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

Jack Leach, (back), Roelof van der Merwe (hand), Josh Davey 9rib) 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.

Overnight. Somerset 351. Northamptonshire 180 and 151 for 6. Northamptonshire trail by 20 runs with four second innings wickets standing.

Final day 21^st  July – A clinical finish

There were no surprises, just a continuation of all that had gone before. There was no miraculous Northamptonshire revival, just a clinical finishing of the match by Somerset. Flurries of Northamptonshire runs were interspersed with wickets which cut the flurries off in their prime. As on the second day, one Northamptonshire batter, this time Luke Proctor, battled virtually alone against the Somerset storm. Northamptonshire did avoid an innings defeat, the runs which took them into the lead coming off the edge of Proctor’s bat. As in their first innings though, when Somerset’s turn came, they scored with freedom to bring home the points which would take them, just, into the top half of the table. There was an extended visit too from the heavy cloud which had threatened the second afternoon, and which, if the forecast were to be believed, would wreck the final day. And finally, just as the match was ending, the threatened rain that had hung over the match since the start, began to fall.

As in the first innings, Matt Henry and Craig Overton were to the fore for Somerset. Tom Taylor, rampant at the end of the day before, began quietly on the morning after. When he did attempt to drive Henry, the ball flew through the air off a thick edge just backward of point. The point fielder took off and got a hand to it but only succeeded in diverting the ball towards the boundary where it rolled against the rope. When, just after Northamptonshire had moved into the lead, Taylor came forward to drive Henry again, the ball passed the inside edge and struck the pad. Northamptonshire 177 for 7. Taylor 32. Northamptonshire lead six.

After the loss of Taylor, Northamptonshire appeared to throw caution to the winds, initially scoring runs that owed more to luck than skill. Proctor, twice, and Ben Sanderson, once, found the boundary, but each time the ball came off the top edge. Proctor cleared the keeper and the infield, and Sanderson the slips. Exasperation could be heard in the voice of one Somerset supporter when he asked, “How many times have they hit boundaries off the top edge where the ball has fallen clear of the fielders?” That changed to, “He is batting quite well now, picking the right ball,” the comment when Proctor found the middle, cutting Overton past the slips and then through backward point, both times for four.

But, Somerset persisted, and Sanderson was soon caught and bowled for nine by the ever-persisting Henry to leave Northamptonshire on 211 for 8, 40 ahead. It was Henry’s fifth wicket in the innings and his eighth in the match. With Jack White now at the wicket, and Whiteman not expected to bat because of a family commitment, Proctor launched a final assault. Two boundaries came off Overton, one scooped over the slips, and a final one, off Henry, cut through the covers before White edged Overton straight into Abell’s hands at first slip. Northamptonshire 224 all out. White one. Proctor 87 not out in two minutes under three hours. Northamptonshire lead 53.

The cloud which had hung over the ground for much of the match was already threatening rain as the players walked out for the start of the Somerset innings. Somerset did not delay, and Northamptonshire began with four slips. Intent was evident in the batting from the start, Lammonby driving Sanderson straight to the Lynn Wilson End for four in the first over and Sean Dixon driving White through the covers for four in the second. Dixon was out in the third, caught behind trying to steer the ball past the slips. “He didn’t have to play that,” said one Somerset supporter, “He poked at one earlier,” which he had, the ball falling short of the slip fielders. But it was clear that Somerset intended to wrap up proceedings at the earliest opportunity.  

Northamptonshire, as had Somerset, pitched full, searching for movement and Lammonby and Abell drove in response. It was not a risk-free strategy, several times early in the partnership the ball beat the bat or took the edge and Abell was dropped at third slip off White to a groan from the few Northamptonshire supporters in the ground. Lammonby had luck too, picking up four runs when he edged just wide of a diving fourth slip while trying to turn the ball through the leg side. But with so few runs to get and rain threatening it was an inevitable strategy.

The final 20 runs came in a cascade in the final two overs. It was a scintillating end for Somerset played out to mounting cheers from those supporters who had stayed on in Northampton. Abell drove White to the boundary twice in succession, once through the covers and once through the on side before completing a very fast run two as the ball came into the stumps. Then Lammonby took Somerset home and secured 22 points with a lofted straight drive off Sanderson to the Capel End sight screen and a brutally struck off drive just to the left of the sight screen. It had been a clinical finish indeed. As those last four boundaries were struck and Somerset supporters rose to their feet to applaud their team, light rain was falling. It fell steadily too on the next morning and was still falling as my train left Northampton station.

Result. Somerset 351 (S.R. Dickson 70, G.A. Bartlett 55, L. Gregory 48, C. White 5-77) and 56 for 1. Northamptonshire 180 (R.S. Vasconcelos 78, C. Overton 4-50, M.J. Henry 3-36) and 224 (L.A. Proctor 87*). Somerset won by nine wickets. Somerset 22 points. Northamptonshire 3 points.