County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Northamptonshire. 4^th,5^th, 6^th and 7^th May. 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, C. Overton, K.L. Aldridge, M.J. Leach, P.M. Siddle.

Northamptonshire. R.S. Vasconcelos, Hasan Azad, S.M. Whiteman (c), Z.A. Zaib, R.I. Keogh, J.J.G. Sales, H.O.M. Gouldstone (w), T.A.I. Taylor, J.S.D. Buckingham, B.W. Sanderson, C. White.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to field.

First day 4th May – “The luck will change”

Somerset’s bottom place in the First Division, one point behind Northamptonshire, was not far from anyone’s mind as play got underway. A good start was essential. Eyes were therefore on a green pitch, an overcast sky and a forecast which threatened rain over the first three days. It was not a surprise when Tom Abell asked Northamptonshire to bat. The crowd was lacking in numbers to my eye for the first day of a Championship match, perhaps in response to the breath of winter still on the air and the forecast. The pitch was set near the centre of the square, reflecting the fact that the full playing area was now available after the depredations of winter had left the area in front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion unfit for the season’s first two matches.

Craig Overton opened the bowling for Somerset from the Trescothick Pavilion End to four slips and a ring of hope around the ground. His old rhythm seemed to be back. He struck Hasan Azad on the pad with his third ball and found the edge with his sixth. The ball flew, shin high, straight to Tom Kohler-Cadmore in the slips. His hands intercepted the ball with some ease and then dropped it. The anguish of Somerset supporters was written in their faces and into the gasp which could be heard around the ground. Overton’s disappointment was etched deep into his walk as he turned back towards his mark.

The threat implied by that edge remained, but it was not realised. It was as if the drop had been an omen, or perhaps too many balls drifted, or were sent, down the leg side. There was no obvious sense of the movement which the conditions might have promised when the coin was tossed less than an hour before, and yet the Somerset bowlers continued to threaten. In an over, Peter Siddle, bowling from the River End, was both glanced for four by Asad as he drifted onto his legs and then found an inside edge, the ball running past the leg stump through where a fourth stump would have stood. On such fine margins do partnerships stand or fall. Overton beat both Azad and Ricardo Vasconcelos. When Gregory replaced Overton, another inside edge, this time from Vasconcelos again flew past the leg stump, this time adding insult to injury as it ran to the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary leaving Gregory with his head in his hands and an old work colleague who had joined me for the day saying with absolute certainty, “The luck will change.”

With the forecast looking all too accurate, the floodlights came on, but runs were steadily accumulating, mainly struck through the leg side. Vasconcelos twice in an over stroked on drives through midwicket towards the Somerset Stand for four and three off Overton. Azad pulled Aldridge neatly to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary at fine leg and then, having just been subject to a loud leg before wicket appeal and then beaten, pushed Gregory to mid-on for a single to take Northamptonshire to 50 for 0 at the end of the 15^th over. “That is disappointing after putting them in,” the comment. There had though been little sign of movement discernible from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion even if, on another day, a wicket perhaps two might have fallen.  

The anxiety in the crowd at the lack of wickets, given the conditions, was palpable. When the umpires sent the players off during a brief flurry of rain, my colleague said, “A chance for them to reset themselves and refocus.” Not so it seemed. When the players returned, two boundaries in succession came from Vasconcelos off Gregory. One off the thickest of edges bounced well short and wide of the three slips and ran to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary, but the second, a cover drive to the Ondaatje boundary was a classic stroke and brought several cries of, “Shot!”

And then Kasey Aldridge, from the River End, began to pressurise Asad. Two balls in an over tucked him up. Then a third found a rushed defensive edge and flew low to Overton at third slip. Although partially obscured by Overton’s body, from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion the ball could be seen being knocked up by Overton. It stayed in the air just long enough for breaths to be caught before Overton’s hands moved into position beneath it and held it. Typical Overton cool when under pressure in the slips. Northamptonshire 65 for 1. Azad 20. And much relief in the stands.

The wicket did not deter Northamptonshire. In the hour before lunch, they attacked hard. Sam Whiteman, their captain, calmly steered his first ball from Aldridge fine of backward point to Gimblett’s Hill for four. Vasconcelos had taken the lion’s share of the opening partnership and now took three successive boundaries off Gregory, the first steered fine of backward point to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion, the second pulled square to the Somerset Stand, causing the square leg umpire to jump to avoid the ball, and the third pushed with perfect timing square on the off side to the Caddick Pavilion boundary.

At the other end, Aldridge was inclined to bowl down the leg side to such an extent that at one point Abell removed himself from third slip and positioned himself at leg lip. Even from our off line position, we began to detect some signs of movement as lunch approached, a development confirmed in the lunch interval by someone who was watching from over the umpire’s head. The bat began to be beaten again, once or twice emphatically, as it had been in the opening overs, as Overton, who looked particularly fired-up, and Siddle, who was his searchingly persistent self, returned. Runs continued to flow but both Vasconcelos and Whiteman benefitted from boundaries which flew from thick edges which fell short of and defeated the slips. In the final over before lunch, another edge from Whiteman off Siddle flew furiously over and out of reach of second slip before crossing the boundary in front of Gimblett’s Hill. There was then, some threat from Somerset as lunch approached, but the 12 overs between the rain stoppage and lunch still cost Somerset 55 runs while Northamptonshire lost just one wicket. At 108 for 1 as the players walked off, Northamptonshire were likely to have been happier with the morning than Somerset.

It was a pensive meander in the lunch interval during which I gathered the benefits of the accumulated wisdom of the denizens of Gimblett’s Hill. Their aggregate experience of watching Somerset cricket must run into many centuries. As to the morning, it boiled down to some of the bowling could have been straighter, a wicket or two more would not have been a surprise and Overton seemed to be back to his best. There was some hope for the afternoon, but pessimism about how much play might be possible, for the cloud was gathering strength. Discussion drifted onto te crowd too. “There’s a poor turnout today,” someone commented. Look at the Hildreth Stand.” Indeed there was a poor turnout. It was difficult to remember such a poor turnout in that stand on a full day’s cricket.

I dallied at the Hill beyond the resumption of play. For those of a superstitious bent, it was a fortuitous dalliance, for during it Overton took the wicket of Whiteman. Overton seemed even more fired up after lunch than he had been before. He whipped his sweater off as if it were on fire before the previous over had been completed. He bowled quickly which fired up the crowd, and applause followed when he troubled the batter. Overton’s ball to Whiteman was quick and angled in, Whiteman attempted a hurried-looking flick of the bat in an apparent attempt to guide the ball across the three slips and edged it fast and hard straight to Kohler-Cadmore at first slip. Northamptonshire 116 for 2. Whiteman 15. Overton ecstatic. But even Overton was inclined to drift onto or beyond leg stump and was glanced for four by both Vasconcelos and Saif Zaib. “Their whole top four are left-handers,” someone said as if by way of explanation.

The wicket seemed to fire up not just the crowd but Gregory too for he became almost unplayable at times. There was a big leg before wicket shout against Vasconcelos before, off the next delivery, he pushed at a ball angled in but a little wide of off and edged it like a bullet low to Overton’s left at second slip. Overton’s reaction was so sharp he got both hands to the ball and took it cleanly as he dived. “That was a catch and a half,” someone said through the cheers. Northamptonshire 126 for 3. Vasconcelos 70. The next ball, to Rob Keogh, also took the edge, a thick one this time and the ball ran away for three. “The first right-hander,” someone added. The next ball, to Zaib, also found the edge, a thick one again. “Not much sign of the middle in this over,” someone added. Or in Gregory’s next it seemed. He pitched full to Zaib who attempted to drive hard and straight back past Gregory. There was a hint, no more, of away swing and Zaib’s off stump was knocked flat. No cartwheeling, just the stump, straight and flat on the ground with its point six inches behind the hole it had vacated. There were no comments this time, just cheers and applause. The wicket was so emphatic there was no need for comment, the stump told all. Zaib four.

And in terms of cricket for the day that was virtually all. There were just two more balls, to James Sales, another right-hander, before the light meters were produced and the players banished from the field. Within 20 minutes it was raining. As always, there was quite a hiatus in which eyes and hope were trained on the skies, but in the end cricket had to give best to the weather. Northamptonshire were 137 for 4 with two new batters at the crease. It was somewhere near where Somerset might have hoped to be when they asked Northamptonshire to bat, and further into the innings than it looked like they might be after only taking one wicket before lunch. Perhaps the luck had changed.

Close. Northamptonshire 137 for 4.