left arm was sent sizzling back over his head to the Lord Ian Botham Stand for four. Against Mahmood he found the boundary twice in succession, once with an off drive to Gimblett’s Hill and once square to the Somerset Stand boards. More importantly, he proved adept at quickly rotating the strike to Leach, who sustained the momentum created by Siddle’s innings. If Leach took a single, he very quickly found Brooks reciprocating in kind.

Against Mahmood, Leach had responded to the departure of Abell with as delicate a late cut as it is possible to play against a pace bowler. The ball kicked up some sand as it bounced well short of the two slips and ran wide of them to the boundary. He took Somerset past 400 with a lofted straight drive for four, every bit as powerful as the one Brooks had played. He had some luck, fortune favouring the brave presumably, with an inside edge past leg stump and the keeper off Mahmood and an attempt at another lofted straight drive off Hartley came off an inside edge but was timed so well it still managed to cross the Somerset Stand boundary next to the old Legend’s Square. Two balls later the ball cleared the boundary in front of the Colin Atkinson scoreboard. When finally, Brooks skied a catch to Hartley at backward square leg for 19, Leach had reached 40 from 32 balls, and Somerset 441. And with that, the players trooped off for lunch.

There was a worry among some around me that the ease with which the last three batters had added 71 runs in nine and a half overs suggested the pitch was now offering little or nothing to the bowlers. The text from an online watcher with years of experience of playing club cricket summed up the feeling, “We will have to bowl well.” There were similar worries from the inhabitants of Gimblett’s Hill when I wandered over there during the lunch interval. There were worries too about another poor start to the season and concerns that it might lead to one of those seasons which found Somerset facing a long battle against relegation.

The afternoon and evening sessions put the morning session and the first day into perspective. Lancashire began slowly, although Gregory and Brooks beat the bat only rarely. After eight overs they were 16 for 0, but from there they began to accelerate. By tea, they were scoring at over four runs an over and had lost only one wicket. By the close, they were within 150 runs of Somerset’s 441 still only one wicket down, and their overall scoring rate had passed five. The conditions offered nothing to the bowlers and the Lancashire batters gave a display of untrammelled scoring. From the outset their strokes were played with time to spare, and the ball flew off the bat with a lightness of touch which belied the speed with which it raced to the boundary. Lancashire supporters must have been in seventh heaven at the sight and neutral ones drooling at the lightness of the stroke play.

The left-handed Luke Wells began with care, taking time to gauge the conditions before playing with freedom and precision. The first boundary of the innings did not come until the fifth over when Wells played an effortless backfoot checked cover drive off Gregory to the Caddick Pavilion. It set the scene for the day. The next boundary came in the ninth over as Wells clipped Gregory over deep midwicket to the Somerset Stand for six. Again, the stroke was so smooth and slight that it was difficult to comprehend how the ball had travelled so far. It was an object lesson in timing.

Still Lancashire held back, and Keaton Jennings did not score his first boundary until the 15^th over when he drove Siddle through the off side to the covers store with an almost lazy air, although his timing was anything but lazy. As the sky brightened, with the first hint of shadows beginning to appear and the Quantocks brightening, Wells drove Siddle just to the off of straight to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary to a shout of, “Shot!” With Lancashire past fifty, Somerset turned to Leach from the River End. As so often with a spinner, his first over troubled Wells, one ball beating the edge and another having to be desperately dug out before rolling past the off stump. It brought enough hope to Somerset supporters to produce a round of applause.

It was a false dawn. With the introduction of Leach, the feel of the innings changed. Leach still beat the bat occasionally, but it was the batters who wrought the change, Wells in particular. He reverse swept the first three balls of Leach’s second over to the Somerset Stand boundary, once through backward point, once through point, both for four and then through backward point for six. Three exquisite strokes played with an apparent minimum of effort. Aldridge was tried from the Trescothick Pavilion End in place of Siddle but was clipped backward of square and cut neatly through backward point, both for four. Lancashire had added 35 runs in five overs and their overall scoring rate had reached nearly four with little sign of respite for Somerset.

Another six to Wells off Leach, slightly mishit, over the straight River End boundary was immediately followed by a straight drive off the middle for four. From there the rate of scoring with which Wells had accelerated was not quite maintained, but the freedom with which the ball was struck was. It left Somerset supporters wondering quite how far Lancashire might get, and more to the point in the context of possible match outcomes, how quickly. That straight driven four had taken Lancashire past 100 without loss in the 26^th over with still two and a half days to play. An indication of Wells’ dominance can be gauged from the fact that he had 66 runs against his name to Jennings’ 24.

As the session drew towards its close, the Lancashire assault became relentless. Not quite at seven an over but they went from 100 to 150, still without loss, in nine overs, Jennings now beginning to outscore Wells. While Leach still came in for some punishment from Wells, it was Brooks who suffered at the hands of Jennings with boundaries coming square on both sides of the wicket. In successive balls too he was driven through the covers to the Ondaatje Stand and cut past the only slip to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. Lancashire, without needing to take risks were scoring at will off any ball which strayed even slightly in line or length while the bowlers presented little threat. The pitch it seemed had fallen asleep.

Then, in the final over before tea, Wells clipped Brooks to backward square leg where Bancroft dived to take the catch and Lancashire were 154 for 1 in the 37^th over. Wells looked startled as if he could not believe what he had done. The stroke had looked as understated as any other that he had played and the assumption off the bat was that the result would be the same. It took a split second to register that the ball had been caught. Brooks had the same momentarily delayed reaction before, in a most un-Brooks-like manner, he half-raised an arm in limp celebration before trundling slowly to short midwicket where he was met by some of the rest of the team for some relieved congratulation. His usual bat-out-of-hell-like run in a long arc towards the boundary shelved beneath Lancashire’s fast-growing mountain of runs. Wells had scored 82 from 109 balls and I doubt anyone watching had assumed anything other than a century.

After tea, Josh Bohannon joined Jennings. In the second over, he slog swept Leach for six to the Somerset Stand. It was just the beginning, or the continuation of the onslaught that had been building through the afternoon. Another Bohannon six off Leach from an identical stroke found the spinner being replaced by Kasey Aldridge. Aldridge lasted an over after Jennings had struck him for three successive boundaries, one a stunning straight drive to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. Brooks suffered less punishment but when Gregory replaced him, he was struck for two fours in an over twice in succession by Bohannon, three of the boundaries being driven through the off side and Lancashire added 66 runs in the first ten overs after tea to take them to 220 for 1.

“They are scoring at will,” someone said, “We have no control.” As if to emphasise the point another 82 runs came in the final 13 overs despite the lights coming on midway through a session in which the bitter cold became ever more bitter. An over for one run from Siddle brought a, “Come on!” from Abell, but a paddle sweep for four off Leach took Jennings to a century to appreciative applause from the Somerset crowd. It was immediately followed by a single pushed into the gap between long on and deep midwicket, one of what seemed to be many wide-open spaces in the Somerset field. The two strokes were a study in miniature of Somerset’s lack of control.

In total, in the final session, Lancashire added 148 runs without losing a wicket in the 23 overs possible before bad light ended play early. A close of play score of 302 for 1 threatened to dwarf Somerset’s 441. As the evening session progressed the crowd shrank markedly alongside Somerset’s hopes, although that probably had as much to do with the viciously cold weather and the usual shrinking of a crowd after tea than the cricket. As the day drew to a close, I counted 18 of us holding out against the elements in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion. As the temperature and the Lancashire onslaught bit, the atmosphere became sepulchral, and the Somerset team walked off as if they were going to a funeral.

Close. Somerset 441 (T.B. Abell 151, J.E.K. Rew 117, M.J. Leach 40*, J.M. Anderson 5-76). Lancashire 302 for 1. Lancashire trail by 139 runs with nine first innings wickets standing.