County Championship 2024. Division 1. Durham v Somerset 24^th and 25^th May. Chester-le-Street.

Jake Ball replaced Migael Pretorius under ECB concussion regulations after Somerset’s first innings.

Somerset. T.B. Abell, M.T. Renshaw, T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, M. Pretorius/J.T. Ball, J.H. Davey, M.J. Leach.

Durham. A.Z. Lees, S.G. Borthwick (c), C.N. Ackermann, D.G. Bedingham, O.G. Robinson (w), B.A. Stokes, G. Clark, C.F. Parkinson, P. Coughlin, B.A. Raine, P.M. Siddle.

Toss. Durham elected to field.

First day 24th May – Stokes makes a difference

Newcastle is a long way from Taunton. Five-and-a-half hours by direct train. Given the flooding across significant parts of the country through which the train travelled it was something of an achievement for the railway system to bring the train from Taunton into Newcastle just one minute late. Three other companies had to cancel their trains and those of their passengers who could, joined mine. Even without the extra passengers, four coaches for a train which runs from Penzance to Edinburgh sounds like a victory of hope over anticipation, and so the effect of suffering an influx of passengers from three other companies is better imagined than experienced. Every seat was taken, and every aisle and vestibule was full. Good humour was the only viable survival technique, and it was applied by every passenger within my sight. “People have got used to crowded trains,” someone said.

The excess had cleared by the time we pulled into Durham, but the sense of relief was short-lived. The carriage suddenly filled with young partygoers dressed for high summer on a stubbornly rainy evening. As I tried to plan my escape through the throng clogging the aisle, I concluded that implementation of whatever plan I adopted would not present a pretty sight, even if I topped it with my broad-rimmed wyvern hat. Then, as we arrived at Newcastle, the party throng was sucked from the train as if into a vacuum. At that, reality dawned, or resurrected itself from my last visit, nine years before. Newcastle is a party town and any thought of restful end-of week evenings after days of hard cricket watching evaporated. Such are the trials of the long-distance cricket follower.

As to getting to the cricket at Chester-le-Street from Newcastle, that requires a solid sense of timing. The Angel 21 bus takes three-quarters of an hour to the centre of Chester-le-Street and runs every 15 minutes. For those interested in modern sculpture it passes within a hundred yards or so of Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North, hence the name of the route. The trains take ten minutes. The Angel is visible, if more distantly, from the train, although only the top of it if the leaves are on the trees. From train or bus, the walk to the ground is 15 to 20 minutes, although there is a pub serving breakfast on the way where the odd Somerset supporter can usually be found.

At the ground, there was a smaller crowd than I remembered from previous visits, and a much smaller contingent of Somerset supporters. Despite the size of the crowd, every stand in the ground was open to spectators, even the huge temporary stand which filled the side of the ground opposite the Members Balcony where I took my seat. There was only one other person recognisable as a Somerset supporter on the balcony, a far cry from the numbers who used to appear there a decade before.

There was a blanket of high white cloud, although it was thin enough for the sun to cast faint shadows and distil some warmth. The pitch looked emerald green, and the thought was of it being an important toss, perhaps a crucial one. In my experience, from several visits to The Riverside over the years, conditions have normally favoured a moving ball, and Durham have an experienced attack which might have been designed to exploit such conditions. In the gloom of late November when the fixture list was published, I had worried that this match might present Somerset with a trip hazard. When the coin fell Durham’s way, it was no surprise when Scott Borthwick chose to field, and those trip hazard thoughts picked away at the mind.

Tom Abell opened in his first Championship match of the season after the hamstring injury picked up in a pre-season warm-up match. He replaced the out of form Sean Dickson. That immediately produced another pang of anxiety, for Abell looks more secure batting at three or four, but beyond Matt Renshaw and Dickson Somerset have no specialist openers. Tom Lammonby battled with the position throughout 2022 and 2023 with some success but he never looked established and had looked much more at home, and had been more successful, at three in 2024. So, Abell it was who took the first ball from Ben Raine. The third he drove crisply in true Abell fashion square to the point boundary. To the sixth, he came forward with a classic Abell forward defensive stroke and was bowled, his off stump leaning back at an awkward angle. Somerset 4 for 1. Abell 4.

With Dixon often failing to make an impact, the Renshaw-Lammonby second wicket partnership had been crucial in establishing the Somerset innings in 2024, Renshaw providing a solid, defensive block at one end and Lammonby caressing the ball for runs at the other. With three slips in place, Lammonby drove Raine through the covers with the smoothest of strokes. From there he found the boundary three times in an over off Paul Coughlin. They were strokes of absolute perfection. The second, a silken pull, was played with minimum effort, maximum impact and with a flow of the bat which was a joy to watch. The third, the second of two drives, was played with an angled bat off a full, widish ball. It was a stroke of delicate precision which guided as much as struck the ball along the ground. It passed the slip and backward point fielders as if they were spectators. “Oh, come on!” pleaded a frustrated Durham member.

When Peter Siddle joined Raine the flow of runs dried up, although the batters looked secure enough. It was only when Ben Stokes replaced Raine that the fears of the winter were realised. He beat Renshaw with his first ball. With his fourth, he targeted Renshaw’s off stump, swung the ball away and Renshaw, forced to defend, was caught by Ollie Robinson behind the stumps diving low in front of first slip. Somerset 29 for 2. Renshaw five in five minutes under the hour of glue-like defence. Andy Umeed took the Lammonby approach, reaching wide to steer his first ball, from Stokes, between third slip and backward point for four. Lammonby, continuing to play with sublime artistry, drove Siddle straight for four more but an attempt to cut Stokes resulted in another catch for Robinson. Somerset 44 for 3. Lammonby 22. An over later, a ball from Siddle jagged back and Umeed edged it to Colin Ackermann at second slip for nine. Somerset 46 for 4, Umeed 9, those thoughts from November proving all too prescient.

It was the first time I had seen Stokes in the flesh in over a decade. Watching him from side on, as you do from the Durham members balcony, was a curious experience. He looked innocuous. There was no apparent fire in his manner. No fury in his run up. No presence in his demeanour. To all appearances he just seemed to be running in to do a job. Gradually though, the realisation dawned. There was a smoothness in his run up, a flow in his action, a deceptiveness in his pace, and an accuracy in his bowling which stood him out from the rest. From side on you cannot see movement, but from the results, there was little doubt it was there. He bowled eight overs in a spell before lunch, and seven at the end of the Somerset innings, but never seemed to tire. If applying pressure takes wickets, at one end or the other, Stokes’ performance was a masterclass of the practice. From beyond the boundary, it felt like it was making a difference.

Tom Banton, his red ball batting re-born in 2024, and James Rew held back the Durham onslaught for a while. Batting out of their creases they attempted to negate at least some of the movement of the ball. Briefly, Banton resurrected memories of a more aggressive style and hooked Stokes into the huge temporary stand at long leg but thereafter, with Durham continuing to find movement, straight bats were the order of the day, either in defence or in attempting to drive. One square drive from Rew off Raine with Robinson now standing up brought a shout of, “Shot!” from the Members Balcony. With a slow outfield restricting boundaries, Banton and Rew shepherded Somerset towards lunch. Then, with the respite of the interval an over away, Rew left a ball from Raine. It was angled in, pitched wide of off stump but jagged off the pitch and into Rew’s pads. “How was … out!” shouted a Durham supporter, the umpire raising his finger mid-sentence. Somerset 76 for 5. Rew 13. It was a bitter blow to Somerset hopes. Banton responded by driving Stokes through extra cover for four, but Somerset walked off on 84 for 5.

Four balls after lunch, Lewis Gregory attempted to drive a wide ball from Siddle and Robinson took his third catch of the innings. Somerset 84 for 6. Gregory 0. Siddle’s first ball to Craig Overton pitched full and jagged in sharply leaving Overton’s defensive stroke stranded and his stumps exposed. Somerset 84 for 7. The hat trick ball to Migael Pretorius was delivered to a crescendo of rhythmic Durham clapping but Pretorius survived to survey the wreckage of the Somerset innings. He began to rebuild quickly with three twos in an over from Coughlin, all driven but without the force to reach the boundary. He was more forceful when he attacked Siddle, a drive through extra cover just being knocked back from the rope to restrict the batters to three while a straighter drive went all the way. In the main, Banton rotated the strike as Pretorius attacked, but in attempting to turn Raine to leg he was caught at short mid-on by Alex Lees diving full length forward. Somerset 119 for 8. Banton 36 in ten minutes over an hour and half. Partnership 35.

Josh Davey and Pretorius attempted to resurrect the repair job. Mainly, they scored in ones and twos. The outfield slowed the ball sufficiently for several potential boundaries to be overhauled and only three times in the partnership did Pretorius find the boundary, twice in an over from Raine, and Davey not at all. In 11 overs they added 35 runs before Davey was leg before wicket coming forward to Stokes who was consistently impressive. Somerset 154 for 9. Davey 9. With Jack Leach now at the crease, Pretorius attacked Callum Parkinson’s slow left arm spin to the tune of ten runs in an over before edging, Stokes again, to Colin Ackermann at second slip. Somerset 171, Pretorius 53, Leach five not out and Somerset were all out in less time than it had taken my train from Taunton to reach Newcastle. It was the last we saw of Pretorius, a blow to the head during his innings subsequently leading to him being substituted by Jake Ball under the ECB concussion protocol

In the opening over of the Durham innings, the ease of a neat on drive for three from Lees off Overton immediately called into doubt the adequacy of Somerset’s 171. Then, when Overton reached down to a vicious straight drive from Borthwick and diverted the ball to knock flat one of the stumps at the non-striker’s end, Borthwick put his hand to his head in horror. Lees meanwhile marched off and the umpire raised a superfluous finger. Durham 3 for 1. Lees 3. Deficit 168. When Ackermann failed to get his bat behind a lifting ball in Overton’s third over, he edged low to Lammonby’s right at second slip. Lammonby dropped to the ground and held the catch. Durham 12 for 2. Ackermann 1. Deficit 159. Again, Overton struck, this time Borthwick was hit on the pad trying to defend and the umpire’s finger did the rest. Durham 19 for 3. Borthwick 9. Deficit 152. “They’ve got the first bowling point after seven overs,” said a startled Durham supporter and Somerset supporters must have dared hope.

Borthwick’s wicket had given Somerset an opening. It was though the high point of their day. In the next over, David Bedingham lofted Davey over deep midwicket for four and drove him straight for four more. It set the tone for a partnership with Ollie Robinson which, despite a tumble of wickets as the close approached, left Durham with a clear advantage. While they batted, it was as if the match had been moved to a different pitch. The bowlers pitched full, the batters drove, and batting looked easy. As Durham approached their fifty, Overton was driven through the covers by Robinson and Ball was driven straight by Bedingham. Both were strokes of power and precision and with Somerset defending such a small total they felt like daggers driven into the heart of Somerset hope. As Bedingham drove Gregory square for another four the score reached 70 for 3, the fourth wicket partnership passing 50 in 60 balls, and Durham had reduced Somerset’s lead to 101. In the context of the apparent ease of batting unfolding before us, that lead seemed worryingly inadequate.

At which point, I had to leave the ground to return to Newcastle for a pre-arranged folk concert. An odd thing to do when you have travelled 350 miles to watch a cricket match I know. But when a folk concert is centred deep within local history and culture, and when that local history is a key part of the history of the nation, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

The northeast of England was one of the areas of Britain at the forefront of the industrial revolution. The closely interlinked industries of mining, steelmaking and shipbuilding were at its heart and were the lifeblood of so many of its industrial communities. Nearly half a century ago the onset of the globalisation revolution swept most of that heavy industry aside. By 1979, from a peak of 91 blast furnaces on Teeside, only one remained. The industry still has a modern toehold, but it is a shadow of its former self. At its peak, the County Durham mining industry employed 170,000 miners. The Durham Miners Gala was perhaps the most famous celebration of mining in this country. In 2005 the last deep mine in the region closed, although the Gala continues as a vibrant reminder of the past. Tyneside was one of the major shipbuilding areas in the United Kingdom. When I took a boat trip along the Tyne for the ten miles or so from Newcastle to Tynemouth in 2015 the banks were strewn with one-time shipbuilding sites, but only one of those yards remained open, and that only for repairs. The Tyne, once teeming with shipping serving the three industries and the rest of Tyneside’s needs is now a dead river used only by the ghosts of those ships of the past. To stand on one of the Tyne’s seven historic bridges as they span the gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead and look along the river is to gaze into an industrial past that in the local area resonates to this day.

The folk concert I left the cricket early to see was given by The Pitmen Poets at the Glasshouse entertainment centre, previously The Sage, in Gateshead from where its huge glass bubble overlooks the Tyne and the iconic Tyne Bridge. Having heard the Poets on tour the opportunity to see them in front of a hometown audience was one not to be missed. The tickets had been bought six months in advance, the day the fixture list was published. Even so, the two of us going were unable to buy seats next to each other. The Pitmen Poets are neither pitmen nor poets. They are however, a group of folk singers born and bred in the northeast who write and sing songs about working in the pits and living in the pit villages from the perspective of those who did work and live there. The venue was packed, the atmosphere electric and I doubt anyone survived the evening without a tear.

My days of travelling while the cricket is on and not knowing the score are over. I had owned a smartphone for four years by the start of this match. I have found it comes in useful for five things. Messages, email, photographs, keeping up to date with the news, and, of course, the cricket scores. The total journey from ground to hotel room by bus (there was a two-hour gap between trains at the key time) took about an hour and a half. My first score check had come as I stood at the bus stop. Bedingham had just hit Leach for six and Durham’s score was 109 for 3. Somerset were now only 62 ahead and it was a nervous wait for the bus. By the time the bus pulled away, the score had reached 132 for 3 with Durham 39 behind. Worse, Durham were scoring at five and a half runs an over suggesting a dominance sufficient to leave Somerset’s 171 far behind. It is very difficult to close an online score page when Somerset are playing, and as I looked, Robinson was caught behind off Ball for 46 and Durham were 133 for 4, 38 behind. Relief. I looked on. With two successive boundaries from Bedingham off Overton, Durham resumed their assault. Then, before my heart could sink too far, Ball trapped Stokes leg before wicket for nought. That at least negated the text I had received at the end of the Somerset innings. “This isn’t looking good. You just know Stokes is going to get a hundred,” it said. Durham 145 for 5, 26 behind.    

Somerset were fighting back but I put my phone back in my pocket as the bus approached the Angel of the North. It is an impressive enough giant sculpture to miss a few minutes of cricket scores for. But only a few minutes when Somerset are fighting their way back into a game. Durham had reached 155 for 5, 16 behind when I next looked, with Bedingham, who had just hit Ball for six, now on 87. His batting and Stokes’ bowling had thus far been the difference between the sides. My next check had Durham on 164 for 6 with Graham Clarke having been leg before wicket for Ball’s third wicket in succession. Ball’s bowling was keeping Somerset’s fingertips on the match. But that was it in terms of Somerset progress. A quick check of my phone when I reached my hotel revealed that Durham had closed without further loss and were six runs ahead with Bedingham having just reached his century. In such responsive conditions, Somerset would need to strike early and hard in the morning if they were to keep Durham’s total within bounds.

Close. Somerset 171 (M. Pretorius 53, B.A. Stokes 4-54, P.M. Siddle 3-27, B.A. Raine 3-41). Durham 177 for 6. Durham lead by six runs with four first innings wickets standing.