County Championship 2023. Division 1. Somerset v Surrey. 25th, 26th and 27th July. Taunton.

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

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, B.G.F. Green, C. Overton, M.J. Henry, S. Bashir.

Surrey. R.J. Burns (c), D.P. Sibley, T.W.M. Latham, J.L. Smith, B.T. Foakes (w), W.G. Jacks, J. Clark, J. Overton, T. E. Lawes, A.A.P. Atkinson, D.J. Worral.

Overnight. Somerset 170. Surrey 138 for 4. Surrey trail by 32 runs with six first innings wickets standing.

Second day 26^th July – Advantage Surrey

When the rains came during the middle of the afternoon they stopped this match neatly at its halfway point, in theory at least. If though, Somerset are to take it to the end of the final day, they will have to bat much better, and for considerably longer, than they did in their first innings. It seems unlikely that Surrey’s five-man pace attack, which so clinically dissected the Somerset batting , will bowl any less well the second time around. In the three hours or so of play that was possible on the second day, Surrey’s batters added 230 runs, 198 of those after they passed Somerset’s first innings total. By a curious mathematical coincidence, those 198 runs equated to two 99s for Surrey, one from Tom Latham and one from Will Jacks. For Somerset, there was an excellent afternoon spell from Matt Henry and a quietly incisive one from Ben Green. On the other side of the ledger, Craig Overton conceded 106 runs at five an over without reply and Kasey Aldridge, after some discussion, left the field with a side strain.

The day had begun with hopes among Somerset supporters that overcast conditions and opening bursts from Henry and Overton would make enough inroads into the Surrey batting to keep any first innings lead within bounds. In the event, Surrey raced past Somerset’s first innings total, scoring 35 runs in eight overs, with no further wickets falling. From the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, Overton and Henry seemed to offer little threat. Jacks was particularly punishing against Henry, twice opening the face to steer him wide of the slips to the Ondaatje boundary and then driving him through the covers to the Priory Bridge Road Stand. An emphatic straight drive off Henry and a late cut-off Overton, both to the Lord Ian Botham Stand, emphasised Surrey’s early dominance. “If we can bat until three o’clock, we should be all right,” said one Surrey supporter to another, “this pitch looks a bit juicy.” The first part of the sentence was a prescient comment on the eventual outcome of the Surrey innings. The second part would best be judged after Somerset had batted again.

In the 17 overs before a short interruption for rain, Latham and Jacks added 80 runs, nearly five an over. Along the way, Jacks passed fifty off 73 balls with an off drive off Shoaib Bashir to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. When the players went off Surrey were in full flow at 218 for 4, already 48 runs ahead. The bat had been beaten once or twice, and there were one or two leg before wicket appeals but the batters never really looked under threat. Latham was looking well set on 99 when the rain came.

It was one of those showers which flatter to deceive. It had virtually stopped by the time the players reached the Pavilion. Perhaps it was enough to break Latham’s concentration. Bashir, bowling from the River End and turning the ball away from the left-hander, defeated his attempt to go to his century with a late cut. The bat curved neatly under the ball and edged it to Overton at slip. Overton stopped every heart in the ground by fumbling the catch, pursuing the escaping ball as it moved away from him and catching it at the third attempt. “Gregory normally fields at slip to the spinner,” someone said. It was the first ball after the resumption.

The wicket put a brake on Surrey’s scoring. Bashir continued until lunch, continuing to impress as he has since he came into the side. His six overs cost 13 runs for the wicket of Latham. Jacks attacked Overton, driving him through the covers and backward point to the Somerset Stand, but Green bowled three overs for six runs and took the wicket of Jordan Clark who became Rew’s second victim of the innings as he tried to keep a Green delivery out. At last, Somerset had made inroads and put a brake on the Surrey scoring, perhaps assisted by the rain break, but at 248 for 6, Surrey led by 76 and the mountain that the Somerset batters would have to climb in the second innings was becoming steeper by the over.

An extended circumnavigation at lunchtime kept me from my seat for the first three overs of the afternoon session. “What a start,” someone said as I returned, “two sixes and three fours in the first three overs after lunch”. Suddenly, Surrey had a lead of 100 with still four wickets standing. The main damage had been done by Jacks. He had dropped to one knee against Bashir and driven him through the off side to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion, and then used his feet to the next ball to loft him into the seating behind where the first ball had crossed the boundary. Henry had fared no better. Jamie Overton drove him through the covers to the Somerset Stand for four and Jacks pulled him flat through midwicket with enough power for the ball to make its first contact with one of the dugouts in front of the Caddick Pavilion.

Things got worse for Somerset when Jamie Overton edged a drive against Henry between Tom Abell at first slip and Craig Overton at second. The ball was closer to Abell than Overton but Overton reached for the catch and dropped the ball, Jamie adding insult to brotherly injury by running through for a single. “Craig is not having a good match,” the person with me said. That Henry beat Jamie later in the over just rubbed salt into the wound as did another six, lofted into the seating in front of the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. A single off the next ball which took Overton and Jacks to a fifty partnership in 38 minutes further emphasised the extent of Surrey’s dominance and the impact could be seen in the faces of Somerset supporters.

And then, the sky darkened, and the lights came on. A glance to the west above the Brian Rose Gates revealed the disappearance of the Brendons behind low cloud and distant rain. It suggested an early end to the day, but for the moment, the cricket defied the threat. Jacks continued to defy Somerset too, late cutting Green who had replaced Henry at the Trescothick Pavilion End, for four. That took him to 99. The boundary was followed by a huge appeal for caught behind as Jacks attempted to defend, Rew beginning a victory celebration that ended with him standing like a statue, three yards up the pitch with the ball held aloft while the umpire remained unmoved. “If that had been out that would have been two out for 99 in this innings,” said the person with me. The comment was a ball early. Off Green’s next ball, Jacks cut Green to Abell at backward point and Surrey were 296 for 7, 126 ahead. Disappointment for Jacks, but with Latham, he had laid the foundations for Surrey to push for victory when their turn with the ball came.

The weather continued to threaten, but with two days still to play Surrey were in no hurry. They had time to further consolidate their position before unleashing their five pace bowlers on Somerset’s batters for the second time. Gus Atkinson did not tarry. He struck a boundary in each of the next five overs, three of them driven powerfully into the off side. The last was lofted over mid-on to the Hildreth Stand and took Surrey’s lead past 150, those three wickets still standing. There was applause for the strokes, but beyond that the chatter was subdued as it became apparent that, unless there was major intervention from the weather, saving this match was likely to be beyond Somerset.

“Shot!” someone said as Overton drove Henry, the latest on Somerset’s rota of bowlers, although now with the new ball, to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion for another four. “That could have gone anywhere,” was the comment though when a hook against his brother cleared Rew’s head by a country mile and bounced over the Lord Ian Botham Stand rope. Overton was less lucky with a hook against Henry in the next over as the ball steepled, seemingly impossibly, high. This time Sean Dickson took a well-judged catch on the Trescothick Pavilion boundary, dropping to the ground once the ball was in his hands to absorb its plummeting momentum and rolling to sustain his grip on the ball until it was fully under his control. Surrey 342 for 8. Overton 42.

Surrey had sustained their rate of almost five an over throughout the afternoon and Dan Worral began as if he intended to continue in like vein with two boundaries in succession off Craig Overton, the second an uppercut which fell just short of the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary. But Henry quickly brought Surrey’s innings to an end when Worral attempted another uppercut only to be very well caught on the Trescothick Pavilion boundary by Dickson after a long run to intercept the ball. That was soon followed by the fall of Latham, well caught behind the stumps, again off Henry, with Surrey ending on 368.

As the players walked off, the covers came on and rain began to fall as if it were answering a theatrical cue. It did not relent, and with Surrey having established their dominance with that first innings lead of 198, play was eventually called off for the day. The crowd, small by Somerset standards, drifted away, looking pensive as it went. Somerset had been comprehensively outplayed across the entire first two days. If the Surrey supporter’s assessment of the pitch as ‘juicy’ turned out to be accurate when the third day commenced, Somerset would find themselves with a fight on their hands against Surrey’s five-man pace attack.

Close. Somerset 170. Surrey 368 (T.W.M. Latham 99, W.G. Jacks 99, J. Overton 42, M.J. Henry 6-80, B.G.F. Green 3-39). Surrey lead by 198 runs.