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 412. Somerset 208 for 6. Somerset trail by 204 runs with four first innings wickets standing.

Third day 2^nd July – Push and counter-push

This was Somerset’s annual schools’ match. The Priory Bridge Road Stand and the family section of the Ondaatje Stand were resplendent with the massed ranks of 1,200 schoolchildren. They were not mentioned in my reports on the first two days of this match. They could not be ignored on the third. Perhaps the wind had shifted. Something brought the never-ending shriek of those high-pitched voices to my ears. They had little to cheer in the first over of the day, bowled from the River End by Michael Booth. Playing an indeterminate stroke across his pads, Tom Abell was leg before wicket to the third ball. My impression over the years is that Abell, if he is undefeated overnight with significant runs to his name, is liable to be out early the next morning. He is not alone in that, but my impression, and it is only an impression, is that it is particularly noticeable in his case. Somerset 208 for 7. Abell 61. Deficit 204.

That left Somerset 55 runs short of saving the follow-on. In his first two overs, Kasey Aldridge drove to the boundary twice, but when he tried to steer a wide ball from Booth past the two slips, he succeeded only in edging it low to Robert Yates at first slip. Falling to his right, Yates took the catch just above the ground. Somerset 222 for 8. Aldridge 14. Deficit 190. With 41 runs still needed to avoid the follow-on, all eyes around me were fixed firmly, and tensely, on the cricket. Whether in response to the comparative freedom of a day at the cricket where the air was less chill than on the first two days, or to give Somerset a lift I know not, but the schoolchildren chose this moment to break into a chant of, “Somerset! Somerset! Somerset!” It was a chant which filled the remainder of the morning and much of the afternoon whatever the state of the game. The only relief from the chanting came from the occasional mass eruption of high-pitched cheering, frantic arm waving and jumping up and down. The mass eruptions occurred whenever Somerset’s roving live stream camera was pointed at the Priory Bridge Road Stand and its images relayed to the scoreboards when they adopted their big screen personas.    

Craig Overton, delayed by the use of two-night watchers at the end of the previous day, strode to the wicket at number ten. Overton’s walk to the wicket leaves no one in doubt as to his intent. He means business. So did Warwickshire. To his first ball there was a loud leg before wicket appeal. His second beat him and a third slip was added. But Overton is inclined to meet fire with fire. To the third ball, he went up on the back foot and drove it through the covers to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. There it was met with an explosion of ecstatic high-pitched cheers, waving arms and another chorus of, “Somerset! Somerset! Somerset!” There were more high-pitched cheers as Overton and James Rew ran a succession of singles. More still when Overton tried to cut Ed Barnard and the ball flew off the top edge over the slip cordon to cross the rope in front of the Hildreth Stand, although the edge did bring some winces from more experienced supporters. Then cheers from all parts of the crowd, and a cry of, “Shot!” in the next over from Booth when Overton drove through the covers, again to the Priory Bridge Road Stand. When Overton is in the mood he was in here, gaps in scores soon narrow or widen depending on the state of the game. Here, he had taken the score to 244 for 8, with Somerset now just 19 short of saving the follow-on.

With the sun now out and the chorus of, “Somerset! Somerset! Somerset!” almost continuous, Overton drove Barnard to Gimblett’s Hill and an array of singles continued to add good measure. Then Rew took a hand. An edge off Will Rhodes just evaded second slip and crossed the Gimblett’s Hill boundary before he drove Barnard through the covers to the Ondaatje Stand and extended applause. That, and the cheers from the Priory Bridge Road Stand, marked the follow-on total being passed. It had taken seven overs of no-nonsense batting since the arrival of Overton to score the 41 runs needed. He had 24 of them from 24 balls, four had come from extras, Rew had the rest, and the fifty partnership was passed with four byes in its ninth over. The follow-on saved, the new ball became due and was taken immediately.

Then, within four overs the innings was over, Rew caught at first slip for 18 and Pretorius bowled by a piercing leg stump yorker for one. Both wickets went to that ever-persistent thorn in Somerset’s side, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, giving him six wickets in the innings. Overton was left on 35 not out from 36 balls, the deficit was 128 and there were five and a half sessions left in the match. In the ten overs to lunch, Warwickshire added 25 runs without losing a wicket to give themselves a lead of 153. There were a couple of edges, but the batters seemed to be in little trouble with the remaining business of the day, the building of the Warwickshire lead, still to come.

I took myself to The Stragglers and was surprised to find it half empty. I had brought my own sandwiches in the old way and eaten them about half an hour before lunch. What was required was a cup of tea and cake, but cake was there none. I decided to walk to a nearby café. As I left the ground among a large exodus I was asked by a surprised passer-by, “What has happened? Why are so many people leaving the ground?” “It’s lunch,” did not satisfy him. Perhaps the half-empty Stragglers, the closure of the in-ground fish and chip shop on the third and fourth days and the closure of the Brian Rose Gates through which so many used to exit at lunch time provided at least some of the answer.

In the second over after lunch, Yates cut Pretorius square to the Somerset Stand for four. The second boundary of the afternoon did not come until eight overs later when Alex Davies drove Pretorius straight back to the Lord Ian Botham Stand. It brought up the fifty partnership for the Warwickshire openers, but not until the 20^th over of the innings. It was a curious start. Warwickshire had by now a lead heading towards 200, there was no real threat apparent from the Somerset bowlers, and yet there was no urgency evident in Warwickshire’s batting. There had been discussion among spectators after the Somerset innings about whether Warwickshire might attempt to score quickly enough to bowl a few overs at Somerset before the close of play. There was no suggestion in the first 20 overs of their innings that this was in Warwickshire’s thinking.

They did begin to push a little harder through the middle overs of the afternoon as the schoolchildren finished their stint at the ground and the more measured atmosphere associated with Championship cricket returned. Forty-six runs came in ten overs with Yates taking 11 from a Jack Leach over, all driven, including two boundaries. Soon, he registered his fifty with a six, also off Leach, driven into Gimblett’s Hill. Davies meanwhile late cut and hooked Aldridge twice in an over for four. Then Somerset took two crucial wickets, one each from Leach and Overton. Davies had just registered his fifty by sweeping Leach to the Somerset Stand when he played defensively and was bowled leg stump, the ball slipping neatly between bat and pad. Three overs later, Yates mistimed a pull off Overton and was caught in front of the Somerset Stand by Josh Davey running hard along the boundary from in front of the Garner Gates. Those two wickets had removed both Warwickshire openers in quick succession after a partnership of 106. Warwickshire 110 for 2. Davies 50. Yates 57. Lead 238. Either side of those wickets, in the 14 overs to tea, only 27 runs came. In the final ten, it was only 14. At one point, one run came from six overs. When the players came off for tea, Warwickshire had inched their way to 125 for 2, a lead of 253.

Attempting to circumnavigate the ground during the confines of the tea interval is always a challenge, to use the modern management speak euphemism for virtually impossible. This time the players returned while I was chatting on Gimblett’s Hill, always a place ready to trap the unwary passer-by in conversation. Some of the Gimblett’s Hill cognoscenti were bewildered by Warwickshire’s slow pace, although there was some comment that the pitch looked slow and it was not easy to get the ball away. There was also discussion of Overton’s bowling. “He is not taking the number of wickets he usually does,” was one comment. It was an impression gained by a number of people I had spoken to. In fact, by the end of the match, he had taken more wickets in 2024 than any Somerset bowler apart from Pretorius who had taken one more, 23 to 22, with Lewis Gregory having taken 20. With Somerset having strengthened their pace attack in 2024 there was more competition for wickets, but Overton had proved he was still more than a force to be reckoned with.

And still, Warwickshire dawdled. When I reached my seat, they had added 13 runs in five overs. And then, a spark of acceleration. Three boundaries in an over off Aldridge. Sam Hain drove him off the back foot through extra cover to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion scoreboard for one boundary and Will Rhodes pulled and cut him for two more. A lofted straight drive to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary from Hain and four singles and a two, all in an over from Pretorius, suggested Warwickshire were on the move. But then, as if he had heard the Gimblett’s Hill discussion, Overton stopped Warwickshire in their tracks. Perhaps he coaxed some extra bounce out of a sluggish pitch causing Rhodes to edge a pull to Rew, but Rew took the catch at ankle height adding weight to the suggestions of a slow pitch. Warwickshire 171 for 3. Rhodes 36. In Overton’s next over, Dan Mousley, newly at the wicket, mistimed a drive and was caught by an exultant Banton at mid-on. Warwickshire 175 for 4. Mousley one. Three balls later more joy for a cheering Somerset crowd. Hain drove Leach to mid-on, called for a quick single and Ed Barnard, Warwickshire’s next arrival at the crease, was run out. A direct hit from a sharp round arm throw launched by Aldridge as he fielded the ball added to Aldridge’s growing reputation as a fielder of note. Warwickshire 177 for 5. Barnard 2. Lead 305.  

“Come on boys,” began to ring out from the Somerset fielders as once again Warwickshire retreated into a defensive shell. A random six pulled into the Somerset Stand by Jacob Bethell off Davey apart, it was 14 overs before the ball reached the boundary again, just 28 runs coming from those 14 overs. “It feels like Warwickshire are batting for a draw and Somerset are getting fired up,” the conclusion of one watcher. Despite the Warwickshire lead, the rapid fall of wickets and the slow rate of scoring were driving the tension. The volume of the endless background chatter which normally accompanies a Championship match was beginning to drop and become hushed in tone, the faces were becoming more taut and Overton was applauding every dot ball. He is not an invisible captain in the Gregory mould.

Then, as the tension rose, Warwickshire attempted to break free again, although not without risk. Bethell attacked Leach. He lofted him over mid-on to the Priory Bridge Road boundary for four, but edged the next ball through the empty slip area for four more as he drove again. Hain drove Leach for four, but the next ball came off the inside edge and almost bowled him. Bethell drove Overton through mid-on to the Gimblett’s Hill boundary, but when Hain attempted another on drive he was caught by Tom Kohler-Cadmore at mid-on for 43. Warwickshire 229 for 6. Lead 358. Bethell continued to attack, sustaining Warwickshire’s new-found momentum. Overton was scooped over the keeper to the Lord Ian Botham Stand for four, Leach was lofted two yards wide of mid-off’s reach for another four and then pulled into the Somerset Stand for six. The six took Bethell past fifty in an hour and a quarter. Perhaps, the thought, with Warwickshire now racing along, they were finally reaching for a declaration.

Now, Leach got to work. With Warwickshire on 258 for 6, lead 386, and on the attack, Bethell attempted a sharp sweep, missed, the ball struck the pads, and the umpire’s finger was raised. Warwickshire 275 for 7. Bethell 66 from 83 balls. Lead 403. And then Chris Woakes, running down the pitch, chipped Leach to Lammonby at mid-off, Lammonby taking the catch on the run with as much style as he drives the ball through the covers. And that ended play for the day with Warwickshire 281 for 8, Woakes 0, Lead 409, with the question of a declaration deferred until the morning.

Close. Warwickshire 412 and 281 for 8. Somerset 284 (T. Banton 78, T.B. Abell 61, O.J. Hannon-Dalby 6-56, M.G. Booth 3-68). Warwickshire lead by 409 runs with two second innings wickets standing.