County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Warwickshire 30^th June and 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd July. Taunton.

Somerset. T.A. Lammonby, A.R.I. Umeed, T. Kohler-Cadmore, T.B. Abell, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), K.L. Aldridge, C. Overton (c), M. Pretorius, M.J. Leach, J.T. Ball.

Warwickshire. R.M. Yates, A.L. Davies (c), W.M.H. Rhodes, S.R. Hain, D.R. Mousley, E.G. Barnard, J.G. Bethell, M.G.K. Burgess (w), C.R. Woakes, M.G. Booth, O.J. Hannon-Dalby.

Toss. Somerset. Elected to bowl.

First day 30^th June – A toss to remember

“Why? Oh, why?” asks my note, made as I sat down at the top of the Trescothick Pavilion five minutes before the start. Somerset had won the toss and elected to field. My cricketing memory is littered with examples of sides seeing a green pitch at Taunton and inserting the opposition on winning the toss. The result, so often, has been the inserted side steadily piling up a mountain of runs. This pitch, set in the centre of the square, the sight screen sheeting covering the centre of the Lord Ian Botham Stand, was unusual in appearance. From my vantage point, the first eight feet or so of each end looked brown, but the rest of the pitch was undeniably green. The divide between the two colours was a sharp, clearly defined line across the pitch, a fact which caused one or two quizzical looks. To set my, “Why? Oh, why?” in context, I do have form. My strong inclination is always to bat first, except perhaps on an April green top under overcast skies. Looking back at the history of insertions, particularly at the ground at which a match is being played, can often be more important than looking down or up. Pitches and skies can be capricious bedfellows when it comes to toss decisions. Historical evidence is often a more reliable ally in my, admittedly anecdotal, experience.

Just over an hour into the match, I was beginning to doubt my judgement. Migael Pretorius, in his final scheduled match for Somerset, had burst through Warwickshire’s top order and left them reeling on 40 for 4. It had been a sharp, aggressive piece of bowling, the early conditions had assisted, and the batters could not cope with the combination of the two. A free-scoring start from the Warwickshire openers, Robert Yates and Alex Davies, four boundaries coming in the first five overs, had briefly threatened to take the initiative away from Somerset. But Josh Davey, bowling from the River End, was generating lift. He soon straightened a slightly angled-in ball and took the edge of Davies’ defensive bat. The ball flew straight to Tom Abell at first slip. Abell, Somerset’s wandering close catcher, deputising in that position for the absent Lewis Gregory, took the catch. Warwickshire 19 for 1. Davies nine.

Now, replacing Davey at the River End, Pretorius charged through the door which Davey had pushed ajar. First, he and Craig Overton penned Yates and Will Rhodes in with some sharp, accurate bowling. As clouds began to build, the ball began to beat the bat, the crowd became quiet with tension and just four runs came from five overs. Then, Yates, defending hard to the second ball of a Pretorius over, edged straight to Kasey Aldridge at second slip and Warwickshire were 34 for 2, Yates 15 in 11 minutes under the hour. Sam Hain joined Rhodes and was badly beaten by his fourth ball to gasps and applause and a comment of, “That went straight through him!” The sixth ball beat him again and Pretorius had a wicket maiden and extended applause. As the pressure on the batters built, Davey returned at the Trescothick Pavilion End, Rhodes edged him excruciatingly short of first slip twice in two balls, a sigh of, “Oh no,” following the second.

Now, the ground laid, came a stunning over from Pretorius. Hain, rushed into a crumpled backward defensive stroke, had his off stump clipped by the first ball. Warwickshire 36 for 3. Hain 0. Dan Mousley was beaten by the third ball and edged the fourth to Aldridge at slip. Warwickshire 40 for 4. Mousley 2. Pressure upon pressure, Ed Barnard was beaten by, but survived, the last ball. Pretorius 4-2-6-3. There was long applause for the over and a buzz of excitement in its wake despite the crowd being on the small side for the first day of a Championship match at Taunton. There were plenty of empty white seats on view in the Hildreth and Lord Ian Botham Stands and the Colin Atkinson Pavilion that would have looked full before the pandemic. Somerset, it seemed, were on fire and my anxiety about the insertion misplaced. There was more and extended applause when it was announced that, “Spectators will be permitted on the outfield at lunchtime.”

Then, with expectation running high, as if a switch had been flicked, the nature of the day changed, and the wind of the match began to blow Warwickshire’s way. Suddenly, the ball seemed to threaten less, and the Warwickshire batters settled. “Shot!” the emphatic shout when Rhodes drove Pretorius just as emphatically straight back to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. A back foot cover drive to the Somerset Stand off Davey was just as emphatic. A ball change brought no aid to Somerset and, “Shot!” rang out again when Barnard cut Aldridge square to the Somerset Stand. “Come on Craig O!” brought no relief. Neither did an inside edge from Rhodes off Aldridge which narrowly evaded stumps and keeper, before speeding to the Lord Ian Botham Stand.

There was a different feel to proceedings now and, “Shot!” rang out yet again when Rhodes cut Aldridge square to the Caddick Pavilion boundary. Almost in the blinking of an eye it seemed, the fifty partnership between Rhodes and Barnard was being announced following another cut from Rhodes off Aldridge to the Caddick Pavilion. Then, before the over was out, a steer past slip from Rhodes followed by a single took Warwickshire to lunch on 97 for 4 with Rhodes on 42. It had been Somerset’s morning, a detached eye with only the scorecard to view might have proclaimed, but for those Somerset eyes at the Cooper Associates County Ground it didn’t feel like that. Despite the four wickets, by lunch, Warwickshire gave every impression of taking control.

My lunchtime circumnavigation, anti-clockwise as always, brought a discussion with an experienced Somerset watcher who is less than impressed, along with many, at the changes that have been wrought in the management of County Championship matches at Taunton. The return of walking on the outfield, though greatly welcome, seemed to him long overdue. The continued closure of most or all of the Somerset Stand, the closure of the Brian Rose Gates and a post-tea entry charge, all still rankled. The changes had cut deep. As to the cricket, we agreed that the signing of Pretorius had strengthened the pace attack and was a feather in the cap of Somerset’s cricket management. The Club’s view was that the savings made on the closures contributed to the signing of players like Pretorius and were necessary to help Somerset compete with the best. It is a tough balance to manage. The preference of England for Shoaib Bashir over Jack Leach was another focus of discussion. The conclusion reached was that Leach probably needed to begin taking significant wickets again if he was to come back into contention for England, not overly easy when the preparation of spin-friendly wickets brings the threat of official censure.

We talked the lunch interval away behind the temporary Priory Bridge Road Stand, cavernously empty in its silent wait for the cacophony of cheering and chanting which would engulf it in the T20 season, due to begin after this match. My amble around the rest of my circumnavigation took nine overs as I alternately walked and talked while taking in the different angles. The cricket seemed as leisurely as my walk. Somerset’s bowlers continued to pound in as they always do but the ball had ceased to trouble the batters. For their part, they were quietly rebuilding the Warwickshire innings, a task which was yet to reach a point where they might contemplate risk. Twenty-six runs were the careful product of those nine overs, Rhodes quietly passing fifty to applause along the way. “The pitch has gone dead,” the view of one person I spoke to as I watched an over from behind the covers store.

I eventually reached my seat with the score on 123 for 4 to be greeted by an on drive from Rhodes off Pretorius to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion. With Leach, playing ahead of Bashir for Somerset, Barnard swept him for four and lofted him over straight midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary for four more. With the crowd now quiet, Rhodes attempted to drive Leach. The ball pitched full into some rough outside the left hander’s off stump and turned noticeably. The drive connected with a thick inside edge and lobbed straight to Andy Umeed at mid-on. Warwickshire 144 for 5. Rhodes 63 in two and a half hours. Jacob Bethell, who had made a hugely positive impression with the bat on Somerset supporters at the age of 17 in 2021 when on loan to Gloucestershire in only his second first class match, made no impression here. He looked unconvincing before being caught by James Rew for one while trying to keep Overton out, “Yeah!” the shout, as much of relief as triumph for, at 145 for 6, Warwickshire were struggling again.

Michael Burgess is one of a string of opposition wicketkeeper-batters who have been a thorn in Somerset’s side with the bat over the years. Chris Read of Nottinghamshire, John Simpson of Middlesex and James Foster of Essex being some of the more noteworthy among them. Burgess began with cautious, even ominous, intent. He did not reach the boundary for 11 overs, but when he did, it was with a sumptuous, flowing drive through extra cover off Leach to where Legends Square once stood. It was as if he were signalling that he was satisfied with the foundation he had built and now intended to reap the benefits. With tea on the horizon, he twice lofted Leach for four, the second registering the fifty partnership with Barnard.

Barnard, who had impressed against Somerset when with Worcestershire, had come to the wicket at 40 for 4 and steadily built his innings through his 104-run partnership with Rhodes, scoring 47 to Rhodes’ 51. He had had some luck early on with edges wide of the slips, but soon established himself in the more easy-going conditions after the first hour. Now, he played support to Burgess but not without some firm interventions of his own. A late cut off Aldridge in particular caught the eye and ran to the covers store for four and Leach was swept fine to the Colin Atkinson boundary. Well-placed singles helped keep Burgess on strike, but Leach and Pretorius eventually managed to apply a brake, 11 runs coming from the final seven overs before tea with Warwickshire ending the afternoon session on 214 for 6,

There was no doubting Warwickshire’s approach in the evening session. They attacked hard. Somerset tried Andy Umeed’s leg spin from the River End. His over cost 11 runs. Six of those came from one ball, struck into the Somerset Stand by Burgess. Umeed was immediately replaced by Aldridge who conceded ten runs in his first over, eight of them to pulls square to the Caddick Pavilion. In Aldridge’s second over, another ten runs came, all to Burgess, four pulled square to the Caddick Pavilion, two driven through the off towards Gimblett’s Hill and four steered past slip to the Hildreth Stand. Twenty-nine runs came in the first four overs after tea. Then, with Somerset supporters looking anxiously at a fast rising total, Barnard was bowled attempting a back foot drive off Leach to a ball that didn’t turn. “We needed that!” said a Somerset voice. Warwickshire 244 for 7. Barnard 92 in 12 minutes under four hours. It had been a determined innings but it had not turned the match. It had though, with Rhodes and Burgess, dragged Warwickshire clear of their catastrophic start.

By the end of the day, Burgess, after a similar partnership with Chris Woakes, might justifiably have claimed to have put Warwickshire firmly in control of the match. With Woakes, he added 110 in 24 overs with Somerset seeming to have no answer. Woakes took the early lead with a pull, fine, and a cut, square, off Aldridge, both for four, but then Burgess resumed control. In an over from Leach he drove over long on to the Hildreth Stand for six and through the off side to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion for four. Tom Lammonby with his occasional left arm seam brought some relief to Somerset, conceding only ten runs from four overs, but Overton suffered to the tune of 30 from five overs, mainly in fours and well-placed twos. Among those 30 runs, Burgess passed his century from 146 balls with a straight driven two, taking eight from the over. Pretorius was tried, but his second and third balls were pulled to the boundary by Burgess. Pretorius’s first three overs cost 19 runs including an overthrow as Somerset tried desperately to break the partnership. Eventually though, it was Pretorius who broke through. Woakes attempted to clip a full ball to leg and looped a leading edge to mid-on where Umeed took the catch. Warwickshire 354 for 8. Woakes 39.

The damage though had been done. Somerset’s early morning dominance had been swept away in an evening of batting mayhem. In the three remaining overs to the close, Warwickshire added another 17 runs without further loss. Eight of those runs came from the edge of the bat of the new batter, Michael Booth, both off the ever-pressing Pretorius. But the edges seemed inconsequential as Burgess ended proceedings with a classic back foot cover drive to the Somerset Stand off Davey. Warwickshire, virtually on their knees at midday, now found themselves standing astride the match with a tired Somerset perhaps ruefully remembering the toss.  

Close. Warwickshire 373 for 8.