County Championship 2023. Division 1. Northamptonshire v Somerset. 19^th, 20^th, 21st and 22^nd July. Northampton.

Jack Leach, (back), Roelof van der Merwe (hand), Josh Davey (rib) and Sonny Baker (back) were all unavailable.

Northamptonshire. R.S. Vasconcelos, E.N. Gay, J. Broad, S.M. Whiteman, L.A. Procter (c), R.I. Keogh, S.A Zaib, L.D. McManus (w), T.A.I. Taylor, B.W. Sanderson, C. White.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, S.R. Dickson, T.B. Abell (c), G.A. Bartlett, T. Kohler-Cadmore, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, L. Gregory, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, S. Bashir.

Toss. Northamptonshire. Elected to field.

First day 19^th July – Somerset remorseless

It is a lesson never learned. At least not by me. The bus that is due to come every ten minutes always waits thirty if there is cricket at the other end of the journey. And so it was here. Northampton Bus Station was awash with buses but the stand for the buses to the cricket remained defiantly empty. “This is unusual,” said the Northamptonshire supporter waiting with me. It isn’t when I am in the queue I felt impelled to inform him. Eventually, two buses for the ground turned up, one due to leave in two minutes, one in five. It was then that we experienced another effect I seem to have on buses. The way in which drivers make their way to their bus and fiddle with the door, the seat, the controls, the mirrors and any other fitting that they can lay their hands on, and all at a pace which suggests they are in a neck and neck race with the hour hand of a clock. The modern world rushes on apace, but buses waiting to depart seem to be a throwback to an age when time stood still, especially if prospective passengers are in a hurry.

And the end result of all that? I walked past the edge of the Spencer Pavilion at Northamptonshire’s Wantage Road ground just as Tom Lammonby offered a defensive bat to a ball from Jack White and edged it straight to Lewis McManus behind the stumps. The match was in the fourth over, Lammonby had scored three and Somerset were 7 for 1. “And we could have lost more wickets than that,” said a Somerset supporter standing next to me. It was a classic Lammonby early-innings dismissal, pushing half forward and finding the edge. While he walked off, I found one of many empty seats in the Spencer Pavilion at the David Capel End. 

Northamptonshire had won the toss and put Somerset in on what looked from the boundary like a good old-fashioned green top. If the green top was not sufficient encouragement for the bowlers, the sky revealed enough cloud to make up for any deficit although the light was bright enough. Perhaps not bright enough for the umpire. An instant text from the cricketer watching online said, “That looked like it hit his pocket, not the bat.” “Missed it by two inches,” said another. Who would be an umpire in an age of instant slow-motion replays?

Northamptonshire were never again on top. What followed for the rest of the day was an outstanding Somerset batting performance in often difficult conditions, especially during the first half of the day. The decision to rest key players from the Hampshire game the week before, ahead of the Vitality Blast T20 Final, to give the Club the best chance of winning the competition may turn out to have been a stroke of genius. Not only did it bring back the T20 trophy for the first time in 18 years, it seemed to have left the Championship team inspired. After all, a trophy validates a team.

There were only perhaps three or four hundred people in the ground, and an argument could be made that half of those were Somerset supporters, they certainly were around me. And yet, the atmosphere, driven by Somerset’s batting, was electric. My impression was of a team batting as if it had its own bus to catch. Not with recklessness or a chancy arm. No jumping aboard the City of Truro let loose down the Wellington Bank with gay abandon. This was a cool, calculated and sustained assault on the bowling and, though the bowling kept coming, it was beaten back and overrun at every turn. Perhaps Somerset really were inspired by that tremendous win at Edgbaston. Whatever inspired their performance at Northampton, it was a joy for a lifelong Somerset supporter to watch.

The early wicket certainly did not deter Sean Dickson and Tom Abell. Ben Sanderson and White bowled full, but not without erring, and Dickson and Abell soon took them to task. Dickson, always looking busy, kept the bowling under pressure, mainly with glances, steers and cuts, although a spectacular drive through midwicket off White in response to the loss of Lammonby had people sitting up and taking notice, a cry of, “Shot!” ringing out followed by applause from an appreciative crowd. That was immediately followed by a glance for three, emphasising the positive approach of the Somerset batters against Northamptonshire new ball bowling that was not quite as on the mark as it needed to be to make the most of the conditions. That there was movement was evident, even to those not sitting behind the arm, from the fact that Dixon repeatedly walked down the wicket to play the ball.

Abell, as he so often does, tended to wait for the ball to drive with that truncated classicism of his. He drove Sanderson through the covers and through backward point with an open-faced, both for four. Tom Taylor was glanced and driven through the covers in successive balls. Across the morning, Somerset scored at three and a half runs an over. Along the way, Dickson added to a growing sense of Somerset control with a lofted drive over midwicket which cleared the boundary, White the suffering bowler.

Somerset reached lunch on 107 for 1 with Dickson on 56 and Abell on 34. It had been a stunning response to being put in on a pitch and in conditions which expectation demanded wickets. The batters had, it is true, enjoyed some good fortune, playing and missing more often than was comfortable for Somerset’s band of travelling supporters. Their pads had endured more punishment than the norm too, generating some loud appeals from the Northamptonshire players, more than one of which caused spectators to pause their breath before it was clear that the umpire’s finger would remain unmoved. “Northamptonshire seem heavily dependent on White and Sanderson,” said one Somerset supporter who had dropped by my seat to say hello just before lunch. A glance at the scoreboard confirmed his impression. They had, between them, bowled 22 of the 30 overs bowled in the morning session. “They have played the extra batter,” he said. Those statistics and that fact brought the comment, “If they are that dependent on them, they may struggle later in the day and in the match.”

I had last watched cricket at Northampton in 2014. It was the day on which Craig Kieswetter received a horrific, ultimately career-ending, injury when a bouncer went through the grill of his helmet and struck him in the face. It was not an incident I am ever likely to forget. Neither will I forget Kieswetter’s response to his first bouncer when he temporarily returned to playing before deciding his eyesight was no longer good enough for him to reach his previous standard. For the record, the bouncer, bowled at Taunton, was peremptorily deposited in the flats behind the Somerset Stand. For an inveterate County Championship watcher, nine years is a long time and so I took myself on a circumnavigation of the ground, anti-clockwise of course. Old superstitions die hard. I talked my way around the ground as I bumped into as many Somerset supporters of my acquaintance as I would have done had this been a home match. Travelling supporters who cannot attend every away match in a season like to travel to matches at grounds they have not previously visited, or, as in this case, not visited for some time. Given Northamptonshire’s current lowly position in the First Division, many will have decided it was this year or endure another long wait.

Somerset began the afternoon session as they had ended the first. On the attack, although not before Abell was bowled by White in the second over. “That was comprehensive,” said the Somerset supporter across the aisle from me. “A bit slow getting down to it,” added the incoming text. Somerset 109 for 2. Abell 34. Dixon was not deterred. Twice in the next over from Sanderson, the two bowlers who had bowled most of the morning being thrown straight back into the attack, he drove to the boundary, once over straight midwicket and once through the covers. That there was still risk for the batters was emphasised when a thick edge from Dickson evaded the gully fielder for two.

Somerset, perhaps with an eye to the Biblical rain forecast for the final day, perhaps because of a fear that any innings played on this pitch might not long endure, decided to embrace the risk rather than try to fend it off. And risk there was. Dickson was struck on the pad by White to a huge leg before wicket appeal. “Aw, come on!” shouted a desperate Northamptonshire supporter. George Bartlett, leaving the ball, was struck on the pad by Sanderson to another huge appeal, the umpire remaining statue-like as Sanderson looked on in apparent disbelief. “That was as out as Lammonby’s was not,” said a Northamptonshire supporter who soon found a video clip of it on his phone. What, I wonder, would Syd Buller have made of his every decision being instantly reviewed online by spectators?

Eventually, Dickson’s term at the crease came to an end. White, taking his third wicket, all from the Lynn Wilson End, found the edge and Emilio Gay took the catch low down at second slip. Dickson had made 70 from 108 balls and taken Somerset to 138 for 3. Tom Kohler-Cadmore joined Bartlett and, without pausing for breath, the pair continued to fuel Somerset’s cascade of runs. They added 77 at four an over as Somerset sustained their momentum. It was a chalk and cheese partnership, Kohler-Cadmore playing with his usual ferocity of stroke, Bartlett with a finer touch. He was no less effective and followed Dickson’s method of walking up the wicket to negate movement.

Kohler-Cadmore began with a punched drive for four off White which was past the cover fielder before his dive reached the ground. He followed up an over later with another drive, rifled over the same fielder’s head. Bartlett’s on drive off Sanderson was much more delicately played and crossed the boundary as the chasing fielder attempted to flick it back and missed. “He should have stopped that,” said a Northamptonshire supporter from his sedentary position in front of me. Kohler-Cadmore, pushing Somerset on, continued to play through the air, whether for twos or fours. His strategy carried its own risk. One lofted drive cleared mid-on as the bat followed through towards mid-off. Attempting another drive, he edged, if safely, wide of the slips. Against Taylor, he played an uncharacteristically delicate late cut which evaded the slips and ran across the boundary in front of the Spencer Pavilion immediately in front of me. Meanwhile, Bartlett reached the boundary three times with a neat deflection either side of the wicket and a cover drive. Both rotated the strike at every opportunity which helped sustain an impression of remorseless Somerset progress.

Somerset roared past 200, at least that was how it felt as they pillaged the bowlers and pressurised the fielders with still only three wickets down. I embarked on another circumnavigation of the ground. Again, I took care to walk anti-clockwise, though I knew it would make not a jot of difference. It didn’t. No sooner had I started my walk along the deep midwicket boundary than Kohler-Cadmore attempted to clear it with a neat pick-up off Sanderson. The substitute fielder ran along the boundary in the opposite direction to me and, as I turned to look, took the catch diving full length on the run. Somerset 215 for 4. Kohler-Cadmore 43. It was an excellent catch and it brought cheers from the Northamptonshire crowd. Some commented on its brilliance, but in truth, it was the sort of catch which Somerset supporters have come to expect their team to take as a matter of course. The Northamptonshire comments were perhaps indicative of the gap often commented upon between the quality of Somerset’s fielding and that of some other teams.

With James Rew joining him at the crease, Bartlett turned a ball from Sanderson behind square to bring up his fifty and Somerset eased to tea on 226 for 4. Assessing the value of a score before both sides have batted always carries a measure of uncertainty. However, it was clear that the ball had been moving, that Northamptonshire seemed over-dependent on White and Sanderson and that Somerset had, in Matt Henry and Craig Overton, two bowlers more than capable of exploiting the conditions. There was a growing sense of optimism among Somerset supporters I spoke to. Most estimates of a par score were in the region of 200 to 250 and Somerset were already in that band.

The evening session brought more Somerset progress, although not before Bartlett had suffered an oddity of a dismissal. He attempted to glance White, now bowling from the Capel End. McManus behind the stumps took the ball diving and rolling down the leg side. White completed his follow through before turning and making what appeared to be a mild afterthought of an appeal. The two slip fielders raised hesitant arms after White had appealed and McManus did not appeal at all, at least as far as could be seen from the boundary. Eventually, the umpire’s arm shot up as if it had been propelled by an electric shock and a bemused-looking Bartlett walked off. “What happened there?” asked an equally bemused Somerset supporter sitting next to me. It mattered not. Somerset were 233 for 5, Bartlett was being applauded off for 55 and Kasey Aldridge was walking to the wicket.

In two and a half overs he and Rew added another 20 runs. Aldridge, playing with an open face, pushed White down and past a diving gully from where the ball crossed the boundary in front of the Spencer Pavilion. From Luke Proctor, Rew took three fours in an over. One he turned behind square from where the ball ran towards the boundary only for, not the first time in the day, the Northamptonshire fielder to dive on it and fail to stop it. An on drive through midwicket and a glance completed the set and took Somerset to 250 for 5, their first bonus point of the match and cheers from Somerset supporters.

Now, Northamptonshire struck back with two wickets in three overs, but it did not halt the Somerset charge. Aldridge was leg before wicket to White, and Rew caught behind trying to cut Justin Broad. It was Broad’s first Championship wicket in his second match. “Broad looks good,” said the text from the cricketer watching online, “Very late swing.” The late swing left Somerset on 261 for 7. Rew 22. Aldridge 8.

There was a frisson of anxiety among Somerset supporters that the innings might fizzle out, but Lewis Gregory and Craig Overton had other ideas. In order to walk off some of the tension that had filtered into the game with the loss of those two wickets I set off on my third circumnavigation of the day. Mainly while I was walking, and of course stopping to chat, Gregory and Overton added 81 runs for the eighth wicket at five an over. It was scintillating spirit-lifting stuff, for Somerset supporters at least. It brought an air of resignation to Northamptonshire ones if faces are any indication and perhaps to their team too. It was a devastating assault against second-string bowlers and finally against White and Sanderson. Perhaps they were weary after their morning exertions, for the new ball, except for a few quiet overs, came and went without result.

The partnership was a marvellous sight for a Somerset supporter meandering the boundary, and perhaps a crushing one for the Northamptonshire team, particularly after they had inserted Somerset in helpful conditions. “Perhaps a defensive insertion,” suggested one Somerset supporter. Given the presence of Overton and Matt Henry in the Somerset side the suggestion had some credibility. The enduring image of the Overton-Gregory partnership is of the ball repeatedly flying to the boundary, along the ground, but also safely through the air. The tone was set early when Gregory drove Taylor with the smoothest of strokes to the cover boundary and Overton drove Keogh’s off spin straight back to the Capel End sight screen. As definitive statements of intent those two strokes would be hard to beat.

The intent was carried through as the ball continued to be sent, as I walked, to all parts. First from Overton, Rob Keogh was lofted over midwicket and cut hard in front of square. Sanderson was driven straight to bring up Somerset’s 300 and their second bonus point. White was clipped square and lofted straight. When Gregory picked up the baton, Sanderson was lofted over midwicket for a two bounce four, Broad was glanced and cut through backward point and Taylor driven through the off side. Eventually, Gregory edged Broad to the keeper, the snick audible from the Lynn Wilson boundary where I had taken up a seat to watch the mayhem unfolding in the middle. Somerset were 342 for 8. Gregory 48. Somerset’s 350 was brought up by a drive from Matt Henry which cleared the mid-off fielder. “Well done lad:” shouted someone with feeling.

And, suddenly, that was that. Henry and Shoaib Bashir were dismissed in quick order and Somerset ended 351 all out from 94 overs or 3.7 runs an over on a pitch demonstrably helpful to the bowlers. It was perhaps a hundred runs more than might have been expected in the conditions and Somerset supporters were walking on air. It was not just the number of runs, but the manner of their making, the dominance of the batting, and the constant intent to attack and push the opposition back in conditions suited to them. Somerset had sought to take the initiative from the start and had grasped it firmly with both hands.

Close. Somerset 351 (S.R. Dickson 70, G.A. Bartlett 55, L. Gregory 48, C. White 5-77).