County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Hampshire. 10^th, 11^th, 12^th and 13^th July. Taunton.

Jack Leach, (back), Roelof van der Merwe (hand), Ned Leonard (concussion) and Sonny Baker (back) were all unavailable. A number of players were also rested ahead of Vitality Blast T20 Finals Day. Dom Bess is on a short-term loan from Yorkshire.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, A.R.I. Umeed, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, D.M. Bess, J.A. Brooks, A.R.J. Ogborne, S. Bashir.

Hampshire. J.J. Weatherley, F.S. Middleton, N.R.T. Gubbins, J.M. Vince (c), B.C. Brown (w), L.A. Dawson, J.K. Fuller, K.H.D. Barker, F.S. Organ, K.J. Abbott, Mohammad Abbas.

Overnight. Somerset 500. Hampshire 330 and 34 for 2. Hampshire trail by 136 runs with eight second innings wickets standing.

Final day 12^th July – Experience and application prevail

Hampshire’s second innings followed the pattern of their first, and of Somerset’s only innings, lending credence to the Kookaburra ball’s reputation for losing its bite after about 30 overs. In all three innings, the fifth wicket had fallen by the 31^st over, six in Hampshire’s first innings, and in all three cases with the score not having reached 90. In Somerset’s innings, the last five wickets added 420 runs, in Hampshire’s first innings the last two wickets had added 178 runs, and in Hampshire’s second innings the unbroken eighth wicket added 100 runs and lasted 47 overs.

The final day was the best day of the match in terms of weather. There was cloud at the start, but it was high, white, and, for the most part, lessened as the day went on, although two incursions of heavy, dark cloud brought brief showers which cost a total of 12 overs. When the sun broke through, which it increasingly did as the day wore on it was warm, although it remained cool in the north-facing Trescothick Pavilion all day. It was a good day to watch cricket, but the crowd was small, and the Somerset Stand completely closed, standing silent, stark and bare like a huge beached white whale the day long. The schoolchildren were absent too, making for an altogether quieter day than the first three.

As to the cricket, Hampshire’s third wicket fell in the fourth over of the morning, bowled by Alfie Ogborne from the Trescothick Pavilion End. The glue at the heart of Hampshire’s first innings revival, Felix Organ, had been digging in again. Batting higher than in the first innings, he was three not out from 19 balls when Ogborne angled a ball across him. He drove hard and edged to Tom Lammonby, the wider of two gully fielders. Hampshire 42 for 3. Somerset lead 128. And with that, the first incursion of dark cloud shrouded the Brendons and rain was visible on the Quantocks, eventually falling on the ground and taking nine overs out of the day’s allocation.

By then, Shoaib Bashir was already bowling, and Hampshire were focusing on defence. The Somerset fielders were clapping and shouting encouragement, but the crowd was virtually silent with just the occasional light chatter breaking the out. Ogborne was bowling opposite Bashir before giving way to Kasey Aldridge. Fletcha Middleton drove Ogborne through the on side to the covers store and steered Aldridge through backward point to the Garner Gates, but for the most part caution remained Hampshire’s watchword, just 16 runs coming in the eight overs after the fall of Organ. Then, Bashir, bowling with four close catchers, two either side of the wicket, turned a ball into Middleton. Middleton, breaking from defensive mode, tried to clip it through the leg side and was bowled, the ball clipping his off stump to a cheer which belied the small size of the crowd. Hampshire were 58 for 4, Middleton 29. Chatter now followed the cheer and Somerset were 112 ahead with still 75 overs left in the day.

Four balls later, James Vince, who had looked curiously ill at ease as he walked out, replacing Middleton, attempted to turn Bashir to fine leg. Instead, he turned the ball straight into Aldridge’s hands at leg slip as if he were giving him the first, warm-up, catch in a slip catching practice session. Hampshire 58 for 5. Vince nought. The two wickets were a just reward for a performance from Bashir ahead of his years. He constantly tested the batters with changes of pace, flight and spin, and was not put off his probing approach by the occasional boundary.

Within two overs, Dom Bess was bowling from the Trescothick Pavilion End, opposite Bashir, as Somerset sought to increase the pressure on Hampshire. It mattered not which of them bowled, there were four close catchers waiting to pounce, and, had anyone had one handy, a pin could have been heard drop anywhere in the ground each time they approached the wicket. The tension was so thick, a power saw would have been needed to cut through it. With Hampshire batters swapping places with some frequency, Ben Brown joined Nick Gubbins who had already replaced Middleton. After an inside edge off Bashir to gasps, Brown turned him through midwicket to the Somerset Stand for four. Two overs later, he swept him behind square to the Brian Rose Gates for four more and Bess was immediately up to him offering advice. When Brown swept him for four again, “Come on Bashee,” the encouragement from the field. When Gubbins was beaten by a ball which turned away from him and only barely missed the the bat and the off stump there was loud, encouraging applause from the crowd.

With lunch approaching both Bashir and Bess were still troubling the batters. Bess appealed for leg before wicket against Brown before finding the edge, but the ball squeezed past the slip fielder for two runs. Then Bashir beat Brown, but by then the Brendons had disappeared, rain could be seen on the Quantocks, those ever-present forecasters of the weather at Taunton, and a sudden chill breeze brought the rain to the ground. An early lunch followed, together with the loss of another three overs. Hampshire 78 for 5. Somerset lead 92. Overs remaining 63, but the ball was now all but 35 overs old.

When the afternoon session began, it was clear that Hampshire had made a decision to bring runs as well as wickets into the equation as the time, or overs, element of the calculation inexorably shortened. As if to mark the change of approach, the first ball after lunch, from Bashir, was driven through the covers for four by Brown. Next, Gubbins drove Bess square to the Priory Bridge Road Stand and Brown swept Bashir to the Somerset Stand twice in two balls. Batting was beginning to look easier, and when Brown drove Bess through the covers twice in an over loud cheers could be heard coming from the Hampshire dressing room for the first time in the innings.

And then, suddenly, as if a switch had been flicked, Bashir and Bess began to impose some control. The first scoring stroke for three overs was a top edge from an attempted sweep which flew over the slip fielder, Gubbins benefiting by two runs which also registered the fifty partnership. Hampshire 109 for 5, Somerset 61 ahead with 55 overs remaining. The tension, which had turned to anxiety during Hampshire’s post lunch assault began to bite again. “Bashy!” came from the field when Bashir passed Gubbins’ bat, but beaten bats were becoming something of a rarity despite the continuing dearth of runs.

And then, with the clock on the Colin Atkinson Pavilion appearing to turn more quickly as the overs ticked by and wickets refused to come, in the tenth successive over without a boundary, Aldridge, who had replaced Bess at the Trescothick Pavilion End, struck twice. First, he bowled full, outside leg stump to Brown who attempted to glance. There was a snick, and the ball flew low to Rew’s left. Rew, anticipating, and already moving to leg, took off, dived long and low, and scooped up the catch within inches of the turf. It was a consummate piece of wicketkeeping and the cheer which resulted reflected both that and the fact that Somerset were, at last, making progress again. Hampshire 115 for 6. Brown 35. Somerset lead 55. Overs remaining 53.

And then, a sound rarely heard on first-class cricket grounds in these times, a slow hand clap. The cause was the unconscionable amount of time which James Fuller took to appear from the Caddick Pavilion. His appearance also raised the question among spectators of the whereabouts of Liam Dawson who was expected to bat ahead of Fuller. Fuller lasted three balls before edging Aldridge defensively to Rew. This time the cheer was followed by a long comet’s tail of anticipation, for with Hampshire seven wickets down, even with a dying ball, Somerset had a real opportunity.

It then became apparent that Hampshire had a further problem when, with Dawson in, Gubbins began declining singles, and no run of any description was scored in the next five overs. Although there was no hard information, the conclusion in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion was that Dawson was carrying an injury. When Bess replaced Aldridge, the shout from the field was, “Come on Bessy!” as Somerset continued to push. Bashir pushed his field back to give Gubbins a single which he studiously and repeatedly declined. One ball from Bashir was not defended cleanly by Brown and nearly spun back onto the stumps, but for the most part, the bat, if resolutely defensive, was in control again.

Then Dawson drove Bess through the off side to the Brian Rose Gates and ran perfectly well until it was clear that the ball would cross the boundary. He followed that with a well-struck straight drive to the Trescothick Pavilion but then returned to declining singles. Where he did score, it was mainly with what one watcher called, random fours. As Gubbins and Dawson ground on, the wickets of Brown and Fuller began to look like an aberration rather than a breakthrough, and so I left my seat and went to stand on the Trescothick Pavilion terrace for a view from directly over the umpire’s head. What I saw added to my anxiety about Somerset’s prospects. Bashir was bowling with tight control, but the turn he was getting was slow and predictable, and Gubbins was having no difficulty in repelling it. It was clear too that Gubbins was intent on keeping Dawson away from Bashir and leaving him to deal with Bess, who was running away from me and seemed to cause fewer problems despite a beautiful, curving flight to each ball, but with the gentlest turn at the end of it.

Somerset still needed only three wickets, which sustained the tension, and the almost audible quiet that went with it. But it was as if I was watching a mime unfolding in slow motion with no change in the story it told. Just eight runs came from 11 overs as Bashir, Bess and then Aldridge continued to try to unpick Hampshire’s defensive strategy. And all the while, as Gubbins carefully kept Dawson from Bashir, the time, and overs, remaining to Somerset slowly shrivelled away. A square cut from Dawson off Aldridge just before tea was just another of those random fours. Until then, 28 runs had come from the previous 29 overs as Hampshire kept their nerve. As the players walked off for tea, Somerset still led by 35 with a minimum of 29 overs remaining, although with Bashir likely to bowl unchanged from one end, and Bess likely to do most of the work from the other, a few more than that would probably be available.

The tea interval brought a brief change of tactics from Somerset. Bashir switched to the Trescothick Pavilion End and Dawson, briefly, attacked him. Two fours and a six, lifted over square leg to the Caddick Pavilion, came in one over before Bashir was switched back to the River End. Again, Hampshire fell back on defence, 33 runs coming in the next 15 overs with just three boundaries. The new ball was taken with 18 overs remaining and Bashir continued to bowl with it, but the defensive, unthreatening rhythm of the cricket throbbed on unchanged. Bashir occasionally found cause to let forth an appeal, once loud and prolonged with celebrations following for a catch at slip but the umpire remained unmoved. In that over, Gubbins drove Bashir through extra cover to the Somerset Stand for four to take Hampshire into the lead. With still three wickets to fall, that caused a tightening of the pit of the stomach with the realisation that every run would now also have to be scored by Somerset from those ever-diminishing overs.

For the second over with the new ball, Bess handed the ball to Brooks. “Come on Brooker!” the shout, but it availed Somerset nothing, Brooks’ knack of taking a wicket early in a spell deserting him. He bowled three overs before Bess had the ball back in his hands and that gentle throb of twirling arms, gently curving and slowly spinning balls met by solid, defensive pushes returned. When, eventually, Gubbins late cut Bess, who had been switched to the River End for one last effort, towards Gimblett’s Hill for two, he brought up a grinding fifty from 237 balls in four and a half hours. He had easily been overtaken by the virtually immobile, four-poaching Dawson. Hampshire were 215 for 7, a lead of 35 with a minimum of six overs left. A few more would have been possible, but Tom Abell offered a handshake and the players walked off.

It had been a gruelling day. Of Somerset’s bowlers, Bashir in particular had struck when the ball was young and had never relented in applying pressure as it aged and lost all sign of life. On a day when most of the workload was expected to fall to the spinners, Bess had bowled beautifully, but without the impact for which he might have hoped. Ogborne, as in the first innings, had shown promise while the ball aided him. It was Bashir though with his wickets and constant application of pressure who, at 19, brought Somerset most hope. In the end though, it was the experience and sheer application of Gubbins and Dawson which prevailed, at least to the extent of saving the match for Hampshire.

Result. Somerset 500 (J.E.K. Rew 221, K.L. Aldridge 88, D.M. Bess 54, K.J. Abbott 4-56, L.A. Dawson 4-118). Hampshire 330 (F.S. Organ 97, K.J. Abbott 89*, S. Bashir 3-88) and 215 for 7 f/o (L.A. Dawson 68*, N.R.T. Gubbins 50*, S. Bashir 3-67). Match drawn. Somerset 12 points. Hampshire 10 points.