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.

Overnight – Warwickshire 373 for 8.

Second day 2^nd July – Warwickshire in the ascendant

Dawdling through breakfast as I am inclined to do having spent the final two decades of my working life beginning each day before seven o’clock with a 60 to 90-minute commute into London, I arrived an over after the start. The floodlights were on, the players were walking off, the rain was falling, and Warwickshire’s ninth wicket pair had added six runs to their overnight score. The rain was light but persistent, often light enough for some seated in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion to wonder if it was raining at all. It was enough though to delay play until after an early lunch with an hour of the day lost. It gave time for an old work colleague who joined me for part of the day and I to have an intermingled discussion about cricket and, with the general election two days away, the general election campaign which had been in full swing in the world outside cricket. There is always something to talk about when rain stops play.

Lunch eaten, Warwickshire began steadily enough, and soon a ball from Migael Pretorius guided past third slip by Michael Booth took the partnership between him and Michael Burgess past fifty, Warwickshire already having passed 400 and gathered a fourth bonus point. It felt to the Somerset watcher as if the match was rapidly drifting away from them and the excited anticipation of 40 for 4 on the first morning seemed but a distant memory. There was a momentary lift in the Somerset mood when Pretorius induced Booth to edge to Tom Abell at first slip for his fifth wicket, but with the number ten departing for 31 it was small consolation after the Warwickshire rampage of the previous evening. The final Warwickshire wicket fell when Burgess, three short of 150, tried to loft Kasey Aldridge over long on but was caught by Jack Leach ten yards short of the boundary. With the match effectively into its fifth session, Somerset’s ambition seemed limited to achieving a draw, “Unless we can score 600,” someone said. It was said with a tone of fairyland about it. “Or 263 to avoid the follow-on,” the response with a tone taken from the speaker’s gallows humour repertoire.

In the second over of the Somerset reply, Andy Umeed seemed to be making the case for fairyland when he drove Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s second ball into Gimblett’s Hill for six. Warwickshire promptly brought Burgess up to the stumps. Two balls later a forward defensive push played with feet firmly anchored in the crease flew off the edge low and into the hands of Jacob Bethell at third slip. Somerset 6 for 1. Umeed 6. Deficit 406. It was a crowd silencer as the enormity of Somerset’s task was laid bare. Tom Lammonby joined Tom Kohler-Cadmore who began to play with his usual flamboyance mixed with a stiffening draught of the standard opener’s defence. A back foot cover drive to the Somerset Stand off Hannon-Dalby was followed by a cover drive to the Priory Bridge Road Stand off Chris Woakes before Hannon-Dalby was pulled to the Caddick Pavilion boundary and driven straight back to the Trescothick Pavilion. Then, as Somerset attempted to settle the innings, a straight Kohler-Cadmore bat shown to Michael Booth’s second ball resulted in an edge straight to Burgess behind the stumps and Somerset were 41 for 2. Kohler-Cadmore 22. Deficit 371.

Tom Lammonby had been more circumspect than Kohler-Cadmore and was on 13 at Kohler-Cadmore’s departure. He had played with his customary smoothness of stroke, an off drive for two off Hannon-Dalby bringing a cry of, “Shot!” He employed the angled bat to score behind square on the off side with his usual precision and a square drive through point to the Caddick Pavilion off Booth brought particularly appreciative applause. Then, a thick edge for four off Ed Barnard brought some gasps before, in the manner of Umeed and Kohler-Cadmore, he fell to a defensive stroke, this time off Ed Barnard, caught by Burgess who barely had to move. Somerset 57 for 3. Lammonby 23. Deficit 355.

The wicket brought together Abell and Tom Banton. Abell had been a stalwart of Somerset’s Championship batting line-up since his first match in 2014. Until 2024 Banton, a successful white ball player, had struggled to establish a place in the Championship side but had apparently worked hard at his red ball game through the winter and had vied with Lammonby in the first half of 2024 to be Somerset’s most successful batter. He and Abell came together with Somerset’s innings under threat and the follow-on total still 206 runs away. Abell has a reputation for being able to read and play the situation facing him. Here, he read it perfectly. Both he and Banton played measured innings, Abell barely finding the boundary at all, but as they worked away, they brought an air of stability to the innings.

Before the calm though came a short, if partly fortuitous, flurry from Banton. With tea approaching, his first ball, from Booth, came off a defensive edge and bisected first and second slip. It bounced between them and looked catchable had not both hesitated before second slip reached down for it as it burst through them for four. An over later, Booth bowled short and wide outside off stump and Banton delivered a flashing uppercut which sent the ball over cover before landing beyond the rope in front of the Somerset Stand, and from there, Somerset reached tea on 80 for 3, still 332 runs behind.

The tea interval brought hazy sunshine which occasionally brightened as the evening wore on, but it did nothing to ease the chill which, despite the month, had bit at the arms all day and bit harder as the evening wore on. Or perhaps that was because I was the only person in the top of the Trescothick Pavilion still in short sleeves. Perhaps though the hint of sun brought slightly better batting conditions. Even so, there were only three boundaries in the first dozen overs, all from Banton. A late cut and a back foot square drive both came off Woakes in the same over and a back foot cover drive off Hannon-Dalby registered the fifty partnership and brought the keeper back up to the stumps. Three sumptuous drives immediately followed from Banton, but all went straight to the cover or extra cover fielders. It was push and counter-push cricket with Warwickshire still setting attacking fields including three slips placed at first, second and fourth in the current fashion.

A drive through the covers from Banton off Booth brought a cry of, “Oh, beautiful shot!” followed by gasps after a missed drive. It was the last Banton boundary for 13 overs, perhaps as he reined himself in. Runs came in occasional twos, and singles scored at the rate of a careful two or three an over. In the 15th over after tea, Abell finally found the boundary with a pull through long on which ran along the ground to the Hildreth Stand. It was the first boundary of Abell’s innings and came in its 25^th over. It took him to 31 and Somerset to 136 for 3, still 276 behind. It was indicative of the determination with which Abell had fought Somerset’s corner.

Banton passed his fifty in 77 balls in the middle of those 13 boundaryless overs. Abell found the boundary for the second time in the 30^th over of his innings with a late cut off Bethell which sped past the slip area to the Trescothick Pavilion. There was the occasional beaten bat and the very occasional nominal leg before wicket appeal, but the partnership had developed an air of permanence as Banton turned Barnard to deep square leg in front of the Somerset Stand for a single to take Somerset to 150 for 3. Abell finally reached his fifty in a minute over two and a half hours with his third and final four of the day. A flowing drive through extra cover from Banton off Bethell to the Brian Rose Gates followed, but the lasting image of the partnership, Banton’s periodic firmly struck boundaries apart, was of overs ticking by without the fall of a wicket with the scoreboard steadily ticking over driven by those steadily accumulating singles. As an indication of the care and purpose of the partnership, in one over from Bethell, Banton drove the first five balls to the extra cover fielder before gently driving the sixth to straight deep midwicket for an ambled single.

And then, with the end of the day in sight, an awakening came for Somerset supporters lulled into a sense of security by the gently rolling partnership. Banton, with the keeper standing up, as had Umeed, Kohler-Cadmore and Lammonby before him, played defensively and edged the ball. It was perfectly directed by Hannon-Dalby who induced it to swing away late. It flew low to Robert Yates, the only slip. “Got him,” said a surprised Somerset supporter, “What a shame.” It summed up the look on the faces around me and probably of that on my own. Somerset 196 for 4. Banton 78 in a minute over two-and-three-quarter hours. Partnership 139 in 44 overs. Deficit 216. It felt like Banton, with Abell, had brought Somerset to within range of avoiding the follow-on and he was applauded from the field.

With five overs remaining until the close Josh Davey emerged to undertake the night watch. He edged his first ball wide of the two slips for four, clipped his second to leg and took a well-run second run. It didn’t last. A late cut for a single followed but with two and a half overs remaining, he was leg before wicket to Hannon-Dalby. “He was looking to whip that away through the leg side,” said a critical voice given Davey’s role and the proximity of the close. And then, a second night watcher, Jack Leach, appeared. He played defensively to his first ball, edged, Burgess moved a little to leg, and Somerset had lost three wickets for ten runs in 17 balls with Hannon-Dalby now on a hat-trick. “He might as well have come in in the first place,” someone said as James Rew emerged. “And Pretorius will now have to bat at eleven,” someone added with another hint of criticism. The hat-trick at least was avoided, but Rew was beaten by his first ball and at a shaky 206 for 6 Somerset were still 67 runs short of saving the follow-on with just four wickets standing and two overs of the day still to survive.

Championship matches are scheduled to finish at six o’clock each day. They seldom do unless spinners bowl the majority of the overs. Normally a finish about fifteen to twenty minutes past six can be expected, sometimes later. With most of the morning session lost to rain, eight overs were added to the end of the day. At a quarter to seven, those two overs remained and my last bus for an hour was due to leave at seven. Not wishing to wait the extra hour for the next bus, I left for the bus stop with Warwickshire on the charge, those two overs still to be bowled and the rising hope of the afternoon shattered. Safely on my bus, I checked by smartphone, it has its uses, and breathed a sigh of relief when it revealed that Somerset had reached the close with Abell and Rew still at the crease, but with Warwickshire firmly in the ascendant.

Close. Warwickshire 412 (M.G.K. Burgess 147, E.G. Barnard 92, W.M.H. Rhodes 63, M. Pretorius 5-104). Somerset 208 for 6. Somerset trail by 204 runs with four first innings wickets standing.