County Championship 2024. Division 1. Somerset v Nottinghamshire 19^th, 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd April. Taunton.

Jack Leach, (knee injury) and Tom Abell (hamstring) were unavailable.

Somerset, M.T. Renshaw, S.R. Dickson, T.A. Lammonby, L.P. Goldsworthy, T. Banton, J.E.K. Rew (w), L. Gregory (c), C. Overton, J.H. Davey, M. Pretorius, S. Bashir.

Nottinghamshire. H. Hameed (c), B.T. Slater, W.A. Young, J.M. Clarke (w), M. Montgomery, J.A. Haynes, L.W. James, C.G. Harrison, B.A. Hutton, L.J. Fletcher, D. Paterson.

Toss. Nottinghamshire. Elected to bat.

First day 19^th April – “Come on Somerset!”

The Quantocks and the ground looked very different places. The Quantocks looked on, resplendent in the sun with the bright yellow of the oilseed set against a spring green background with one glorious sandstone-red ploughed field having pride of place. The ground was stark in comparison. Stark because the crowd was the smallest I can remember for the start of a Championship match at Taunton. It looked well down on the two thousand plus spectators which were commonplace on a sunny day before the pandemic. I would be surprised if it reached a thousand at the start. The pandemic doubtless had an impact, perhaps the chill wind, perhaps the cost-of-living crisis too, Somerset entry charges are among the most expensive in the country.

Four of the five blocks of the Somerset Stand were closed, as were the Brian Rose Gates, with pallets stacked against the side of the flats between the gates and the ground. Both were cost-saving measures. The finances of running a first-class cricket club are challenging in days of burgeoning costs but, apart from the vertiginous West Stand at Edgbaston, the only grounds which I have witnessed closing stands for the Championship are Old Trafford and Lord’s. Against that, Somerset is generally accepted to be the best financed of the non-Test ground counties. At the same time, the closure of areas of the ground that have been open to spectators for decades breaks the habit and the experience of those who have sat there for years and, in some cases, for those decades. There will be a number of reasons for the drop in attendances, breaking the habit and experience of core supporters may be one of them. Difficult choices with fine lines and tight finances for the Club to manage.

The cricket nonetheless held the attention of those who were there. There was some surprise when Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bat. There was a tinge of green in the pitch and it was still April, and April is not known for its large scores, except in the first two rounds of matches in this season of the Kookaburra ball. But the Kookaburra was gone, replaced by that old familiar, the Dukes ball with its propensity to swing and seam. Given the equal propensity of captains to insert sides in recent times, it seemed a curious decision.

The first Nottinghamshire wicket owed little to the nature of the ball or the colour of the pitch. Craig Overton, opening for Somerset from the River End bowled full and well wide of off stump. The ball may have moved away a shade, but Haseeb Hameed reached long for it, too long so early in the innings, and attempted to cut. Instead, the bottom edge diverted the ball into his stumps. Nottinghamshire 0 for 1. What a cheer that brought, diminished crowd or not. And from there, Overton and, from the Trescothick Pavilion End, Josh Davey, kept the crowd buzzing and gasping as the ball beat the bat with a frequency which provoked expectation. In the second over, Davey beat Ben Slater with successive balls, then appealed for leg before wicket and then forced an edge from which the ball ran just wide of the slip cordon for four. It was a sit up in your seat start.

Oh! Very nice!” someone said among the gasps and applause as yet another ball beat the bat. So often were bats being beaten it looked, from the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, as if they had been dipped in the River Styx. In the ninth over, with Nottinghamshire on 22 for 1, Overton beat Will Young twice despite Young walking up the pitch to meet the ball, a sure sign of movement. Into his sixth over and Somerset’s 11^th, Overton forced an edge from Slater which fell short of third slip. By the 12^th over Nottinghamshire had survived, there is no other word, to 27 for 1. “We could easily have had a couple more,” the person with me said. It seemed an understatement.

With Overton and Davey giving way to Lewis Gregory and Migael Pretorius, in his first home match for Somerset, and with more people slowly filtering into the stands, Nottinghamshire began to find the boundary. An on drive from the left-handed Slater off Gregory reached the Priory Bridge Road boundary while a straight drive from Young and a cover drive from Slater, both off Pretorius, followed. But the Somerset bowlers persisted, pressurised and harassed. Pretorius forced an inside edge from Young which crossed the Colin Atkinson Pavilion boundary. Then, Gregory defeated the defensive prod of Slater. This time the ball found the edge and James Rew took the catch. If cheers could speak, the ones which erupted after that wicket would have screamed, “At last!” Nottinghamshire 49 for 2. Slater 25.

The Somerset pressure was telling. Young was pushed back by Gregory and, despite what seemed an interminable wait, the finger rose, and Young departed leg before wicket. Nottinghamshire 52 for 3. Young 27. Gregory, at the end of the over, 5-2-6-2. Two batters on nought. The intensity of the pressure from the bowlers could be felt. Expectation was rampant too with the edges of seats pressed hard into use. But, despite several edges, two of which found the boundary, Nottinghamshire persisted too and negotiated their way to lunch on 72 for 3 from 29 overs. Some thought Somerset might have had more wickets, so often had the ball beaten the bat, but after Hameed’s uncharacteristic dismissal, the Nottinghamshire batters had gritted it out. The morning had passed at two and a half runs an over, but with two sides battling for supremacy it had been gripping cricket.

It had been an absorbing first morning back at the Cooper Associates County Ground after a long, wet winter and two matches away from home to allow the newly laid outfield time to settle. It looked pristine from ground level, resplendent in luscious green. From the top of the Trescothick Pavilion though, sand could still be seen on the areas directly beneath us where the sun never shines in winter. As I meandered through my lunchtime circumnavigation there was unhappiness among supporters that they were denied access to, viewed from ground level, an apparently pristine outfield, having not had access for much of the previous year. The closure of most of the Somerset Stand and the Brian Rose Gates added further to the discontent and the sense of goodwill being tested was palpable.

I was still some way short of completing my circuit of the ground, and still engaged in deep conversation, the same conversation with whoever I met, when play resumed. Once Nottinghamshire had settled, even to a partially distracted eye, it became apparent that they were making progress. The new batters, Joe Clarke and Matthew Montgomery, began to find the boundary. In an over from Overton, Clarke pulled to the Somerset Stand, while Montgomery turned him behind square to where the Trescothick Pavilion meets Gimblett’s Hill. An open-faced steer to the covers store and a square drive to the Caddick Pavilion from Clarke, both off Overton, followed. With Nottinghamshire beginning to move, Shoaib Bashir was brought into the attack. He drifted a ball down the leg side, Clarke attempted to turn it behind square, and a leading edge popped to Tom Banton at midwicket. A fortuitous wicket or a change of pace from Bashir, but if fortuitous some thought it balanced the luck after all the beaten bats of the morning. Nottinghamshire 118 for 4. Clarke 39.

Montgomery responded to the wicket by attacking Davey and Bashir. Three boundaries came in two overs, two swept to fine leg and a drive off the back foot, square to the Caddick Pavilion. Jack Haynes was more restrained, focused on protecting his wicket, but soon succumbed to Davey’s dentist-like probing and edged to Rew. Nottinghamshire 139 for 5. Haynes 5. Somerset’s persistence was reaping rewards. More followed. First, Montgomery played defensively against Overton and edged low to the second of two slips. Tom Lammonby dropped neatly to his left and took the catch two-handed just above the ground. Montgomery was the fourth Nottinghamshire batter in succession to get a start and not go on. Two balls later, the new batter, Calvin Harrison, attempted to defend but edged straight to Gregory, the first of three slips. Nottinghamshire 153 for 7. Montgomery 48. Harrison 0. Suddenly, Somerset were overwhelming Nottinghamshire. Persistence pays.

Lyndon James and Brett Hutton attempted to rebuild, a straight drive from James off Pretorius reaching the Lord Ian Botham Stand boundary and a glance reaching Gimblett’s Hill. Hutton twice drove Overton through the covers for four, but the pressure from the bowlers never relented. In successive balls, Overton beat Hutton. “Beauty!” someone said after the second, and then gasps as an edge fell just short of slip. The end could not be long delayed. James attempted to drive Pretorius and was leg before wicket. Nottinghamshire 183 for 8. James 18. An over later, Hutton pushed Gregory to cover, set off for a run, was sent back and Goldsworthy broke the stumps with a direct hit. 185 for 9. Hutton 20. Luke Fletcher resisted briefly then waved his bat at a ball from Pretorius and was caught behind. Nottinghamshire 193 all out. Fletcher 6. Dane Paterson 1 not out. And that, on this first day back at Taunton, was tea, taken with a buzz of anticipation swirling around the crowd to match the glory that was the Quantocks. At the top of the Trescothick Pavilion, the strong breeze retained the bitter chill of winter, but to Somerset supporters, it didn’t seem to matter.

With over three days stretching before them, Matt Renshaw and Sean Dickson made a steady, if slow, start to the Somerset innings. The bat was beaten once or twice, and Renshaw dug out a well-directed yorker from Fletcher. A straight drive from Renshaw off Paterson to the Trescothick Pavilion boundary drew cheers and was immediately followed by a sharp square cut to the Priory Bridge Road boundary. Dickson produced a straight drive off Paterson which was deflected by the bowler and clipped the stumps on its way to the boundary but Renshaw survived a thunderous run out appeal. Dickson pulled Paterson over midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary. But these were occasional, scattered oases of runs amid a swathe of quieter overs. Three maidens were played out in four overs at one point. Then, Dickson, already pulling ahead of Renshaw, began to accelerate, re-imposing the pressure applied by the bowlers in the first two sessions. In an over from James, off successive balls, he took Somerset past fifty with a ball guided past the slips towards the Hildreth Stand for two. A stunning square drive to the Somerset Stand for four, and another square drive, this time for three, followed. “Come on Somerset” someone shouted, as if sensing a crucial shift in the match.

It had taken Somerset 19 overs, not yet three runs an over, to reach 53 for 0. But it felt like the match was opening up before them. As if in response to that shout of, “Come on Somerset!” Dickson pressed the accelerator. Nine overs later, they had added another 45 runs, 32 of them to Dickson. Twice he took two fours from an over, once off James, glanced to the Colin Atkinson Pavilion and driven through straight midwicket to the Ondaatje boundary, and once off Paterson, this time with a steer past slip and a cut through backward point, both to the Ondaatje boundary.

Renshaw meanwhile took the anchor role, concentrating on rotating the strike or keeping the ball out while Dickson sent it flying. He played out three successive maidens to Fletcher. Since his two early boundaries, he had gone 22 overs without scoring another. Finally, he attempted to break his self-constructed defensive mould and drove Harrison’s leg-spin straight into the Trescothick Pavilion, but the next ball he pushed straight into the hands of Montgomery at slip. Somerset 111 for 1. Renshaw 34 in four minutes over two hours.

The close came two overs later with Somerset on 116 for 1 and Dickson on 70. It was his first substantial score of the season and an impressive one. It was too the third Championship match of the season with another still to come before April was out. The chill wind which had blown across the face of the Trescothick Pavilion all day still blew. But, it had been Somerset’s day, conclusively, and we were back at the Cooper Associates County Ground with the Quantocks looking on in all their glory. What did Robert Browning write? “Oh, to be in Somerset, now that April’s there.” Or something like that.  

Close. Nottinghamshire 193 (M. Montgomery 48, C. Overton 3-57). Somerset 116 for 1. Somerset trail by 77 runs with nine first innings wickets standing.